Huckleberry Finn Case

Mark Twain is one of the authors who helped shape modern English literature. His books have a distinctive narrative style that is friendly, funny, irreverent, often satirical and always eager to deflate the pretentious. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is probably his most influential book of all. When professional literary critics read it they notice the excessive use of archetypes that were used to write it. These archetypes are what shape the characters, mood and setting of the story. By the end of the book people see just how brilliant of a writer Mark Twain really was.

The main character, Huckleberry Finn is a very interesting person. He is not your typical 13 year old boy who just goes to school and only thinks about having fun. He is very smart, cunning and constantly seeks adventure. The one person that he looks up to is Tom Sawyer. Huck wants to be just like him because he sees that Tom Sawyer lives by his own rules, goes on many adventures and lives an exciting life. Both Huck and Tom fit the description of the Wanderer/Explorer archetype. They are authentic, curious, unique and always stay true to themselves. However, Huck does not show all of these qualities in the book’s early stages. At first he more fits into the description of The Innocent archetype. He seems like just a normal kid who lives an every-day life and we think that he wouldn’t be able to survive in the world alone. In the very first page of the novel Huck says this line: “The widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time, considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all her ways; and so I couldn’t stand it no longer I lit out” (Twain, 1). With this thought Huck is establishing his opposition to “sivilizing” which seems natural for a 13 year old boy rebelling against his parents and other authorities. We see that his problems with civilized society are based on some rather mature observations about the worth of that society. Huck is restless and in the very first page of the book we see his desire to escape and be free. Later on he escapes from his father and displays a level of wits and cunningness that not many people possess. He decides that he is not going to go back to Ms. Watson and so he fakes his own death and begins to officially live the life of an explorer. If he had not escaped and had gone back to Ms. Watson, the same boring life that he led would have resumed and he would’ve become alienated and restless. The biggest fears of wanderers are feeling trapped and conformity and after all he had been through to get to where he was Huck didn’t want to let it all go to waste so he takes this opportunity and never looks back.

Another archetype that Mark Twain thoroughly explores is the Deceptive Archetype. People that match this archetype are people that create false persona, fool others, steal valuables, and /or are dishonest and untrustworthy.