Reader Response 2: Huck Finn (7 - 13)

Huck Finn was influenced by Tom Sawyer by not ever giving up or backing down once starting something. An example of this is in when Huck and Jim was going aboard the abandoned ship to look for things, when they discovered the 2 men about to kill this man who was tied up, Jim wanted to go back to the skiff and Huck says “Tom Sawyer wouldn’t back out now, and so I won’t either.”(chap 12,page 51,par 3)

Huck Finn was influenced by Pap by being polite and nice to people and thinking about the well being of others. An example of this is when Huck and Jim was going along the river and going into the little towns and by food and taking a chicken that wasn’t roosting comfortable. Pap said that “it warn’t no harm to borrow things, if you was meaning to pay them back.”(chap 12,page 49,par 3)

The Widow Douglas influenced Huck Finn by teaching him good manners and to be polite to people. The Widow showed Huck that it’s not alright to steal/borrow things. An example of this is when Huck was going around borrowing food from towns and small villages. The widow said “ It warn’t anything but a soft name for stealing, and no decent body would do it.”(chap 12,page 49,par 3)

Huck is influenced by Jim because he looks at him as close a friend and he respects him and listens to what he has to say. An example of this would be when Jim said "I reckon the widow is partly right and Pap is partly right, so the best way would be for us to pick two or three things from the list and say we wouldn't borrow them anymore- then he reckoned it wouldn't be no harm to borrow the others.(chap 12,page 49,par 3)

I think that Tom Sawyer has the most negative influence on Huck because he was kind of persuading him to do bad things and saying that they were OK to do. I think that Jim had the most positive influence on Huck because he's helping to keep Huck's head straight and trying to show him the right things to do.