Huckleberry's Education
Huckleberry's Education
The book Huckleberry Finn can be interpreted in many different ways. Even though in the beginning of the book it says not to over analyze the story, people still do, all the time. Huck Finn escapes school, along with other things, to run away from the society that he was living in. He did learn some useful things in school, that came in handy in his journey. Learning to read and write helped him a lot throughout the story. Over all though, Huck has gotten a better real life education on the river with Jim and the many people that he had met, than he could have in school. Huck is not the kind of person who needs to be very well educated to do well in life. So long as he can understand how to work with people, which is the very thing that he learned the most in his trip, he will be all right with out a formal education.
In the very beginning of his journey, his "street" smarts are obvious. Knowing things like why they were searching for his dead body with bread, for example is something that he would not have learned in school. There is little question as to whether or not he could survive on his own. He would have been able to with out much problem. But what makes it obvious that he does not need a formal education is the fact that throughout the book he learns things that he uses in life.
"Well at last I pulled out some of my hair, and bloodied the ax good, and stuck it on the back side, and slung the ax in the corner. Then I took up the pig and held him to my breast with my jacket (so he couldn't drip) till I got a good piece below the house and then dumped him into the river...". This quote is from fairly early on in the story when Huck is escaping from his father. His dad was an alcoholic who frequently beat Huck and treated him more as property than as a son. He had taken Huckleberry to live with him in a little cabin, and locked him in. In order to properly escape from his dad Huck had to trick him, and the...