The Virtues of an Outcast: Huckleberry Finn and His Role in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Anonymous 8th Grade

Being a pariah, or at least being labeled one, can change a person’s life, and not for the better. Huckleberry Finn, the town “pariah,” is called and treated as an outcast for many reasons, but mainly, because he’s different. Huck Finn is the trouble-maker of the novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, his life described by the author and narrator, Mark Twain. The author makes it known that he enjoys not fitting in and doesn’t make an effort to own up to society’s standards. Although Huckleberry Finn is judged for living a unique, different lifestyle, being branded an outcast of the small town of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, the sympathetic voice of Mark Twain makes his audience admire Huck’s endurance and sense of pride for standing out.

Because of his clothes, attitude, and difference compared to others, Huckleberry Finn is considered the outcast of St. Petersburg. Twain describes Huck’s dissimilar appearance, one of the many causes of the hateful and nasty descriptions, painting an image of a neglected, independent boy in the reader’s minds. For example, “Huckleberry was always dressed in the cast off clothes of full grown men, and they were in perennial bloom and fluttering with rags” (Twain 43). This creates a clear picture...