Hindrance Through Abundance (Huckleberry Finn)

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In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain satirizes his opinion of the flaws of Romantic Literature in the person of Tom Sawyer. In his supportive role, Tom Sawyer sacrifices speed and efficiency for extremely elaborate style and adventure as he performs many of his tasks. These include using unsuspecting people to ferry certain objects to Jim when Tom could easily sneak them in himself (141). Romantic literature also deviates toward the idea that exaggerated style in writing is more important than the actual content of the piece of literature. Another aspect of Romanticism that Tom Sawyer displays is his reason and logic being replaced by unrealistic and fanciful thinking: "Every animal [including rattlesnakes] is grateful for kindness and petting, and they wouldn’t THINK of hurting a person that pets them. Any book will tell you that " (140). Making the connection to Romantic ideals, Mark Twain characterizes Tom Sawyer as not discerning logically, but rather having delusions of grandeur. Through the character of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain is able to hyperbolize the aspects of Romantic literature that he discerns to be flawed as well as create a foil for the main character, Huckleberry Finn. During the times Tom Sawyer is not present in Huck's life, Huck is able to devise plans in most circumstances even if his plans do stay relatively simple. However, when Tom is present, Huck loses his ability to formulate plans because Tom thinks himself to be more experienced at such things and therefore will not allow Huck to formulate his own strategies: "[Huck] said, ‘Don’t do nothing of the kind; it’s one of the most jackass ideas I ever struck;’ but [Tom] never paid no attention to me; went right on. It was his way when he’d got his plans set" (141). Huck's journey to "come of age" is unintentionally thwarted by Tom's lack of logical thinking and excess of self-absorption as they

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