The story follows young Huckleberry as he floats down the Mississippi River on his raft. On his journey he is accompanied by his friend Jim, a runaway slave.
Throughout this novel Huckleberry Finn is influenced by a number of people he meets along the way. Huckleberry Finn was brought up in an interesting household. His father was rarely ever home and if he was, he was drunk, his mother had passed away so Huck had no one to really look out for him or take care of him. Huckleberry had the life that many teenagers dream of, no parents to watch you or tell you what to do, but when Huckleberry finds himself in the care of Widow Douglas and Miss Watson things start to drastically change.
Widow Douglas and Miss Watson are two relatively old women and think that raising a child means turning him into an adult. In order for Huckleberry to become a young man, he was required to attend school, religion was forced upon him, and a behavior that was highly unlike Huck became what was expected of him by the older ladies. Not to long after moving in, Huckleberry ran away. When he finally came home he respected the ladies wishes and did what they wanted, but was never happy with it. When Tom Sawyer enters the picture, he is the immediate apple of Huckleberry’s eye.
Huckleberry sees Tom as the person that he used to be and was envious of Tom’s life. Huckleberry saw freedom and adventure in this young man and soon became very close friends with him. Huck then joins Tom’s little”group” to feel that sense of belonging and adventure that he misses out on due to living with the two older ladies. Soon enough Huck realizes that all of Tom’s stories are a little exagerated and that his promises of adventure really are not that adventurous. Tom gives Huckleberry a false sense of excitement and eventually Huck leaves Tom’s gang.
Later on Huckleberry ‘s father, Pap, enters the story and tries to change everything about Huckleberry that the two women have taught him. Pap is a very unkempt person and his outward appearance is definitely the epitome of the saying,” What you see is what you get.” Pap’s comes in and demands that Huckleberry drops out of school, stops attending church, and that he stop reading and learning.
After a couple of months of avoiding his father, Pap kidnaps Huckleberry and takes him to a small cabin in the woods far from civilization. Once again Huckleberry is given all of the freedom that he wants and once again Huckleberry becomes dissatisfied with the life that is bestowed upon him. Huckleberry comes to the conclusion that in order for him to stay alive, he must run away from his father and make his father and everyone else believe that there is no way of finding him.
Huckleberry decides to stage his own death while his father was away on one of his drunken bouts. After he stages his death he leaves for Jackson’s Island in the middle of the Mississippi River. After Huckleberry leaves he meets up with Jim, Miss Watson’s slave. They ran into each other after Huckleberry’s arrival on Jackson’s Island. As it turns out, Jim ran away because he overheard a conversation saying that he was to be sold to people in New Orleans.
Jim makes Huckleberry feel comfortable about his decisions and about being himself. Huckleberry also realizes that he can learn a lot from Jim. Jim knows how to how to tell the future, how to tell the weather forecast, and is a very good judge of character. Huckleberry feels a need to be with Jim and feels very safe when they are together. Huck’s new found friend prompts the decision to float down the Mississippi on a raft together. Jim gives Huckleberry a sense of security but also allows him to have enough space to do his own things.
As opposed to Tom, Jim is very intelligent and truthful. He accepts Huckleberry the way that Tom did, but Jim does not have to lie about what promises will come of their friendship to make Huckleberry stay. Jim also gives Huckleberry a sense of freedom, like Pap, but shows Huckleberry that he cares about what happens to him. Huckleberry finally found a living situation in which he feels comfortable in and likes to be in.
In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, there are many outside forces trying to impose their way of life on the young Huckleberry Finn. Coming from a broken home, Huckleberry is left in the care of Widow Douglas and her sister Miss Watson. These two elderly women try to make Huckleberry become a perfect gentleman by forcing him to attend school and church. Huckleberry feels trapped and uncomfortable with the expectations that the two ladies have and eventually runs away. He then meets up with Tom Sawyer who proves to be a boy full of adventures that prove to be the work of a vivid imagination. Huckleberry becomes bored with the relationship and decides to go back to the two older ladies. After he comes back, his father, Pap kidnaps him and tries to return him to the life that he knew before.
Huckleberry soon became unhappy with his new life because he felt that no one cared about him or what he did. His father was always drunk and forced him to drop out of school and stop attending church. Huckleberry finally becomes apart of a worthwhile relationship with a slave boy named Jim. Huckleberry and Jim are immediately inseparable as they decide to float down the Mississippi River together.
In the end Huckleberry proves to have found a friendship worthy of having. A friendship that gives him all of the aspects of all the earlier relationships, but one in which he feels comfortable being a part of.
