Mark Twain makes that fact unmistakable throughout the whole book. Most adult characters have complete control over him, every adventure is something new and thought-provoking, and as he says in the first chapter, "The Widow Douglas she took me for her son; and allowed she would sivilize me . . ." (1). These facts may contribute to Huck's boyhood, but there are a number of instances where Huck's "manhood" seems to show. He is in fact thirteen years old, an adolescent figuratively straddling the border between childhood and adulthood. Jim, Tom, and Mary Jane Wilks are three characters that can be seen as "developers" of Huck's growing maturity level throughout the book. So then the question arises, where does the child Huck end and his adult Huck begin?.
Twain set the story in a time when whites were always seen superior to blacks, no matter what social standing either was in. This is obviously seen in the relationship that Huck has with Jim. Huck is a poor white boy, forced into foster care because of his ill-mannered father. He isn't educated nor does he behave as expected. Jim, on the other hand is a black slave who seems to have more of a warm heart than any higher social standing white character in the novel. "He was a mighty good nigger, Jim was" (155) Huck says about him as Jim laments over his distant family members. At first when Huck is riding down the river with just Jim, Huck clings onto him, having Jim provide his food and shelter. Here we see more of the dependent Huck, a Huck that is still a child who cannot take care of himself. Also during this time Huck is observing things about life which he had never seen before. He gets very emotional at the sight of a lightning storm and declares, ". . .and now you"d hear the thunder let go with an awful crash, and then go rumbling, grumbling, tumbling, down the sky towards the under side of the world, like rolling empty barrels down stair - where they bounce a good deal, you know" (49).
