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Adolescent Archetype An archetype is defined as a universally understood pattern of behavior or a prototype upon which others are copied or patterned. Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain was and still is the basis for which authors use for their characters in their writing. Huck Finn’s adolescent archetype is based off his characteristics. In Huck Finn, his independence, rebelliousness, and his loquaciousness with people are used for the foundation that authors base characters similar to Huck Finn on.
Independence- Huck is very independent throughout the book strictly because of the lack of support such as his father Pap. Pap has never been there for Huck and Huck never related to either Miss Watson or Widow Douglas. This left Huck with no choice to rely on anyone therefore he had to do everything himself. When Huck left town and went to Jackson Island by himself. Although it was irrational thinking, he made the decision and never looked back and that shows independence.
Whenever there was a situation where Huck and Jim didn’t know what to do, Huck would figure it out. (Examples) Without Huck’s independence him and Jim would’ve gotten caught or would’ve been lost. Rebelliousness- Huck Finn clearly is not an average twelve year old kid. With the lack of family support, it forces the issue of frustration and anger. Huck Finn on the surface doesn’t seem too bothered by his father and his position, however Huck’s frustration is shown through his actions.
He goes against society in every single way possible. He goes against religion, making a joke of it whenever Miss Watson and Widow Douglas try to teach him about heaven and hell and God he doesn’t seemed interested at all. He engages in misconduct by lying and stealing throughout his adventure with Jim. He even accepts Jim, even though he is a slave and in society slaves were property, however Huck knows that humanity isn’t determined by your race. Loquaciousness- Talks with adults all of the time.
He doesn’t care who they are, or how high they are in society he talks to them and even stays with them, examples; Grangerfords Phelps, and the Wilks families. I think this has to do with him wanting to be accepted because he isn’t accepted by his society/family. Huck Finn is a very complex character and he will always be the model for authors to base their characters off of. A character in modern television that Huck resembles is Bart Simpson from The Simpsons. He is independent, rebellious, and loquacious and it is because of the lack of family support that Bart has. (Homer)