In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the growth of maturity in the main character, Huck Finn, is apparent.
Background info: This book is about a young man named Huck who runs away from his home because of his lack of desire to stay. He then begins a long journey which was initially alone. However, along the way, he is joined by a man named Jim, who is a runaway slave and accompanies him throughout the book. With Jim, Huck will experience many unique scenes of life.
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A scene that may represent maturity in Huckleberry Finn is when Huck tried to play various pranks on Jim and ended up regretting his actions. A good example of when Huck matured was when he tried to put a dead snake into Jim's sleeping bag to scare him, Jim got bit by the snake's mate which apparently lies with it's mate if he is dead. In addition, Huck tried to play another prank where he pretended that all of Jim's horrors were a dream. However, both times he was scolded and sent into a guilt trip by Jim. After these events, Huck realized that he was unintentionally harming an innocent man through these pranks and promised to himself that he would never do any such thing again.
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"I didn't do him no more mean tricks, and I wouldn't done that one if I'd a knowed it would make him feel that way." |
"I see it warn't no use wasting words...So I quit." |
A chapter in the Huck Finn book presents a conversation between Huck and Jim. Although it does not "literally" represent a maturing incident, it does represent a time of learning. When Huck realizes Jim's personality and his tendency to have it his way, Huck learns how to conform his behavior to suit Jim's needs. So he "matures" in his relationship with Jim.
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One of the scenes that shows Huck's maturity most evidently is when he has an internal conflict with himself. When Huck loses Jim in a frenzy event, he starts sending himself on a guilt trip, telling himself over and over again that he should have turned in Jim to Jim's original owner. As he continues to fight against himself against the pros and cons of his decisions, he makes a fateful decision to write a letter to turn in Jim, his own friend, in, feeling that if he didn't, he would be thrown into hell for sinning a sin. However, what really shows that Huck had matured through his adventures with Jim was when he rethought what he was doing and tore up the letter in his writing, and confessed that he would rather save his friend and go to hell.
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Throughout the story of Huckleberry Finn, there are a plentiful of instances where Huck matures little by little. There is still so much more to interpret in the The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
""All right, then, I'll go to hell" --and tore it up"