Preview

Adventures of Huckleberry Fin Plot Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
611 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Adventures of Huckleberry Fin Plot Essay
Plot of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
“Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.” (Twain 0) This is a notice found at the beginning of the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn written by Mark Twain. It sounds as though the author wanted to be free to write as he pleased without being judged. His need for freedom is characterized through the two main characters of this novel. The reader learns about escaping from education and religion, slavery, moral struggles and childhood. Attaining freedom from the standards of southern society of the 1880 's drives the whole novel.

The pattern of conflict in this novel is escape. Huck escapes from the Widow Douglas because he did not like to be “sivilized”. Jim escapes because he does not want to be sold, he wants to be a free man. Huck then escapes from the abusive ways of his father. After staging his death and running away, Huck meets up with Jim. They decide to travel down the river together. Both of them are running away to gain their freedom: Jim from slavery, Huck from his father 's abuse and the Widow Douglas 's restrictive lifestyle. Jim becomes a father figure--the first Huck ever had in his life. Jim teaches Huck right and wrong, and an emotional bond develops through the course of their journey down the river. But then Twain introduces the struggle of morality through Hucks indecision if he should give Jim up or help him attain his dream of becoming a free man. Also, the struggle between right and wrong is again tested when Huck encounter scams, thievery and deceit during their travels down the river.During the last segment of the novel, Huck has learned to think like a man instead of a boy. He escapes his struggles of childhood when he learns to think like a man. This change is demonstrated when we see the prank that Tom Sawyer would have played



Cited: Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. USA: The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc, 2000. Print.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    To begin with, among the many characteristics of Jim, his compassionate nature shows throughout the book. When Huck and Jim come across the floating boathouse, Jim finds a dead man inside. He advises Huck not to look as he says, "It's a dead man... dead two er three days... come in Huck, but doan' look at his face." At the end of the book the reader finds out that the dead man turns out as Huck's father. Further on down the river, Huck and Jim engage in a deep conversation. Jim speaks of the family he feels he has left behind. Jim tries hard to save up all his money in hopes of buying back his wife and children when he becomes a free man. He expresses that he feels terrible for leaving behind his family and misses them very much. As a result, Huck feels responsible and guilty for ruining Jim's freedom. Huck decides that he wants to reveal the truth, that Jim really isn't a free man. His conscience tells him not to and instead he finds himself helping Jim rather than giving him up. Jim feels so thankful to Huck when he says ". . .it's all on account of Huck, I's a free man, ... you's the best friend Jim's ever had..." Even further along, Huck becomes separated from Jim and living at the Grangerford's. Huck doesn't know if he'll ever see Jim again. He also doesn't realize Jim has found a hiding spot not very far away. He asks one of the Grangferford's slaves…

    • 967 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To begin with, among the many characteristics of Jim, his compassionate nature shows throughout the book. When Huck and Jim come across the floating boathouse, Jim finds a dead man inside. He advises Huck not to look as he says, “It’s a dead man... dead two er three days... come in Huck, but doan’ look at his face.” At the end of the book the reader finds out that the dead man turns out as Huck’s father. Further on down the river, Huck and Jim engage in a deep conversation. Jim speaks of the family he feels he has left behind. Jim tries hard to save up all his money in hopes of buying back his wife and children when he becomes a free man. He expresses that he feels terrible for leaving behind his family and misses them very much. As a result, Huck feels responsible and guilty for ruining Jim’s freedom. Huck decides that he wants to reveal the truth, that Jim really isn’t a free man. His conscience tells him not to and instead he finds himself helping Jim rather than giving him up. Jim feels so thankful to Huck when he says ". . .it’s all on account of Huck, I’s a free man, ... you’s the best friend Jim’s ever had...” Even further along, Huck becomes separated from Jim and living at the Grangerford’s. Huck doesn’t know if he’ll ever see Jim again. He also doesn’t…

    • 992 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Mark Twain’s book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck Finn was a troubled kid who grew up and matured in several ways. Huck ran away and had to learn how to make it on his own, and as he went on that journey of going from boyhood to adulthood he learned so much about doing the right thing.…

    • 785 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mark Twain’s The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn is an American masterpiece. Contrary to The Algerine Captive Mark Twain‘s satire and irony is emphasized through the style and the use of the American “vernacular” dialect for the first time as well as the use of the African-American dialect. Therefore Huckleberry Finn remains the work that elevates this onetime rustic humorist into the ranks of literary genius. It is considered by Satirist Dick Gregory once said that Twain “was so far ahead of his time that he shouldn’t even be talked about on the same day as other people Huckleberry Finn is considered as the first American Novel and aimed at forging an American identity independent from the European one. The Novel, hence, satirize the paradoxical issues of slavery and the hypocrisy of the society as well as the deep intuitions of America.…

    • 1160 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The novel is written in a way to not only document the evils of slavery and the existence of racism in the South, Twain also shows that the use of what we consider to be inappropriate language today is a true representation of language considered to be appropriate during the period of slavery. Lastly, the book is a symbol of humanity as a deep, unlikely relationship forms between a white boy and a slave. Huck protects Jim and helps him to escape, while Jim will risk his own freedom for Huck. In the end, freeing Jim from slavery helps Huck to free himself from the hatred of slavery in the…

    • 935 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huckleberry Finn Criticism

    • 1018 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn written by Mark Twain in 1884 is a classic example of American literature. It depicts the bond of a fourteen-year old boy and a runaway slave’s as they venture up the Mississippi River with hopes of finding better lives in the free North during the pre-Civil War era. One of the common criticism of the novel is Huck Finn is too wise beyond his years. Twain purposely depicted Huck to be this mature to attempt to change the American society through his art.…

    • 1018 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.” This notice at the beginning is controversial; some people say that it is a warning that was written for readers at the time when slavery was a sensitive issue to talk about, while others interpret it as a satirical comment about the way literature is scrutinized to find means and morals in a book. But I believe what Mark Twain is trying to say is: “Don’t try to analyze the book, just read it for fun, no pressure! “ In the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, the lifestyle of the Southerners in the mid-1800s are depicted through the eyes of a 13 years old boy Huck Finn living along the Mississippi River. It is a book about the search for freedom. Main characters in the movie seek freedom from social and moral constraints. Throughout novel, Huck learns to follow his own morals and values over what society deemed to be acceptable in the 1800 s. He eventually achieved what he desires the most-freedom. In Twain’s opinion, it is the "closed mindsets about slavery of the society prohibited the development of personal morality and social justice."…

    • 1693 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    How Does Huck Finn End

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The ending of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is known to leave the readers unsatisfied and confused. Many have questioned why the protagonist of the novel, Huck, regressed into the character he was before his journey to free Jim, a slave. During this expedition, Huck grows into the person he would be without the influence of a racist society. After this journey ends, however, Huck’s character immediately recedes and begins to act out past habits as Tom, his friend, returns to help Huck with a perilous and “adventurous” scheme to determinately free Jim. After their adventure, Tom reveals that Jim was, in fact, free all along. These disheartening regressions in character development and plot are the reasons why the ending of the novel is…

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huck Finn Essay

    • 1613 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Twain presents man versus self conflicts in the novel. Huck constantly faces internal conflicts, especially when it comes to Jim. While looking for Cairo, Twain illustrates Huck’s dilemma. As they float down the river, Jim expresses his excitement and says “he would go to saving up money...he would buy his wife…and then they would both work to buy the two children” (75). The way Jim talks horrifies Huck; Being raised in a society that taught people that slaves were property, Huck realizes just what he has done by helping Jim to freedom. Twain uses this scene to emphasize how much Jim’s race affects Huck. Although Twain lays out the story as an adventure, there are much deeper concepts brewing beneath – especially the clash between Jim and Huck. Twain captures this when Huck thinks, “I was sorry to hear Jim say that, it was such a lowering of him” (75). In the next part of the scene, Huck takes their canoe to shore and faces the decision of whether to turn Jim in or not when he runs into two white men inquiring about his raft. Just minutes before it would have been an easy decision for Huck, but when he comes across the men he begins second-guessing himself. Twain embodies Huck’s internal conflict in this scene. The reader’s see Huck’s thoughts when he says:…

    • 1613 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huck Finn

    • 941 Words
    • 3 Pages

    “The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn” is a classic novel written by Mark Twain. The story tells of a young man Huck Finn and his friend Jim, a slave, starting an adventure toward the freedom of Jim. The adventure is not only full with excitement, but also full of moral for Huck to learn. In the beginning of the book, Huck is wild and careless. He plays jokes and tricks on people and believed that is was hilarious. As the story goes on, Huck starts to change into a more mature and caring person.…

    • 941 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Huck Finn Journey

    • 2735 Words
    • 11 Pages

    This episode occurs in a small, run down town on the banks of the Mississippi river and provides yet another contrast to the idealised life that Huck and Jim experience on the raft. Twain shows the reader rather than explicitly declares an appropriate reaction to the cruelty inflicted by that part of society on a fellow human being, through Huck. Huck is constructed in this way to show the audience the immorality of their actions. Therefore, in order for this to be achieved, Huck must observe and learn from the episode. Huck further develops his sense of what is right and wrong as he watches the arbitrary power of the “mob” that have by definition lost all sense of moral autonomy or individual responsibility and the ruthless effects of extreme…

    • 2735 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    “After all this long journey ... here it was all come to nothing, every thing all busted up and ruined” (Twain 233). In Mark Twain’s American classic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the protagonist who has grown noticeably in maturity, humility, and leadership, instantly takes an abrupt halt and regresses to his submissive, gullible, and ignorant ways at the end of the novel. This new realization leads the audience towards feeling cheated and unsatisfied in how they’ve invested their emotions and concerns into Huck and his journey. The entire journey of Jim and Huck reflects values and moral standards dealing with slavery before and during the…

    • 1491 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huck's unprecedented response, however, truly epitomizes his relationship with Jim. For the first time, including in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Huck exposes his conscience. Instead of seeming superior to Jim, Huck demonstrates the level ground that exists between the two of them. Twain, in this way, establishes the impenetrable bond between Huck and Jim. Despite the racial, slave, and age barriers, Huck and Jim develop an authentic relationship that transcends socioeconomic status. This sentiment can be heavily contrasted with Huck's dealings with Pap, in which he desires his father's absence from his daily life despite their similar…

    • 1135 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The famous romantic novelist, Mark Twain, is well know for his attitude towards social conformity and the mores of society. In Twain’s mind, it is human nature for people to want to do the right thing in life, without silly rules or protocol. Everyone has their falls from grace, but the human race is generally good, with some exceptions. In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, characters are frequently faced with dilemmas that challenge the morals they were taught to faithfully abide by, and most of these situations are resolved through the use of deception and lying. It is not the act of lying that defines the characters, but it is their motivation behind deceiving those around them that truly emphasizes their moral worth. Mark Twain seems to support the timeless moral adage, “The ends justify the means.” Many people disagree with this statement, but Twain exemplifies the reality that the chains that confine people to society’s rules must be broken by lying to survive or to protect another. Through Huck’s journey to self-discovery, Twain conveys his belief that defying society’s moral standards is necessary in certain situations in order to do the right thing.…

    • 1753 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written in 1884, is a classic book in which Twain shows his outstanding talent. It is narrated by a young boy named Huck who is taken in by a widow and her sister who attempt to “sivilize” him. (3) His drunken, abusive father…

    • 2592 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays