Huck Versus Odysseus Essay

Mark pas de deuxs Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an important partitioning of the American literary canon. Its importance, in part, derives from its tale of the development of a vernal nation, a development in both space and culture. Huckleberry Finns journey into the developing landscape of the South has some very bang commonalities with that of Odysseuss journey in The Odyssey. With the characters, journeys and story structures being so similar between the two epics, it is positive that analysis be given. Huck Finn and Odysseus be surprisingly similar given the time period in which they were conceived. They are both cultural heroes, embodying the ideals of their country. Huck is the epitome of the American rugged individualism.Throughout his journeys, he does whatever he wants while living on the fringes of society. Odysseuss role in the Illiad gave him the status of a classical hero because he outsmarted the Trojan army with his famous horse. He is knget for being a adr oit and resourceful character, much like Huck. They are both skilled liars and trickster figures, and they use tidings and their crafty ways to get out of trouble. This is seen in the scene in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn where Huck escapes his father using intelligence non commonly rear in a twelve-year old.There is a parallel to be found in Odysseuss tricking Polyphemus to escape the cave. It is worth remarking that both encounters involve a much weaker person deceiving a drunken entity that is larger and stronger. There is one obvious similarity between the journeys of the two heroes they take set up on water. Although Hucks journey takes level on the Mississippi while Odysseuss takes place in the much more dangerous ocean, both journeys have a similar goal. both heroes are searching 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. There are similarly similarities between what happens to the vessels the heroes travel with.Hucks raft is destroyed by a bulged out, big and scarey riverboat with red-hot teeth while Odysseuss ship is destroyed by a wrathful Poseidon (115). Both scenarios show the heroes at the mercy of a more powerful 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 passing episodic novel due to its publication in serials.The Odyssey is a Greek epic with a non-linear biz that gives it an episodic nature. Every two to four books in The Odyssey serve as new adventures of Odysseus. For The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, each chapter provides new exploits for the young hero. Such a similar structure would not be lost on readers of Twain who were acquainted with The Odyssey. The similarities in the epic journeys of Huckleberry Finn and Odysseus do not ne cessarily denote that Twain consciously act to recreate The Odyssey.There is not always a parallel between each scene of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Odyssey. It would not do to say that it is just a happy coincidence 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 act in intertextuality that allows for the audience to become a part of a larger literary tradition that of the first hero journey.