Huckleberry Finn Chapters 16-21

          To kick off this portion of reading, Huck and Jim are on their way to Cairo to free Jim from slavery. Huck begins to have an internal battle with himself on whether or not he should help Jim or turn him in since he is a runaway slave. To me, this shows "Coming of Age" because he is battling with his personal morals and the law. It seems that he is acknowledging that if he is caught helping Jim, he could get into trouble, or he could turn Jim in and have to live in regret and guilt with that decision. We are then presented with a heart warming statement from Jim. "Jim won't ever forgit you, Huck, you's de bes' fren' Jim's ever had; en you's de fren's ole Jim's got now." Huck realizes that him and Jim are true friends and you can't turn your back on friendship.
          Skipping to chapter 19, Huck and Jim become "one with nature". They take in some criminals and Huck can tell that they are lying. This sense is acquired as we mature and experience life which has to do with "Coming of Age". As we grow up we deal with how people act when they are truthful and when they lie so we gain the sense of telling the difference between the two. Huck doesn't tell Jim to try and protect him which shows us that their bond is developing.
          Chapters 20 and 21 don't really involve "Coming of Age". The criminals go around town and scam people out of money while Huck and Jim stay on the raft. Towards the end one of the criminals places a $200 bounty/reward for the capture of Jim. It seems that Huck and Jim can't catch a break.
       
  

Huckleberry Finn Chapter 6-15

We start off this section of the book with Huck faking his death in a clever way that some might not have thought he was capable of thinking of and proceeding with it. To me, "Coming of Age" doesn't necessarily mean being slick and creative, but more of realizing the consequences of your actions.
Continuing, when Jim came into the picture I was excited because him and Huck have similar personalities. Huck is young and impressionable so Jim could possibly influence how he acts. They sort of have a father and son bond. This is shown when Jim doesn't let Huck see the dead body.
Huck fools around with his wardrobe and likes to explore new things which is a part coming of age because you do more of finding yourself and expressing who you are. Everything then goes downhill when robbers attack and their ship sinks. in that chapter Huck says "it warnt no time to be setimentering". This shows "Coming of Age" because he is willing to set aside all the silly things and focus on the task at hand. Other than these events, I did.t feel that there were any other moments that really defined "Coming of Age". See you next week folks!

 

Huckleberry Finn Blog Post #1

Coming of age is the process by which a young person transitions from childhood into adulthood. We see at the beginning of the novel that Huck is your everyday child. He likes to do what he pleases and is very impressionable, mostly by the townspeople and his belief in superstition. We see Huck beginning to think like an adult when he realizes that the widow is only doing what is best for his well-being. He starts to become accustomed to the widow when he realizes how much better his life is now then it previously was with his father who was not really there for him. One example of Huck's growing maturity is when he gives all of his money to Judge Thatcher. It shows that he trusts Judge Thatcher to keep his word and give him the money when he asks for it. A big part of growing up is seeing that every situation has different outcomes and not everybody is trying to hurt you.