Huckleberry Finn comes across as an impressionable person. This impressionable side of his surfaces most whenever Tom Sawyer is involved or mentioned. One day after scolding him, Miss Watson and Huck have a conversation about Heaven and Hell. While Miss Watson was explaining how a person would enter the realm of heaven, Huck Finn asked about the future outcome of Tom Sawyer. Already feeling unsure of wanting to go to heaven, he was relieved that Tom would be going to hell, according to Miss Watson. “I was glad about that, because I wanted him and me to be together” (Twain 13). Huck looks up to Tom because of all they had been through in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Tom Sawyer also convinced him to be a member of his “vicious gang”, and was the person Huck thought would be proud of him while staging his own murder. There also multiple occurrences where Huck would believe the words of Miss Watson, the Widow Douglas, and Jim. Along with being impressionable, Huck is resourceful.
Huckleberry shows his resourcefulness multiple times throughout the course of the first ten chapters. Huck makes a living off this personality trait after his father took him away from his comfortable life to live in the cabin. He also demonstrates resourcefulness while under the Widow Douglas’ care, and when he and Jim live under constant pursuit. “I got my traps out of the canoe and made me a nice camp in the thick woods” (Twain 46). He can build a fire, forage for food, hunt, etc. These things all come in handy, as they keep him alive. All people need to have food, shelter, and water. Huck can satisfy all of those basic needs, as well as fulfilling some of his wants with a little bit of luck. No matter where he is, it is guaranteed that he can survive. Most importantly, he was able to stage his own death, and escaped his father’s cabin in the first place, both setting the stage for the rest of the story.
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