Huck Finn Essay

Hey guys! So for my english class we read Huck Finn and then we got to do a final project on it at the end. So I chose to do an essay on the differences between Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer and how the both of them represent romantisicm and realism in today's society.

The Romeo of Missouri

Throughout the novel, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, and history itself, the fight between romanticism and realism has remained a prevailing battle in the minds of all, especially the young. The romanticist whose life is controlled by passion and imagination in the book is represented by Tom Sawyer; while the realist who strives for simple and straight-forward is Huck Finn. The differences between the two young boys are clearly shown in many ways as the adventure that is Huck Finn travels farther away from his home in search of literal freedom for Jim, as well as freedom to be himself.

Tom Sawyer is shown to be driven by his imagination in many scenarios where he attempts to follow what he’s heard in stories of adventure and trickery. Tom’s imaginative ideas are shown when he makes ridiculous claims about genies and magicians, such as his trick on Huck where he states, “A magician could call up a lot of genies and they would hash you up like nothing before you could say Jack Robinson. They are as tall as a tree and as big around as a church.” (Twain, 14). This goes to prove that Tom conjures up stories and lies like a second language by using his vast imagination. Most of the time, it’s difficult to tell whether Tom truly believes what he is saying to others or if he is trying to play another trick. Either way, his romanticist views create many problems for the boys when they are finally reunited. For example, Tom created a multifaceted plan with unnecessary risk to escape Jim from captivity such as making him scratch a message onto the wall, and digging out of the cabin with case knives. While he did cause many disruptions, Tom brought an aspect of the adventurous life out in the novel and out of Huck as well by following his romantic way of life.

On the other hand, while Tom was busy being adventurous to the point of ridiculousness, Huck was portrayed as the realist of the novel. Many times throughout the book, Huck was found pointing out the flaws and unnecessary additions in Tom’s crazy plans to try and make him see the ridiculous nature of his ideas. Many argue that Huck represents a “New America” during the time period of slavery and racism. The New America is supposedly a country with equality and realism, instead of the romanticist fantasy world that Tom created where he didn’t address the problems of racism and chose to distract himself with nonsense because “that’s the way things have always been”. Another important aspect of Huck’s personality is the strong influence that Tom has always held over on him. As Huck put it, “Yet he made a mighty fuss, one day, after that, when I stole a watermelon out of a nigger patch and ate it; and he made me go and give the niggers a dime, without telling them what it was for. Tom said that what he meant was, we could steal anything we needed” (Twain, 271-272). This shows the influence Tom has over Huck even after he has been away for him for so long. It also is a representative of how New America struggles to rid itself of the past views of society. The unsatisfactory ending of this novel is also a metaphor for how we still have not completely resolved the issue of racism in America.

This novel has been said to set the bar for all other great pieces of American literature, and also a precedent for the type of satire present in most popular pieces today. While there were many metaphors and hidden meanings throughout the story, the roles that Huck and Tom played seem to stick out from the rest. The realist that Huck played and the romanticist Tom portrayed are seen today in many books have been first set in this novel, and is seen when Huck always tries for the more doable and simple plan while Tom always wants the extravagant and fantasy plans.