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Alex Kelley
Ohanian period 6
English 11
23 March 2015
Huckleberry Finn:
An Analysis of Hucks Ability to be a Role Model

Dictionary.com defines a role model as "a person whose behavior, example, or success is
or can be emulated by others, especially by younger people". In The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn by Mark Twain huck, a rebellious teenager, fakes his death and runs away. When he runs he
leaves Miss Watson, and older lady who adopted huck and cared for him.Huck fleas to Jackson's
island to escape everyone from his hometown. While on Jackson's island Huck finds Jim, a slave
who works for Miss Watson. Huck finds out that Jim had and run away.Huck and Jim work
together to survival on Jackson's island, Huck then tries to play a prank and it ends with Jim
getting bit by a rattlesnake. This makes Jim distrustful of Huck for quite some time. Jim
however shows how much he cares for a hug when he prevents her from seeing his dead father in
the house floating down the river. They eventually find a raft and modify it so they could float
down the Mississippi River on the raft. When Huck and Jim go through a fog they get separated,
Huck being very childish decides he will play a trick on Jim and pretend that Jim dreamed up
their separation. After missing their target city of Cairo Jim and Huck find two old men.The old
men introduce themselves as the king and the duke. As the book goes on the reader finds out that
the king in the duke are con artists and play mean tricks on other people to gain money. Huck
decides he will assist the king in the Duke in these scams so he can gain money from them as
well. Huck, Jim and the King and Duke float down the river scamming different town for quite

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some time but eventually the King and the Duke almost get caught so they sell Jim and leave.
Huck is a teenager undergoing an adventure of a lifetime but on this adventure he does some bad
things. Huckleberry Finn is not a good Role model for teens today because he runs away from a
caring and nurturing environment to help a king and a duke scam some people as they float down
the Mississippi River.
Huck Finn is cared for by miss Watson. Huck runs from his home with miss Watson, this
is a horrible thing for a teenager today to do. Miss Watson may be strict but she cares about
Huck, Huck recognizes this when he says"The widow she cried over me, and called me a poor
lost lamb, and she called me a lot of other names, too, but she never meant no harm by it. She put
me in them new clothes again, and I couldnt do noth-ing but sweat and sweat, and feel all
cramped up "(Twain 2). Miss Watson provides for Huck by giving him cloths. She cares for him
and even cries when she think he is not maturing as he should. After coming out of the fog Huck
was thinking" Conscience says to me, What had poor Miss Watson done to you that you could
see her nigger go off right under your eyes and never say one single word? What did that poor
old woman do to you that you could treat her so mean? Why, she tried to learn you your book,
she tried to learn you your manners, she tried to be good to you every way she knowed how.
Thats what she done. "(Twain 92). Miss Watson always took care of Huck and tried to be the
best guardian of Huck that she could and Huck took advantage of that a ran away. After running
away Huck even help Jim, miss Watson's slave, run away. Huck does not think of the
repercussions of his action, he cares nothing of the sadness him running away would have on
miss Watson.
Huck Finn not only does something unethical but also morally wrong. Huck Finn helps
the king and the duke escape a group of people trying to catch them for their scam. Huck is on

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the canoe when he sees them coming They wanted to jump right in, but I says:
Dont you do it. I dont hear the dogs and horses yet; youve got time to crowd through the
brush and get up the crick a little ways; then you take to the water and wade down to me and get
inthatll throw the dogs off the scent.
They done it, and soon as they was aboard I lit out for our tow- head, and in about five or ten
minutes we heard the dogs and the men away off, shouting. We heard them come along towards
the crick, but couldnt see them; they seemed to stop and fool around a while; then, as we got
further and further away all the time, we couldnt hardly hear them at all; by the time we had left
a mile of woods behind us and struck the river, everything was quiet, and we paddled over to the
towhead and hid in the cottonwoods and was safe.(Twain 124). Huck even goes so far as to get
rid of the sent so the dogs couldnt trace them. The only reason Huck wouldn't want the dogs to
find them is because he knows they would get in trouble, so he is willing to help them fully
knowing that they had done something wrong. Huck then gets to know the king and the duke and
he agrees to help with their next scam, the plays. They arrive in the town and begin to advertise
their plays "The first chance we got the duke he had some show-bills printed...We struck it
mighty lucky; there was going to be a circus there that afternoon, and the country people was
already beginning to come in, in all kinds of old shackly wagons, and on horses. The circus
would leave before night, so our show would have a pretty good chance. The duke he hired the
courthouse, and we went around and stuck up our bills"(Twain 142).Huck assist the king and the
duke scam several towns. Huck can not be a good role model because he assisted two con artist
and teenagers today should not be looking up to a kid who scams towns for money.
Some people may say that Huck is a very good role model because he is helping Jim
escape from slavery. The people who say huck is a good role model because he helps jim, are

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wrong because huck was a citizen of the United States. Being a citizen of a country entails that
you will follow all the laws of the land while you are in the country. Also if Huck is doing the
right thing why does he feel guilty? He writes a letter to miss Watson So I was full of trouble,
full as I could be; and didnt know what to do. At last I had an idea; and I says, Ill go and write
the letterand then see if I can pray. Why, it was astonishing, the way I felt as light as a feather
right straight off, and my troubles all gone. So I got a piece of paper and a pencil, all glad and
excited, and set down and wrote:
Miss Watson, your runaway nigger Jim is down here two mile below Pikesville, and Mr. Phelps
has got him and he will give him up for the reward if you send.
HUCK FINN.
I felt good and all washed clean of sin for the first time I had ever felt so in my life, and I
knowed I could pray now(Twain 220).When he writes the letter to miss Watson he feels good
when he is truly doing the right thing by following the law. Therefore Huck Finn is not a good
role model because he disobeys the law when he tears up the letter and does not tell miss Watson
where Jim is.
Huck Finn is not a good role model because he helps scammer take money and he run
away from miss Watson. Not only does he run from miss Watson, he helps her slave escape,
which is illegal. Miss Watson cares for, she buys him cloths, she sends him to school, and she
tries to teach him religion. Hucks runs from this life because he wants to be uncivilized. When
huck meets the king and the duke he helps them escape people who are after them then he
proceeds to help them scam several towns. Huck can not be a role model because teens today
should not be learning to run away and scam people for a living.