FRQ3

Prompt: 2008, Form B In some works of literature, childhood and adolescence are portrayed as times graced by innocence and a sense of wonder; in other works, they are depicted as times of tribulation and terror. Focusing on a single novel or play, explain how its representations of childhood or adolescence shapes the meaning od the work as a whole.

 

In Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, childhood and adolescence is portrayed as a complex interplay between innocence and experience with an adventure filled with wonder and tribulation. With the character of Huck Finn, Twain explores the varied nature of childhood, which ends up shaping the meaning of the book. 

    Huck Finn epitomizes the carefree innocence that can often be associated with childhood. He is described as a spirited young boy who is untouched by the struggles of society and their moral rules. As him and his friend Tom Sawyer go on various adventures filled with curiosity they travel around with a playful and mischievous spirit. Twain is able to grab the essence of youth as a time of exploration and a period of great discovery, where all walls of reality are mixed and the imagination flows freely.

    However, no one is perfect and we are still flawed by sin. We can see this in Huck’s childhood where beneath the surface of innocence there is a dark reality. Huckleberry’s childhood is scarred by trials and tribulations, with the hard reality of growing up along the Mississippi River in the mid 1800s. As we get into the book we are introduced to the harshness of racism, violence, and abusiveness. Huck’s father is a drunkard that constantly abuses Huck and neglects force onto Huck causing him to flee into the wilderness, where he is alone and filled with fear. Mark Twain doesn’t sugarcoat the reality of Huck’s life and depicts the harshness of Huck’s life living in a world filled with danger and sin.

    As Huck begins to wake up to this cruel and fallen world he gets a gradual realization of how hard it can be to tell what is right to what is wrong. As Finn begins his adventure along the Mississippi River with the runaway slave Jim, Huck must face the moral contradictions of life if he wants to grow up. Twain is able to use Huck’s innocence in order to help highlight the areas of the pre war South, with slavery being widely accepted and where the value of human life is based on the color of your skin.

    The friendship that is formed between Huck and Jim is used as a starter for Huck’s moral growth. Despite slavery being supported Huck is able to not see Jim as a slave or as inferior but as a human being who deserves respect and rights. Twain changes the traditional views of childhood innocence by depicting Huck’s moral development as a painful and transformative process filled with struggles. 

    Twain also uses the theme of social acceptance and how if you want society to accept you there is most likely a loss of innocence involved. Huck and Jim encounter multiple characters that embody the influence of society that corrupts a person. Twain suggests that true innocence can only be found outside the walls of society’s expectations, serving as a powerful critique of the moral and social injustices that faced even children and teenagers.