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  • Essay / The role of female characters in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

    The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain shows a view of women that was widely accepted by society during the time period depicted in the novel. All of the women in Huck Finn, who are alternately scorned, distrusted, and revered by the main character, have one obvious similarity: they are aliens, creatures with minds and spirits foreign to Huck's. These women fall into three categories: sweet young girls, motherly figures and older women. Huck's relationship with each group is different, but he brings all three together with typical stereotypes about women's abilities and limitations. Huck views women not as fellow human beings, but as well-meaning nuisances or childish creatures to be taken care of, with good hearts but not enough intelligence to understand his world. However, even though Huck's view of women is limited, women are essential to the novel because they bring compassion to the cold world into which Huck has fallen. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"?Get the original essayThe young women in Huck Finn share common characteristics: they are loving, pious, innocent, and gullible to the point of stupidity. Mary Jane Wilks and her two sisters are the epitome of Twain's daughter hyperbole: kind, trusting, and naive. The bad behavior of the king and the duke immediately deceives them: after the king presents her with her father's money, Mary Jane "went to get him, Susan and the harelip went to get the duke, and then another hug and another kiss that I never did. seen again” (Twain 215). These girls are so eager to trust and love that they are blind to the chattering idiocy of the two men they believe to be their uncles. Huck loves the Wilks for their kindness and beauty, but feels he must be chivalrous because of the girls' vulnerability. Huck's more detailed description of all the girls' appearances shows them more as prizes than people. He describes each girl as "terribly beautiful" (Twain 210) or "sweet" (Twain 183), except for the simple Joanna Wilks, whom he deplores to the point of calling her "harelip." instead of his name. The idea of ​​women as objects doesn't stop there: even in the dark kidnapping plots, Tom refuses to kill the women, telling the boys, "you take them to the cave, and you're always polite as pie with them; and little by little they fall in love with you and never want to go home again (Twain 12). He clearly does not see the female enemies as a threat (like he sees the men) but rather as a trophy: creatures whose minds and hearts can be subjected to the wit and charm of the gang members. Sophia Grangerford seems at first glance to be yet another one of those “sweet” girls; but she is notable as the only woman in the book who leaves home or takes charge of her own situation (by running away to marry a man hated by her father). The rest of Huck's wives, whether young or old, wise or foolish, complacently remain in their domestic sphere and leave the decision-making to the men in their lives. The least developed female characters in Huck Finn are undoubtedly the older women in the novel. One of them is the old and sour Miss Watson, a spinster who has moved in with her sister, the Widow Douglas, Huck's caretaker at the beginning of the book. When she moves in, Miss Watson attempts to reform Huck, but her work is in vain. Her explanation of heaven leaves him unimpressed, and when Huck responds that he..