Critical Essay Response Adventures of Huck Finn
‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ is often characterized as a novel that examines the moral growth of its young protagonist, Huck. Considering the events that take place along the journey down the Mississippi, does Huck’s character undergo significant moral growth and/or change at the conclusion of the novel? The young protagonist, Huck, of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn undergoes a “moral makeover” upon having to make crucial decisions throughout his journey for a new life. Huck emerges into the novel with a substandard set of morals to that of the average law-abiding citizen in society at that time. ... It is at this point where Huck is first seen without any concept of morality. Fortunately, Huck is later assisted by the guidance of Jim, a runaway slave who joins him on his journey and helps Huck gain his own sense of morality. Throughout Huck’s adventures, he is put into numerous situations where he must look within himself and use his own judgment to make fundamental decisions that will affect the morals which Huck will carry with him for the rest of his life. Preceding the start of the novel, Miss Watson and the widow have been granted custody of Huck, an “unsivilized” boy who encompasses no set of morals as his own. ... Huck looks up to a boy named Tom Sawyer who has decided he is going to start a gang. ... It was at this time that one of the boys realized that Huck did not have a real family.