Essay/Term paper: Huck finn thesis

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Huckleberry Finn

Huck Finn Thesis


Many would say that Huck Finn is a very troubled young boy. He was brought up by his
father deep in the woods just off the Mississippi River. His father strongly disliked society
therefore he lived as far as possible from it. Huck's dad brought Huck up the hard way without
a mother and instilled many of his beliefs into Huck. His dad lied constantly and was always
drunk, his favorite saying was "I'm not stealing it I'm just borrowing it". Huck's dad borrowed
many things and lied his way out of many situations. He passed some of these bad habits onto
Huck which leads to my thesis that, Huck often finds himself in tight predicaments and being
brought up the way he was, taught that lying and stealing aren't wrong, proved very useful in
getting him out of many of these predicaments.
Because Huck's father brought him up to be such a great liar and a stealer Huck has been
able to escape from many close calls. One instance in which Huck wriggles himself out of
trouble is when he and Jim, the runaway slave are traveling down river on the raft. Huck while
off on a little excursion in his canoe runs into two men running away from some angry villagers
and their dogs. When they plead and beg for Huck to save him and he finally accepts they are
very gracious. When they arrive on the raft and notice that Jim is a black slave they inquire
about him. They ask Huck if he's a runaway slave and they seem interested in selling him for a
good price. Huck being the great thinker he is argues, "why would a slave be going south?".
That really stumps the two men and they leave it at that. It is instances like these where Huck is
able to think quickly and lie his way out of situations that makes him able to survive on his own.
Another instance which I can remember clearly is when Huck fakes his death in the very
beginning of the book. When Huck is brought to live with his father he quickly sees how
horrible of a life he would have with his drunken father. So in order to escape from his fathers
drunken grasps he must concoct some plan to keep his father away from him for good. One
day when his father is off across the river Huck cuts his way out of the back of the cabin using a
make sift saw. He then hunts down a pig, slits it throat and smears the blood all over the walls
of the cabin and the tip of an ax. He even takes a sack of cornmeal and drags it down a trail
with a small leak in it so that it leaves a trail. Huck then takes off down river, free at last. Not
many people would have the intelligence to fake their death as Huck did. Huck didn't forget a
detail and was very successful.
Huck survives by lying and faking his way through the south. Yet another example of this is
when Huck gets separated from Jim and wanders to the shore. He runs into a family called the
Grangerfords. Huck is so clever he lies to them and says his name is George Jaxon. The family
believes them and Huck makes up this big story about who he is and where he's from and its so
good that it fools all of the family. He even asks Buck to see if he can spell His name, he does
and spells it "George Jaxon", of course Huck only does this to make sure he can spell his own
name if he has to for some reason.
Even another instance when Huck gets out of a situation that could turn awfully bad is when
he and Jim are floating down stream on a raft and Huck decides to go out for a little canoe ride
to check out the surroundings. On the way out Huck runs into a group of men on a raft inquiring
about his raft and whose on it. Just as you think Huck is a s good as dead he comes up with this
wild story. He says that his father and mother and family are aboard the raft and they have
come from up north on the river. Huck claims that they have a serious case of the mumps. He
describes it as some kind of mumps, chicken pox, scarlet fever, virus and its very contagious.
He asks the men for help but they say they are very busy. Huck is so convincing that he gets the
men to leave and never look back. Huck seems to have the extraordinary ability to make up the
most bizarre stories and lie his way out of even the hairiest situation.
There are even more examples which I can use to back up my theory. Nearing the end of
the book Huck loses Jim. It seems the King and the Duke have taken him to a town and were
preparing to sell him. Huck hears of this and travels to the town. He is inquires about Jim and a
townsman says that he has seen the slave and two men walking north into town. Huck goes into
town and is surprisingly greeted by and older woman walking down her driveway. She is so
happy to see him for some reason so Huck just plays along. Later after everything calms down
Huck finds out that his real identity is Tom Sawyer and he is supposed to be coming from town
to see his aunt. So Huck just goes along with it. He knows that Tom Sawyer will be arriving
soon and goes to intercept him. When he meets up with him and tells him about what happened
and how he really isn't dead and how he's trying to free Jim, Tom agrees to try and help to free
Jim. Huck and tom concoct a great plan, Tom will be Toms brother Sid and Huck will be Tom
and they will work to free Jim. Well they go along with their plan and it is successful in freeing
Jim, well almost.
When Huck and Tom free Jim they are running away and Tom gets shot in the leg by a
villager hoping to catch them. When Huck and Tom head out on the river with Jim they realize
that Huck needs a doctor immediately if he is going to live. So Huck goes back to town to find
a doctor. And what does Huck do when he finds a doctor, he makes up a story and says he
was hunting with his brother off across the river and accidentally shot his brother in the leg. He
totally lies his way around the truth, but it works and the doctor believes him. Later on the truth
is discovered and Jim is set free.
Because Huck was brought up in an environment where he saw lying and stealing almost all
the time and almost became accustomed to it, Huck himself became a liar and a stealer too. It
may not have been to the extent to which his drunk father was but he was a definite liar and a
stealer. Although he may have had some bad habits he wasn't really a bad kid, Huck often
found himself in situations where the only two choices were to lie or get hung. It was however
because of the way he was brought up that enabled him to get out of those situations and escape
being hanged. Huck was brought up a liar and always would be a liar no matter how hard he
tried, these had become his natural instincts along with staying alive. So if Huck's father had not
brought him up the way he had and Huck had lived a proper life, a civilized one, then I do not
believe that Huck would be able to survive one day in the awful cruel world he lived in. Because
his father brought him up tough and strong, and defiant he survived. If he had been any different
then he wouldn't have been bale to get Jim to freedom or live the great adventures which he did.