Huck Versus Odysseus Essay

Mark Twains Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an important part of the American literary canon. Its importance, in part, derives from its tale of the development of a new nation, a development in both space and culture. Huckleberry Finns voyage into the create landscape of the South has some very striking commonalities with that of Odysseuss journey in The Odyssey. With the characters, journeys and story structures being so akin(predicate) between the ii epics, it is imperative that analysis be given. Huck Finn and Odysseus ar surprisingly similar given the time period in which they were conceived. They are both ethnical heroes, embodying the ideals of their country. Huck is the epitome of the American rugged individualism.Throughout his journeys, he does some(prenominal) he wants while living on the fringes of society. Odysseuss role in the Illiad gave him the status of a classic hero beca commit he outsmarted the Trojan forces with his famous horse. He is known for being a c lever and resourceful character, much like Huck. They are both skilled liars and trickster figures, and they use intelligence and their sly ways to get out of trouble. This is seen in the crack in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn where Huck escapes his father using intelligence not unremarkably found in a twelve-year old. at that come out is a parallel to be found in Odysseuss tricking Polyphemus to escape the cave. It is worth remarking that both encounters gather up a much weaker person deceiving a drunken entity that is big and stronger. thither is one obvious similarity between the journeys of the two heroes they take place on water. Although Hucks journey takes place on the multiple sclerosis while Odysseuss takes place in the much more heartbreaking ocean, both journeys have a similar goal. Both heroes are peeping for freedom. Huck wishes to free himself from society and Jim of enslavement, and Odysseus strives to free his beloved wife from the suitors swarming Ithaca. o n that point are also similarities between what happens to the vessels the heroes travel with.Hucks stool is destroyed by a bulged out, big and scary riverboat with red-hot teething while Odysseuss ship is destroyed by a wroth Poseidon (115). Both scenarios show the heroes at the mercy of a more puissant entity that does not care of their well-being. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Odyssey have their own unique, individual structure, yet are still similar in this regard as well. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a exceedingly episodic novel due to its publication in serials.The Odyssey is a Greek epic with a non-linear plot that gives it an episodic nature. Every two to quaternion books in The Odyssey serve as new adventures of Odysseus. For The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, each chapter provides new exploits for the two-year-old hero. Such a similar structure would not be broken on readers of Twain who were acquainted with The Odyssey. The similarities in t he epic journeys of Huckleberry Finn and Odysseus do not necessarily denote that Twain consciously attempted to recreate The Odyssey.There is not always a parallel between each thought of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Odyssey. It would not do to say that it is just a happy similitude that both epics are so similar. Rather, it could be said that the similarities derive from a participation in what Joseph Campbell called the monomyth. An analysis between the two epics is an important compute in intertextuality that allows for the audience to become a part of a larger literary tradition that of the archetypal hero journey.