Huck Finn 9: 185-209

“I felt so ornery and low down and mean, that I says to myself, My mind’s made up; I’ll hive that money for them or bust”(188).

At the beginning of the novel, Huck was very ignorant with the way that he went about things. His mindset was still in an amateur state. With the quote above, we see Huck’s mind developing. This novel is not only about Huck’s adventures but also about his journey to become mature. The quote above is the beginning of the journey to become mature for Huck. Huck’s decision to get the money for the girls was because he noticed and realized how they sympathized and how good they were to him: “If you was in his place, it would make you feel ashamed; and so you oughn’t to say a thing to another person that will make them feel ashamed” (188).

“the thing’s awful mixed, now; trying to better it, I’ve worsened it a hundred times, and I wish to goodness I’d just let it alone, dad fetch the whole business!” (195).

We also see Huck’s conscience developing in the quote above, along with his maturity. Usually when one regrets something, it’s because you did something bad. Here Huck regrets trying to do something good for another person. This can be seen as a step backward from maturing or a step forward. It can be seen as a step backward because a part of being mature and growing up is learning to own up to one’s actions and accepting the consequences. We see that Huck is afraid of that. We can also see this as a step forward because he is realizing that he should have never put his nose where it didn’t belong.

Shroud
–noun
1. a cloth or sheet in which a corpse is wrapped for burial.

“with a wet cloth over it, and his shroud on” (192).

Passe
–noun
a group or lot of indeterminate number: a passel of dignitaries.

"March off like a passel o' fools and leave eight or nine thous'n' dollars'"(190).