The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Bildungsroman

Essay by greesthosCollege, Undergraduate May 2005

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The novel of Mark Twain'sThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is about a young boy, Huck, coming of age. It is a story of Huck's struggle to win freedom for himself and Jim, a runway slave. The many adventures that Huck goes on become a learning process to maturity by learning to be self-sufficient, sic "sivilize", adverse, and adventurous. Mark Twain examines the influence of adults that Huck experiences during his childhood By Pap teaching him to be self-sufficient, the Widow educating him in being "sivilize", and Jim teaching him about humanity, it aids him in his bildungsroman, his moral education. Huck allows his own logic to realize what is good and bad, rather than blindly following his elders' teachings.

At the beginning of the novel, Huck shows his skepticism of the values that society imposes when the Widow Douglas attempts to sic "sivilize" him. Huck describes his life with the Widow as " regular and decent" (1).

She dresses him in starchy clothes while sending him to school to learn math and literature. When Huck did not like to be sic "sivilize" anymore, he returned back to his old ways. Huck says, " ...when I couldn't stand it no longer, I lit out. I got into my old rags...and was free and satisfied" (1). When he is unable to take the restrictions of life any longer, he simply releases himself and goes back to what he feels is right and what makes him happy. Huck returns back to the Widow after Tom convinces him to come back. When Miss. Watson, the Widow's sister, tells Huck about the "bad place", hell, he says, "I wished I was there" (2). He said this because he wanted a change from the sic "sivilize" world. Huck distrusts the morals and precepts of the...