Huck Finn Posting

In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Twain brings the attention of child abuse and human needs to readers attentions. When the story begins one does not know why Huck is so scared of footprints around the widow's house. Right after Huck sees these footprints he goes and gives all his money, which he has quite a bit of, to an adult he trusts, the judge. When Huck gets back to the widow's house his father is in his room waiting for him. Readers can tell that Huck does not like his father, "I used to be scared of him all the time, he tanned me so much. I reckon I was scared now, too; but in a minute I see I was mistaken. That is, after the first jolt, as you may say, when my breath sort of hitched - he being so unexpected; but right away after, I see I warn't scared of him worth bothering about." Huck's father abused him and that is why he gave his money away. He disliked his father and didn't want him to get his money because he would just use it to buy alcohol with. When Huck and Jim found each other on the island after they both ran away Huck took to Jim because he missed people. Huck kept mentioning being lonely, "When it was dark I set by my camp fire smoking, and feeling pretty satisfied; but by-and-by it got sort of lonesome...and then went to bed; there ain't no better way to put in time when you are lonesome," and when Jim and Huck meet Huck didn't care that Jim was black, he just wanted companionship. Throughout the book Jim is characterized as a father figure, always calling Huck honey and being super happy when Huck makes it back to the raft safe after one of his times when he leaves. Huck is always happy to see Jim too, which is a characteristic of abused children, they often "seek comfort in an adult who won't abuse them", according to the Wise Geek article "How Might a Child's Behavior Show Signs of Abuse". Other than looking for comfort in Jim as a characteristic of being abused, Huck matured very fast. Because Huck's father was an alcoholic and so crazy, Huck had to mature and learn to care for himself at too early of an age. This is another characteristic of abused children, according the same article by Wise Geek, abused children "may display signs of maturity beyond their years. One sign of abuse may be the use of sexual or obscene language." Huck takes care of himself, defends himself from his father, makes sure he has food, smokes, uses profane language, and even fakes his own death to help him run away. Because Huck has to take care of himself and had and abusive father, he is at the bottom of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Huck is searching for his basic needs. He sets traps for food and hunts for food, he just has the great outdoors for a shelter, and has to build a fire for warmth. Finding these basic necessities takes up all his time and he cannot get to the next stage, until Jim shows up. When Jim is there they help each other with the basic necessities so that they can move up to the next level, safety needs. Since there are now two of them, they have protection, security, order and stability. Because they are both running they are always worrying about being caught which holds them from the next level of the hierarchy, but on the other hand they have a method of running at night and hiding during the day that sometimes lets them reach the next level. Huck some nights would find Jim crying about his children and how he missed them and was sad at how they were never going to see their father again. Which is the next level, Belongingness and Love needs, such as family, affection, relationships. Huck never really felt a family pull because he was abused, but you can tell that as the book progresses there is the hint of a friendship between Jim and Huck. I say hint because evertime Huck is presented with society the friendship is nearly extinguished and the only reason Huck doesn't tell on Jim is because he wants to keep his word. This friendship is and important part in the development of the book. The friendship is around when it is just Huck and Jim on the raft, but as soon as Huck goes to land the friendship is almost forgotten of extinguished. This is demonstrated at the Grangerfords. Huck goes on shore, then he gets accepted by this family and never talks about Jim until he is reunited with him. When it is just Huck and Jim on the raft, and they have their running scheme working and their basic needs met and they are acting as friends, they are ready to move up to the next level. This level is the Esteem needs, such as achievement, status, responsibility and reputation. This seems to be where Huck and Jim are stuck throughout the book, because there is never a place where it just states that Huck and Jim made achievements. (I didn't think I found any, but since you are going to be responding to this could you tell me if you thought there was a place, besides the begining, where you thought Jim and Huck had made it passed the Esteem needs level?) The only time Huck was above the esteem needs level and onto the Self-actualisation level was way at the begining of the book when he lived with the widow. At the widows the repeated themes were that he needed to be free and his own master, and that he was depressed. Huck was trying to figure out what he was supposed to do with his life, what he was meant to do, and that made him depressed. He was at the top of Maslow's Hierarchy, until his father came back and started to abuse him, and he never made it back to the top.