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The Adventures of Huck Finn: A Coming Of Age Novel Essay

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The Adventures of Huck Finn: A Coming Of Age Novel      The novel ‘The Adventures of Huck Finn’ by Mark Twain is a coming of age novel. Huck’s maturity grows throughout the story. He first starts to show emotions toward a runaway slave, and by the end of the novel, has grown up to the point where, when Jim, the slave, is captured, Huck decides not to play games but to take it serious and rescue him the safest and most logical way. He also decides it give up playing games after his friend is shot to ensure that he would get the medical attention that he needed      The first indication of Huck’s growing maturity was in Chapter 15. Huck and Jim are split because of a thick fog near Cairo, …show more content…

(p. 109)       Jim’s words had a big affect on Huck, who realizes that Jim is a person, and that his feelings can be hurt.      Another example of his growing maturity occurs when Tom meets Huck in the end of the story. Tom immediately takes control of the situation, telling Huck that to rescue Jim the ‘right’ way, they must use the most complicated method possible. This includes elaborate things like digging into the cabin through the floor, having Jim write messages in his own blood and throw them out the window, and filling the cabin with rodents to make the environment more like a prison for Jim. Huck eventually rescued Jim using a simple plan. This shows that Huck is mature enough to understand that a friend’s life is in danger, and they need to really save him, not play around, even though his best friend is against his plan. “But it’s too blame simple; there ain’t nothing to it. What’s the good of the plan that ain’t no more trouble than that?”      The final sign of maturity occurs at the end of the novel when Tom and Huck are mistaken for thieves and Tom is shot. If this occurred at the beginning of the novel, Huck would have probably tried to fix it himself, making up a grand story to go along. Now, at the end of the novel, after Huck has matured, he decides to blow their cover and against Tom’s wishes, seek medical help.      In

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