Throughout the novel ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ by Mark Twain, it is evident that Huck does change and adapt to certain situations, places, and people. As we unravel the novel, we are shown a young boy Huck who just wants to go on an adventure, during this he meets Jim, a runaway slave, and on this adventure, he learns many lessons. As the novel progresses, Huck learns many things, such as to appreciate nature, learn to care for those in danger or need of help, and that violence and hate will only lead to more of the same.
With the progression of the novel early on Huck learns to appreciate the nature that he is surrounded by. As he is on the island with Jim, a storm comes crashing down, and they have to find shelter. As they hide in the cave, Huck watches the storm, he says, “Set the branches to tossing their arms” (Twain, 58), this means he is taking a moment to realize his position and take a moment to look at nature. This shows that he does learn to appreciate nature and care for it. Here Huck takes a moment to recollect his thoughts and freshen up his mind as Huck tells Jim, “This is nice… I wouldn’t be nowhere else but here” (Twain, 58). Here Huck learns to take a moment and really appreciate nature and storms. From this evidence, we can see that Huck does learn something. This shows how he does learn something on his journey and many more lessons to come.
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We also see that Huck does not only learn to respect nature but also to care for those in danger. When he is stuck on the sinking steamboat with the robbers, Huck and Jim conduct a plan to steal the raft and leave the robbers to die. As Jim and Huck arrive at the shore, Huck has regret leaving the robbers to die, so he asks one of the men to help him by saying, “Pap and mam and sis and Miss Hooker; and if you’d take your ferryboat and go up there” (Twain, 87). This shows how Huck last minute had to lie his way to save the robbers’ lives. This also shows how he learns to care for others and try to help them when they are in trouble. In this situation, Huck could’ve left them dead, but decided to save the robbers, even if they are bad people. When the wrecked ship floats down the river, it is expressed that the robbers did not survive the wreck, while Huck says, “Then here comes to ferryboat; so I shoved for the middle of the river on a long down-stream slant” (Twain, 89). This shows the extra effort Huck tries to save these men from death, but death had already caught up to them, with this in mind, Huck does, in fact, learn the lesson of helping others in trouble.
As Huck and Jim meet the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons, Huck is attacked by dogs and saved by Buck Grangerford. As he stays with their family, he realizes the beauty of living in a big home with a good family. Yet as this trails on, we see that Buck shoots a Shepherdson, confusing Huck as he thought that Buck was a good man, but soon realizes that the two feuding families hate each other. “He said his father and his two brothers were killed” (Twain, 135) shows that Huck is disgusted by how these families act in such a way, where they can just kill one another just for non-rooted hatred, where there is no real reason behind all of this. We see that Huck goes to church and sees that both families sit with each other holding onto their rifles, also exposing how this is satire as how the funding families want to kill each other but are willing to sit in a church where killing is an act of sin holding their rifles. Eventually, Buck is murdered and hiding behind a tree, calling for Jim. “Good lan’! Is dat you, honey? Doan make no noise” (Twain, 136). This shows that Huck is relieved to see Jim and wants to leave this feud where people are forced to kill one another just for the heck of it. In this process, Huck learns that anger and violence will only lead to more of the same.
Throughout the novel, we see that Huck learns many lessons from respecting nature, helping those in need, and realizing that those who hold remorse for one another for many generations so forth will be carried on within their children. Huck learns this through his journey, and not only learns many more throughout.
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