When reading a novel we always highlight the abilities of the characters to

overcome difficult situations throughout the development of their literary lives, and
in my opinnion, those abilities make any story fascinating and captivating. An
example of this fact is the novel “Huckleberry Finn” written by Mark Twain, where
we see Huckleberry’s skills to survive before many hard situations and enviroments
in the story.

Mark Twain depicts Huckleberry as a very clever and shrewd boy who is able to
confront complex situations because his ability to lie. He is forced to lie due to the
circumstances he deals with and evasions are the only weapon he has in order to
protect himself from people who are physically stronger than him. He has a
creativity beyond boundaries, also the understanding of people of different classes
and the common sense he possesses give him the chance he needs to survive in a
harsh society.

Living with Ms. Watson and Widow Douglas Huck shows his shrewd thinking
when he realizes that his father is back. In order to prevent being captured and
abused by his father Huck gives all his money to Judge Thatcher to avoid being
pursued because he knew that if he was caught by his father he would get all the
money and would get drunk. Huck’s father drunkness represents a threat to his life,
and protecting himself was the top of his priorities.

We clearly see his ability to survive hard situations when his father kidnapped
and locked him up in a hut. Here Huck is abused by his father but as he is always
drunk, he does not realizes what he is doing to his son, reaching the point of
almost killing him without being aware of it. This fact convinces Huck that his father
is a real threat to his life, for that reason he thinks in a plan to escape. The plan
shows his common sense combined with cleverness and imagination. He creates a
bloody scene with the blood of a pig he shot, he smashed the door and left some
his hair on a bloody ax, and left a trail of food, giving the impression that he was
killed by robbers. His plan is a complete success.
 After his simulated death, Huck hides his true identity by using disguises which
allows him to be a new person. An example of this, he dresses as a girl to go
ashore to collect some information. This shows how ingenious and innovative
Huck is in creating a creditable story that will camouflage his real identity. When he
meets a woman that recently had settled down, he dresses as a girl and creates a
new name and a convincible story, “trusting providence to put the right words in my
mouth when the time come."

George Jackson is another identity he creates to introduce himself at the

Grangerford's home. He is welcomed because his identity and the story are
convincible by the Grangerfords. Here Huck quickly adapts to a relaxing and
luxurious environment. He is impressed by their furniture and most of all, the great
food they had to offer him. Huck realizes that staying there he will be favoured by
this family.

The adaptability of Huckleberry Finn to different situations is marked throughout

the novel, besides he can tolerate living in different places and with different
people, we can guess that tolerance towards good and bad moments seems to be
one of his best qualities.

Huck’s survival is achieved because of his natural talent to adapt before difficult
situations, and also his sympathy to human beings and his cleverness are the
qualities that allow him to overcome the problems in his enviroment. His
shrwedness and ingenuity among others features mentioned before make
Huckleberry Finn one of the greatest characters in American literature.
Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación
Facultad de Historia, Geografía y Letras
Departamento de Ingles

SURVIVAL
in
“Huckleberry
Finn”
Enzo Miguel Aravena Ponce
November, 13th 2008
American Literature