After finishing the book it seems that all of the "Coming of Age" that Huck has accomplished has been set back. After he reunites with Tom, the two assume the roles that they had at the beginning of the novel. Tom influences Huck to go back to his old ways and we see all of Huck's maturation fade away as he no longer views Jim as an equal. Huck has let all he came to know slip because he is a person who is easily persuaded. It was easy for him to forget all that he and Jim went through and just view Jim as another slave who was not equal to himself.
In a way, it does not really matter because we come to find that Jim has been free for the duration of the novel. It could be viewed that Huck wanted to be friends with Jim and was using the fact that he thought Jim was a slave who needed help just to be close with him. In its own sense that is "Coming of Age" because Huck was able to overlook the racial barrier of the time period and see somebody for who they are on the inside and not how they look on the outside. Thanks for reading!
Your point of view on this is very interesting. At first, there was the [definite] fact that Huck no longer views Jim as an equal, then there was the possibility that it was all an act (a bit contradictory). I agree mostly with the latter, I picked up many hints that suggested Huck views Jim as an equal, the only factor that suggested otherwise was Huck's calling Jim a "nigger" for the duration of the novel. However, I feel like Huck did exceptionally well in regards to the theme as he would eventually overcome any setbacks he was presented with. You pretty much summed up the resolution in the second-to-last sentence, and I think the ending result matters much more than the process.
ReplyDeleteI think that the entire coming of age theme was one to pay really close attention to. The smallest things could have triggered something in Huck's mind and he could've easily went back to his old ways. I agree with taylor where calling jim a "nigger" was really one of the only reasons why I thought huck might not have seen him as equal. But I also remember that it was a very different time period then, and that word was more commonly used.
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