Huck Fin - Character Flaws

Running head: CHARACTER QUALITIES OR FLAWS

Emma Alden
Character Qualities or Flaws

Abstract
Samuel Clemens is a well know author from the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. He wrote many books as well as short stories. Two of his most well-known books are Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Fin. These books and the characters were based on what was occurring at time of the writings, example; the end to the Civil War, and his own life experiences. Some of these characters he admired and some he did not. Still, all of them make these two books a great read to all people. Let us look at some of these characters he portrays in the story of Huckleberry Finn.

The novel of Huckleberry Finn was written at the end of the Civil War, at the time slavery was coming to an end. The southerners did not want to give up slavery as they needed these men and women to attend to their farmland, as this was their main source of income in the south during this time. After this war, Congress amended the Constitution to abolish slavery but this did not hold up in all of the states. This book is written from this time period. The first character to be discussed is Huck himself. Twain has portrayed Huck to be an intelligent and thoughtful individual. A young boy of 13, whose father is a drunk and leaves for months on end, eventually dying, leaving Huck homeless, dirty and hungry. An elder widow takes Huck into her home and tries to reform him; gives him schooling and religious training that he never got with his father. Huck is too set in his ways to stay here and would rather be living on the streets than conform to the rules of the widow. Once again he goes on his own, meeting up with different individuals. Twain fits in with this character as he grew up in a poor family, his father’s investments never panned out the way he’d intended. Secondly, as Twain grows up, he goes out and explorers the world on his own, meeting new people everywhere he turned. Similarities between the man and the character, exampled, Huck travels down a river in chapters 14-16, twain worked on the river boats when he was a younger man. When you’re riding the river, you have a chance to ponder on what you have learned and what society has been teaching. Huck and Twain both “represent what anyone can become, a thinking, feeling human being rather than a mere cog in the machine of society”.(SparkNotes Editors, 2002). Twain and Huck have one more item in common. That is, Huck loses his father to death at the age of 13. Twain was around this age when his father passed on. Jim, who worked as a household slave for Miss Watson is the second character that was admired by twain. Jim is a superstitious, intelligent and practical man. His frequent acts of selflessness, his longing to be with his family and his friendship with both Huck and Tom demonstrate to Huck that humanity has nothing to do with race. (123helpme.com, 2011) Because Jim is a black man and a runaway slave, he is at the mercy of almost all the other characters in the novel. While Jim and Huck are on the river together he becomes like a surrogate father to Huck and a friend. He takes care of Huck without smothering the boy. Jim shelters Huck from the appearance of his father, Pap’s corpse. Twain admires this character as reminds him of the love and sweetness he gives to his girls and wife. They are the ones he could count on that would be there for him, no matter what. Another example; is when Jim runs away from the town. The town’s people think he is a runaway slave, as they do not know Miss Watson let him be free in her will. Just the same, twain escapes to his writing building away from his home to escape so he can write his books and free his mind of interruptions that may arise. I don’t recall too many of the characters in this hear book that he would have admired. He had written of many different folk people to tell a story but that was all. Some of these hear town folk, like Miss Watson and Widow Douglas, were more like a mother or an aunt figure. Their mannerism and the way they spoke and carried themselves would be like the women twain had seen in his early childhood days. Why Miss Watson she were more of a teacher type, always shaking her finger at Huck and pulling him by the ear. She never married and at the start of his novel, she came to live with her sister, the Widow Douglass. Huck describes her as “tolerable slim, with goggles on”. Her patience with Huck is not high; for she gets frustrated the he doesn’t understand certain things, such as stories from the Bible or how prayer is supposed to work. All children should know these things. Huck did not care for her much and when she tries to sell Jim, the slave, her reputation goes from bad to worse in Huck’s mind. In the end, she does redeem herself a bit, when she puts Jim in her will and sets him free. Maybe she was a bitter older woman as she did not marry or have children of her own. Her sister, Miss Watson is much like Widow Douglass, as she nags at Huck and works hard to civilize him by having him wash, attend church, read and write and go to school. Even though she disciplines the young lad, she does try to encourage him when he does well. Mark Twain had a natural way of observing human nature. Taking in the way people dressed, talked, and expressed themselves with body language, down to every small detail. He relays this in his writings. It could be that these two women were written about as he observed a Sunday school teacher or a grandmother disciplining their grandchild or grandchildren. He wrote of them with such expression and realism, painting a strong picture in one’s mind as you read this novel. Then you get into characters such as the duke and the dauphin. Their sneaky greediness of tricky the towns people into giving them their money. Dauphin gets up at a revival meeting that the town’s folk are attending and say he is a reformed pirate, who will return to the Indian Ocean as a missionary. And Duke, why he is back in town taking over the printing press and selling print jobs, subscriptions and advertisements in the local paper. He also prints up a leaflet offering a reward for the capture of Jim, the runaway slave. These two will do anything for money. Twain learned how to tell stories from the local black men as he grew up. It could be that these two men are ones he heard of in the stories as he grew up. The characters may have changed a bit, but could be derived from these stories. It is a known fact, that Mark Twain derives his books and short stories from his own life experiences. He may have been intrigued at one time or another when he met up with men or watched from a far, men like the duke and dauphin. One can hardly suggest that he admired these two men. Alas, we have Pap Finn, whom is Huck’s father. He is nearing 50 years old and is a drunken, greedy, abusive man. Not a role model for a young boy to look up to. He’s a racist who came back to town when he heard his son came into money. Huck ran to hand the money over to Judge Thatcher and told him to take it, fearing his father came for the money. Pap Finn, when he listens to Huck about him giving the money to Judge Thatcher, Pap sues the Judge for Huck’s money. He is a ruthless, mean old man to his son. He whips Huck on occasion for going to school and Pap tries to gain control of the boy. Soon enough, while attempting to rob someone, Pap is shot in the back. He is later found by Jim the slave, as he and Huck see this house floating down the river. Jim does not let Huck see the face of the man and does not tell Huck it is his father. Jim shelters Huck from this pain. Pap Finn maybe the way Twain saw his own father. They were poor most of his days growing up, as his father invested poorly and lost money. It could be that Twains father drank to surpass his errors or it could be that as Twain road on the steamship, he saw a great many drunken men. And so, this character of Pa Finn came from these two scenarios. One can only guess at such things.

Conclusion As stated at the front of this paper, we explored some of the characters in this novel written by Mark Twain between the years of 1876 and 1883. It is written in English primarily, although it frequently uses the Southern and black dialects of the time. We looked at some of the characters qualities and their flaws and who Mark Twain had admired and whom he did not. All of the characters written about in this book all helped to play a role in transforming the young impressionable Huck. With what he saw and was taught during this time of his boyhood, could have played a big role in his manhood. We can only imagine what the man of Huckleberry Finn would have been like and that is how Mark Twain leaves it; an imagination of the mind.

References
Cummings, M. J. (2011, October). cummings study guides. Retrieved November 3, 2011, from http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides3/Twain.html#Historical
SparkNotes Editors. (2002). SparkNote on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Retrieved October 31, 2011, from http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/huckfinn/
123HelpMe.com. (2011) Mark Twain and Huckleberry Finn, Retrieved November 3, 2011 http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=40480
Twain, M. (2008). Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York, NY: Signet Classics.

References: Cummings, M. J. (2011, October). cummings study guides. Retrieved November 3, 2011, from http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides3/Twain.html#Historical SparkNotes Editors. (2002). SparkNote on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Retrieved October 31, 2011, from http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/huckfinn/ 123HelpMe.com. (2011) Mark Twain and Huckleberry Finn, Retrieved November 3, 2011 http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=40480 Twain, M. (2008). Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York, NY: Signet Classics.