Huckleberry Finn: A Dynamic Character

Huckleberry Finn is a racist person who only cares about killing, stealing, playing pranks, and being an absolute nuisance. At least, that’s the description most readers get at the beginning of the book. However, this vast oversimplification of Huckleberry’s character is definitely wrong. Not only does he disprove these traits, but he shows the growth of how he got there. Therefore, Huckleberry Finn is a dynamic character.
Huckleberry is a dynamic character because he takes the lessons he’s been taught and applies them to his life. His father-although not a very good role model-gives Huckleberry advice that he uses later. It’s a small part of the story: however, Huckleberry uses his father’s idea of ‘borrowing’ to keep him and Jim alive. He

Through his tricks, he sees how Southern's treat different people. Huckleberry tricks people a lot throughout the story. As a boy who is supposed to be dead, he knows that being himself will get him nowhere. When he dresses up as a girl he gains hospitality, and even after he’s found out he gets sympathy for another fake story. His other tricks involve families with women and siblings or sick fathers. All of these facades show a peek into Southern society. In the beginning there is little to no Southern ideals shown. Huckleberry does not manipulate anyone with families or femininity. Finally, he is given an internal conflict with Jim. Jim creates a big problem for Huckleberry. Because of Jim, he has to fight with the Southern society he’s grown up with, and the feelings Jim gives him. Here is this man who is kind to Huckleberry. He saves him from the rain, and almost cries when he realizes Finn is alive. However, this man is black and a slave-a runaway slave at that. This starts a war in Huckleberry’s mind. On one hand, he says to himself, “ ‘What had poor Miss Watson done to you that you could see her nigger go off under your eyes and never say one single word” (Twain 88). Huckleberry did not have these thoughts when the story started. Blacks were slaves and that was that, but now the status quo has been flipped. He is left wading in a river of uncertainty and conflicting feelings. That is very different than his