Huck demonstrates a different attitude from Tom Sawyer. He seems to originate original thoughts unlike Tom who just acts solely on his mischievous behavior. For instance, in the beginning of the book when Tom and Huck are out in the woods beside their house and Jim hears something suspicious so he goes to investigate. Jim eventually falls asleep and just when Tom and Huck are about to make a clean get away, Tom wants to take things further and tie Jim’s feet together, throw his hat on a tree, and plainly mess with him. Huck seems to express deep concern for these type of actions that Tom generally takes, but every time it seems as he conforms himself to believe the same things that Tom does and partake in the same type of activities.
Perhaps the main reason Huck confides so much in the rebellious life in which he leads along with Tom, is that he truly is happy when there is nothing holding him back, or trying to force him to do something. His father beat him for expressing virtually any kind of emotion or success. Aunt Polly, Miss Watson and others desperately try to turn Huck into a different young man than he is, therefore this rebellious attitude comes about. Although he doesn’t necessarily like all the things in which he and Tom do together, he concludes that it is much better than having to conform to all these other society-type people who force him to become something he hates, as evidenced from the quote, “I asked if she reckoned Tom Sawyer would go there [hell], and, she said, not by a considerable sight. I was glad about that, because I wanted him and me to be together.”
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What I found curious was the obvious bifurcating point of Huck and Tom as Huck goes through his adventure with Jim. Huck initially was a simple fun-loving, adventurous boy who shares the innocence of Tom Sawyer. But Huck gradually develops his own moral conscience as he struggles to reconcile his attachment to Jim and the social values that endorses slavery. From his first-hand experience of running away with Jim, Huck comes to understand the issue as much more complicated than what society told him to believe. When Tom Sawyer reveals his plan to help Jim escape, Huck cannot help feeling struck with the relative simplemindedness of Tom: “Well, I let go all holts then, like I was shot. It was the most astonishing speech I ever heard—and I’m bound to say Tom Sawyer fell, considerable, in my estimation. Only I couldn’t believe it.” Tom is free from the inner struggle Huck went through, and this point clearly shows the inner outgrowth of Huck from his simple days. Although Huck remains ambiguous about his exact position concerning the issue, he at least started to take a step forward to tackle the complicated issue of slavery.
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