Huck and Henry: Two Roads to Adulthood

Near the beginning of both novels, each main character decides to run: Huck from his drunken father and Henry from his first major battle. Huck's decision to run leads to an exciting and enlightening adventure, one in which Huck escapes from the meddling Miss Watson and from his abusive father. After planning and carrying out his ingenious escape from Pap's cabin, Huck states, "They'll soon get tired of that, and won't bother me no more" (Twain 44-45). Henry's decision leads to fear and uncertainty about his own courage and manhood: "Because of the tattered soldier's question, Henry now fe

Each novel also has a part in which the main characters must decide whether or not to help a man in need. In Huck's case, the slave Jim has escaped and needs help to make his way down the Mississippi River. Huck decides to help Jim without giving it too much thought. Their real adventure starts when Huck discovers that Jim is in danger of being captured, and together they "got out the raft and slipped along down the shade, past the foot of the island dead still, never saying a word" (Twain 81). Henry, on the other hand, does something much different. His man in need is a wounded soldier. This soldier approaches Henry and in a friendly way asks him where he was hit. This annoys Henry, and at the end of the chater, he leaves the poor man to die alone: "The youth went on. Turning at a distance he saw the tattered man wandering about helplessly in the field. He now though that he wished he was dead" (Crane 77)

lt that his shame

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