Kudia 1

Mahum Kudia

Mrs. Mann

AP Literature

26 November 2017

In-class essay/rough draft

In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain through Hucks efforts to

gain power over his own life, illustrates the hypocrisy of a society that although believes in the

ideals of freedom & equality for all, doesnt implement those ideals for everyone.

The novel follows the journey of a poor, young white boy, Huck, as he tries to gain

power over his own life, and free himself from the control of others, aka society. At the

beginning of the novel, Twain demonstrates how Huck feels controlled by the societal

expectation to be respectable. Of course it is to be expected, that as a child with no proper

parenting, Huck did not like listening to, and was not really receptive to authority figures in his

life. He would rebel against the authority by being a naughty child. This is apparent when he

wished he was there at the bad place (hell) when Miss Watson was trying to teach him how to

read. This type of authority, that Miss Watson & the old widow had over Huck was the good

kind of authority, the parental kind. The real issue arose when Hucks mean, drunkard father

came back to town and kidnapped Huck from his loving home, in order to steal his money. He

would lock Huck into a cabin in the middle of the woods--sometimes for days at a time. Hucks

father prevented him from leaving, stopped his education, and would beat him terribly. Huck was

essentially a prisoner in his own home. Therefore, he was forced to take action so he could get

his freedom, and escape from his abusive father. To gain power over his own life, Huck made the

drastic plan to fake his own death with pig blood, and escaped into the woods. Now free from the
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abusive power of his father and society, Huck now had the freedom to live his life however he

wanted. It is at this moment of Hucks newfound power, that he runs into Jim, and escaped slave.

The fact that Jim is a runaway slave, and the fact that Huck is white, gives Huck

tremendous power over Jim, especially since they are in the deep south, where slavery is a

prominent aspect of society. Both Jim and Huck are trying to get away, so they team up. Jim

doesnt have any choice but to listen to Huck, who can choose to turn him in at any moment.

Huck exercises his power over Jim by making Jim feel stupid and confused. The night before,

the two had been split up on the river, and couldnt find each other due to the severe fog. When

Jim tells Huck what happened, Huck messes with him by saying, You been drinking? What

makes you talk so wild? I haint been gone anywheres.