Brady CampbellPsychoanalysis of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn3/10/14The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is a book of pairs: Aunt Sally and Uncle Silas; Miss Watson and the Widow Douglas; the Widow Douglas and Justice Thatcher; the king and the duke; Huck and Tom Sawyer; Huck and Jim. All of these have been critically analyzed time and time again. However, Huck and Mary Jane Wilks receives very little critical attention. Regardless of the minimal attention this couple receives, it's undoubtedly an important one. It is this relationship that helps explain Huck's inconsistent actions. As he continually demonstrates that, despite his many mature actions, he is still just a young boy searching for his place in the world. Robert Coles, in The Moral Life of Children, hypothesizes that the ego ideal is the primary foundation upon which the moral spirit of the individual is founded. a behavior is created; that the ego develops from a person's interactions with their mother. As Cole puts it, "The ego ideal represents an effort on the part of the child to regain the kind of self-esteem he once enjoyed so freely." »1 Huck's obvious absence of a real mother explains why he has so much difficulty deciding how to act in society. He therefore often shows signs of maturity undermined by childish acts. As Christopher Lasch has pointed out, “separation from the mother shatters self-esteem because it forces the child to confront his weakness and dependence. »2 In other words, children without mothers should have a much harder time developing morally. Huck Finn is a motherless child. child who has not yet developed a truly mature sense of reality. Huck's participation in Tom Sawyer's countless stories is evidence of his underdeveloped cognition. It would be an oversi...... middle of paper ......y or doing "right" and bringing him back to slavery peaks. In conclusion, her decision to help free Jim is most likely a result of Mary Jane's impact on his moral character. As a direct result of Mary Jane, Huck appears to develop an ego ideal that leads him to mature action (i.e. "freeing" Jim from bondage). However, his seemingly brutal disregard for his newfound maturity is often criticized. Many even blatantly disrespect Twain by claiming that Huck's return is because Twain wrote the novel and then took it back. But in truth, Huck's return is due to the limited time he spends with Mary Jane. Because he simply hasn't been exposed to a mother figure long enough for permanent change. Thus, Twain could not have been faithful to Huck if he had not allowed him to struggle with mature action. Even though that's what his subconscious had been grasping all this time.