Impression of Huck Finn

              In the first ten chapters of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain has perceived Huck as an independent kind of person. Huck isn’t one to follow the rules and ways of those around him. He doesn’t always fit in with the rest of the white community of pre- Civil War, Mississippi. He has his own ways of living his life that don’t always match up to those around him, even his best friend, Tom Sawyer. Huck even explains within the first chapter that he left Miss. Watson because he didn’t like her ways of living. “… 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 when I couldn’t stand it no longer I lit out” (Twain, 11). Huck never seemed to need anyone to help him out. Even when he decided to run away from his father, he had it all planned out to live his life on his own: to live in solitude where no one could find him and have nothing, but the woods and him to keep company “I thought it all over, and I reckoned that I would walk off with the gun and some lines, and take the woods when I ran away. I guess I wouldn’t stay in one place, but tramp across the country, mostly nighttimes, and hunt and fish to keep alive…” (Twain, 34). Huck is one to take care of himself and live his own way. He doesn’t need anyone to tell him what to do or how to live his life. Huck is an independent human being.

            Along with being independent, Huck is also lacks self-confidence. When people call him names or beat him, he just takes it. He may get a little upset about it, but he never really does anything about it. When Tom Sawyer created his gang, a kid blatantly pointed out how Huck has no family. Huck didn’t try to defend himself for not having the family everyone else had. He just took the blow. “They talked it over, and they was going to rule me out… I was most ready to cry,” (Twain, 17). Later, after he ran away, he clearly showed that he didn’t think much of himself. “Jim said bees wouldn’t sting idiots; but I didn’t believe that, because I had tried them lots of times myself, and they wouldn’t sting me,” (Twain, 52). Huck has little confidence for himself. He doesn’t think he is smart and doesn’t really defend himself when being kicked around. He may have a hard exterior, but he doesn’t think much of himself in the end.

            In the first ten chapters of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain has perceived Huck as an interesting character and readers can already see what kind of person he will be in the story. While he may be perceived in different ways, readers can really see how Huck is independent, but lacks self-confidence.