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Huckleberry Finn Coming Of Age

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Coming of Age - A Journey of Self Made Successful by Others
On the Road, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Ragged Dick are all vastly different stories with protagonists with ranging ages. On the Road is a story about Sal, an adult trying to find himself while having kicks with his friends on the road; The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn tells the adventures of a runaway child who teams up with a runaway slave; and Ragged Dick, a "rags to riches" story sharing the path to success of a young street urchin named Ragged Dick. Despite being so different, these coming of age stories, however, share a commonality. Even though coming of age is about the evolution of self, each story shows that the growth of the main characters is not due to the …show more content…

Huck's ultimate maturation comes from him being able to see Jim as another human being. Being with Jim allows for Huck's practical mentality to evolve into something more. Huck always chooses the practical choice, what is easier. For example, Huck decides against praying because "Couldn't see no advantage about it - except for the other people - so at last I reckoned I wouldn't worry about it anymore, but just let it go" (Twain 19). Huck's pragmatic philosophy allows him to choose what is easiest to do. Throughout Huck's adventure with Jim, we can see his philosophy slightly evolve. When Huck contemplates on whether to turn Jim in, he decides not to because "what's the use you learning to do right when it's troublesome to do right and ain't no trouble to do wrong" (Twain 95). Turning in Jim would be morally hard and therefore troublesome due the pain caused. It would have been easier to turn in Jim and get the money, however he is started to weigh his emotions into the scale of practicality. Later, when he drafts the letter to Miss Watson regarding Jim, he feels like all his sins have been lifted. However, when thinking about Jim he gets nostalgic and sad, ripping up the paper and declaring "All right, then, I'll go to hell!" (Twain 217). Turning in Jim would cause too much pain to Huck and is therefore no longer practical. Essentially, by the end of the book, Huck's …show more content…

Sal's is symbolized by living in the moment and settling down. Dick manages to embody all the necessary traits and becomes a respectable and successful adult. Huck manages to see past Jim's skin color and acknowledge him as. However, each of them needed other people to fully evolve. In other words, coming of age is propagated by others is unable to happen in a vacuum. For one to truly grow, they need others to help

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