Huck Finn's Home Life

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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, Twain’s main character Huck, is represented as a child with a bad home life. When we first meet Huck he is living with the Widow Douglas, a nice lady who brought Huck into her home due to an alcoholic father, Pap, who abused and neglected Huck (Twain). Huck’s home life back when the book was published in 1885 was quite different if he were to have been in the same situation currently. Take this same scenario and forward 126 years and call in the authorities. Huck’s home life would be different if he would have lived in the year 2011. In Chapter 1 of Huck Finn, we meet Huck a young boy who is living with the Widow Douglas and whose father is an alcoholic and is not living with. After Huck gets…show more content…
Although if the child were to be removed from the house in which they have been abused, they would place the child most likely in an orphanage (Patton). That’s only if anyone had proof of the abuse. The amount of child abuse back then is nothing to what it is now (Patton). Programs like CPS did exist but where Huck lived, which was Missouri, you really couldn’t do much. Twain’s representation of Huck and his horrible home life is accurate to a degree. Instead of living with the Widow Douglas, Huck would have most likely be sent to an orphanage and later would be placed with a family at random. Back in 1885 no background check was needed to become a guardian for a child. Foster Care would also be in the situation regarding his new home life (Putton). Although no actual Foster Care program was official back then, they would most like stated be placed in a family at random with no background check required like present day. Child Protective Services or CPS is program in which children who are abused and/ or neglected are removed from their home and the county or state in which they reside has temporary custody of the child (Wikipedia). Every state has different protocol but they all have one goal, to protect abused and neglected children (Wikipedia) . Although their ultimate goal is reunite the child back to their parent or guardian (AdoptUSKids). Currently more than half 66% of children are or were abused or neglected by their parents in
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