Huckleberry Finn and Holden Caulfield are two of America’s most well-known fictional characters. Both The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Catcher in the Rye have been classics for ages due to their intriguing main characters. Although their situations are on completely different ends of the spectrum (not to mention time periods), these two characters are surprisingly alike in categories of self-image, language, and attitude toward society. Mark Twain and J. D.
Salinger both used self-image as an important part of their novels. Huck sees himself as adventurous. “They all asked me questions, and I told them how pap and me and all the family was living on a little farm down at the bottom of Arkansas, and my sister Mary Ann run off and got married and never was heard of no more, and Bill went to hunt them and he warn’t heard of no more, and Tom and Mort died, and then there warn’t nobody but just me and pap left, and he was just trimmed down to nothing, on account of his troubles; so when he died I took what there was left, because the farm didn’t belong to us, and started up the river, deck passage, and fell overboard; and that was how I come to be here. (Twain 101) ” He knows he can rely on his creativity to generate a believable story, as he did with the Granger fords and many others. Huck knows that he isn’t very important, but also realizes that he is better than crooks such as the king and the duke. Holden knows that he has a lot to learn about life.
The Essay on Barn Burning Abner Snopes Character Analysis
... he is cold hearted, lawless, and violent. First, Abners unchanging character shows his cold heartedness. After being sentenced to leave ... roles Abner Snopes plays throughout the story, shows his unchanging character. The story portrays how a poor man feels when ... California: Salem Press, 1993. Salyman, Jack, and Pamela Wilkinson. Major Characters in American Fiction. New York: Henry Holt and Company, ...
Holden sees his roommates at Pencey lower than he sees himself, but doesn’t hold himself highly. In conclusion, Huck and Holden know they are not the most brilliant people in the world, but think that they are better than most and that they could be worse. Language plays a big role in both novels. Huck can be easily identified by his southern slang. Holden’s wordy way of talking makes the book easy to read because it feels as though he is just chatting with his readers. Both keep their speech very simple, possibly due to lack of education.
Another parallel is their use of foul language. We don’t hear Huck using profanity very often; it was just mentioned. “I had stopped cussing, because the widow didn’t like it; but now I took to it again because pap hadn’t no objections. (Twain 32) ” Holden, on the other hand, uses profanity endlessly. In terms of attitude toward their respective societies, Huck and Holden are quite similar. Both are attempting to get away from their average surroundings.
Huck does this by running away and Holden does so by leaving Pencey. “I put my red hunting hat on, and turned the peak around to the back, the way I liked it, and then I yelled at the top of my goddam voice, ‘Sleep tight, ya morons!’ I’ll bet I woke up every bastard on the whole floor. Then I got the hell out. (Salinger 52) ” Holden also escapes from his society by the purity of his own sister, especially while she was on the carousel. “I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, the way old Phoebe kept going around and around. I was damn near bawling, I felt so damn happy, if you want to know the truth.
I don’t know why. It was just that she looked so damn nice, the way she kept going around and around, in her blue coat and all. (Salinger 213) ” Huck floated by life on a raft with Jim, not caring about where he’s going, as long as he’s away from the civilized world. In the end, he doesn’t get his way. .”.. Aunt Sally she’s going to adopt me and sivilize me, and I can’t stand it.
I been there before. (Twain 279) ” Despite first glance, Huckleberry Finn and Holden Caulfield have countless similarities. Neither holds themselves very highly, nor think they are the worst people in society. Both Huck and Holden have a similar way of narrating, as a conversation would flow. They also have a great resemblance in their feelings against society. These similarities are the most important of each characters novel and it is amazing how alike Huck and Holden are in their beliefs of them..
The Essay on Turn Jim Huck Society Friendship
To turn Jim in, or not to turn Jim in, that is the question that Huck is faced with in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Whether it is nobler to protect a friend or to give in to the demands of society by ending a friendship. This novel portrays a period in American history where most Southern whites considered blacks as a piece of property. Huck, a white Southern boy, and Jim, a ...
