As the novel progresses, Huck’s
level of maturity increases more and more, as well as his sense of
responsibility. Although he continues to grow with each chapter, his “growth
spurt” of responsibility surely comes during the predicament with the Duke and
the King trying to steal $6,000 from the innocent Wilks family. Early in chapter
26 while Huck is eating dinner with the sister’s, and talking to “harelip” (Joanna)
he thinks to himself, “This is a girl that I’m letting that old reptle rob her
of her money!”(201) Huck’s conscience is coming into play and he is feeling
terrible of letting something bad happen to such nice and sort of naive people.
This guilt and conscience coming into these chapters will ultimately push Huck
into feeling that he has a social responsibility to do the right thing. After
Huck has decided that he will definitely do the right thing, the problem is no
longer what is right and what is wrong; it is how to do the right thing. Huck
is now thinking logically and clearly. He wants help this family out without
getting caught or getting them even more hurt. This is the type of thinking
that a socially responsible person has. What
is significant about this is that typically Huck will go back and forth between
mind sets and doesn’t stick to one plan. What I mean is that, for example, when
it comes to Jim, Huck sometimes would go from thinking of Jim as a friend to
contemplating if he should turn him (as shown in my previous blog). This proves
is that Huck is becoming a solid, responsible character.
1 comment:
I really liked when you said that “Huck is becoming a solid, responsible character”. Huck becoming mature is one of the main topics of the book. In all the chapters we can see how Huck keeps changing into being a person more mature and clear on what he wants. We see this through his actions and thoughts. Although Huck didn’t really change his opinion on stealing from the orphans because it was the right thing to do but mainly because they were nice girls who didn’t deserve to get this done to, we can notice that he is now paying more attention to these small details. Huck could’ve continued with the plan but he felt guilty after he analyzed the type of people that the girls are. He felt thankful with the girls for having let him in without any question. He is now appreciating more what other people do which he wouldn’t have done before and is definitely a sign of maturity.
Post a Comment