THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN JOURNAL

Andrew Beck

Per.7 10/4/98

Mr.Luizzi

When I first picked up 'Huckleberry Finn', I noticed that Huck is a somewhat different protagonist than those that I have read before. Take Holden Caufield from Catcher In The Kw. Holden tells us his day to day ventures as he goes through them yet we can not trust him to tell the truth. We know that he always exaggerates and stretches the truth. Now take Huck Finn for example, he tells you the most exact, truthful description that anyone could ever tell. This is because Huck is so literal minded, so is Jim. This leads both of them into believing very hokey, superstitious stories. For example, when Jim first sees Huck after his "fake" death, Jim thinks he's a ghost and starts saying "... doan' do nuffh to Ole Jim, 'at 'uz alwuz yo' fren'. " Another time, Huck went to catch some birds for supper, but Jim said that the birds signal death and when his father caught one he died.

Another interesting quality about Huck is his sympathy for human beings. This is obvious when he is staying with the Grangerford and thier feud with the Sheperdsons left Buck, his cousin, two brothers and his father dead. During all this Huck climbs safely into a tree and witnesses the massacre. He later exclaims "I wish I hadn't ever come ashore that night to see such things." It is also good to note that even though that none of this event had anything to do with him, he begins to blame himself for not bringing the meeting note to Mr.Grangerford's attention earlier.