How Did Huck Finn Mature

In the end of the story, Huck has come to peace with his decision, even if society tells him that it is wrong and he should be

13) Whereas most people would condemn the robbers, Huck expresses a sort of flexible empathy towards them. Huck does not always share the same views as society.

An early indication of Huck maturing is when he feels guilty about playing a joke on Jim. This acceptance of knowing he did something mean shows that he has gained a sense of responsibility. Another major step in Huck's maturity is when he decides to give Mary Jane back her stolen money. Huck footnotes, “I felt so ornery and low down and mean that I says to myself, my mind’s made up; I’ll hive the money for them or bust”(177). By saying this, it shows guilt in Huck's heart for the King and Duke’s criminal activity, and it shows a sense of morality that is developing inside of Huck. This morality developing in Huck blossoms when he decides to go after Jim. Huck then and there concludes, “All right, then, I’ll go to hell” (215). This display of a moral compass is one of the novel's most important representations of Huck's growing maturity. A continuation of Huck's moral compass is his empathetic reaction when he sees the Duke and King tarred and feathered running from an angry mob. Huck remarks, “Well, it made me sick to see it; and I was sorry for them poor pitiful rascals, it seemed like I couldn’t ever feel any hardness against them any more in the world. It was a dreadful thing to see. Human beings can be awful cruel to one another” (232). Even though the Duke and King were criminals and liars, because of Huck's now established maturity, he feels sorrow for the

“I got to thinking that if I could fix up some way to keep Pap and the widow from trying to follow me” (42). Although illegal to stage one’s death, Huck’s intentions were highly justified, suggesting that his free nature is more mature for his age. Skeptics may question why he took such extreme action when he could have ran for safety under the widow’s custody. Huck’s nature makes him very independent from adults although he is still a young teenager. He knows, should he return to the widow, he will be forced to attend school, become “sivilized” and be restricted of his freedoms.

Many risks have happened throughout the novel and Huck grows to make the right decisions. In the beginning, Huck is a child and is always looking for the easy way out by lying or cheating. "…No ma'am, I wasn't doin' nuthin'." P.233. At this situation, Huck is caught being mischievous and instead of telling the truth, he lies inorder to get out of trouble. Eventually, Huck grows up and sees that he should take responsibility for his actions. "...I told Tom I was going for a doctor." P.276. Huck does the responsible thing, and by doing this, he may have saved his best friends life.

The first adventure Huck and Jim take part in while searching for freedom is the steamboat situation. Huck shows development of character in tricking the watchman into going back to the boat to save the criminals. Even though they are thieves, and plan to murder another man, Huck still feels that they deserve a chance to live. Some may see Huck's reaction to the event as crooked but, unlike most of society, Huck Finn sees good in people and attempts to help them as much as he can. Getting lost in the fog while floating down the Mississippi River leads to a major turning point in the development of Huck Finn's character. Up to this event, he has seen Jim as a lesser person than himself. After trying to deny the fog event to Jim, he says, "It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a [slave]; but I done it, and I warn't ever sorry for it afterward, neither"(74). He continues by explaining how he could never do such a thing again. Huck has clearly gained respect for Jim here and shows it by feeling so horrible over what he did.

In the middle of the book, Huck starts to distinguish what is the right thing to do. He starts to think if all the things he was doing before with Jim and Tom were too mean and stupid to do. One specific example is when he decides to steal the money that the king and duke have, “I got to steal that money somehow; and I got to steal it some way that they wont suspicion I done it." (Twain 133) After Huck stole the money Huck and Jim didn’t feel bad at all, and knew that they did the right thing after all. He learns that not everyone can be scammed on, that the real life is important and that you can’t do anything stupid like that. He sees eye to eye with Jim and realizes that he cant have someone taken advantage of just because of their

He also does not doubt tom?s judgment when he says ?But go ahead, I ain?t got nothing to say? because he does not know any better. On the other hand, Huck gains knowledge while experiencing the journey to free Jim and suddenly Huck encounters a decision that requires much more consideration than anything he has ever thought about. As Huck decides whether or not to turn Jim in to Miss Watson, he says, ?I studied a minute, a sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: ?All right, then, I?ll go to hell?? (Twain 228). Huck now has the ability to think for himself. This important decision goes against what he has always been taught. He thinks his decision thoroughly, unlike before. With his new standards of morality, Huck decides not to turn Jim in. It is apparent that he improves in his aptitude of making choices. Huck?s capability of making decisions alone shows that he is maturing into an independent young man.

This is a lie told to the watchman about the murderers. He knew that with this awful storm they wouldn't ever be rescued and would've been in a big deal of trouble, so he fibbed that they were his family stuck in the wreck. Just because they weren't good people didn't mean that they didn't deserve to be helped. Hucks guilty conscience thought that maybe he would become a murderer someday and he wouldn't ever want to be in that situation. Even though the men were getting what they deserved in the eyes of many, Huck saw them as equals, and felt that they should've received help like it was anyone else.

“People’s greed, deceit, hypocrisy and cruelty in the civilized society are thoroughly exposed in the eyes of Huck. The evil phenomena, such as humanity’s cruelty, cowardice, deceit and injustice, form a strong contrast with the tranquil picture of the Mississippi river. The strong contrast impacts Huck’s heart” (Sang 633). Huck experiences a change of heart. Earlier, he was angry and frustrated because of the Duke and King’s deceit.

During his journey with Jim, Huck begins to understand his own beliefs better. He comes across many people who test those beliefs and he grows internally because of it. When Huck and Jim discover The Walter Scott, a wrecked steam boat, Huck decides to go on and have an adventure. He discovers two robbers threatening to kill a third. As he?s leaving, Huck feels genuinely sorry for these robbers who are stranded on the wreck. The fact that he is able to feel badly for these terrible people shows that he is maturing. After he comes on land, Huck meets the Sheperdsons who show him the nature of human violence through their feud with the Grangerford family. Huck matures through witnessing the feud and also begins to comprehend the hypocrisy of religion:

Although Huck ultimately does what he feels is right, the reader is left with a sense that the issue is not completely eradicated from Huck's conscience.

We saw a glimpse of Huck’s maturity when he found a robbers stash of gold and had gained a lot of money from it. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do with it. The Widow Douglass and Miss. Watson were trying to civilize him and make him more of a gentlemen. In fear that his father would take his money, he convinces Judge Thatcher to take it all. Judge Thatcher was the town judge and was a close friend to Huck. Huck gave the money to Judge Thatcher because he trusted him to take care of it. This shows a growth of Huck’s maturity because he is somewhat standing up to his father by not letting him touch his money. Once his father found out that Huck gave away his fortune he was outraged. He then kidnapped Huck and locked him in a cabin Huck decided that the only way he would be able to escape would be to fake his own death. When he decided to fake his own death this showed us how he was thinking more maturely. Although

At the beginning of the story, Huck is a young, wild boy who doesn’t really understand the world. He is distant from his father because he was very abusive, and he is cared for by both Miss Watson and Widow Douglas. Huck has very few morals and is usually dirty. He does not believe in religion. “Well I got a good going-over in the morning from old Miss Watson on account of my clothes; but the widow she didn’t scold, but only cleaned off the grease and clay, and looked so sorry that I thought I would behave awhile if I could.” (page 10) Huck does not genuinely care about what goes on or what he does, in fact, he didn’t care too much when people said that his father had died. He was only uncomfortable. (page 12)

Most immature people think that someone should get what they deserve, but Huck does not think anyone deserves such thing. When Huck sees that both the King and Duke are “tarred and feathered” he says, “Well it made me sick to see it; and I was sorry for them poor pitiful rascals…It was a dreadful thing to see” (Twain 174). Immature people would most likely never look over fraudulent scams in which the King and Duke have participated in, so for Huck to do so, it shows that his mind has matured from a boy to a man. Therefore, on his journey out in the world, Huck learns some valuable lessons which have helped him mature into a young man.