Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn are two very different types of people. The way that they act, their levels of maturity, and the way that they view the world are all very good examples of how the differ. Tom basically stays at home, while Huck actually leaves to go out by himself, away from normal society. By doing this, Huck becomes more mature and begins to view the world in a much different perspective. But, what is the common ground that makes these two boys friends? Huck and Tom are two different people, but something draws them together.

Tom seems to be a person that needs a plan to do anything. He keeps his lifestyle very organized. Huck, on the other hand, responds to situations immediately without thoroughly thinking about what he’s doing. Huck is one of those people that just does it. This is another example of how being away from society effected Huck. Society wants you to “think before you act,” but Huck by nature doesn’t do think this way. Tom is effected by the society because he is part of it.

At first, Tom and Huck seem quite similar. They are both young boys influenced by the stories, books, and society around them. They play cops and robbers and venture out into the forest by the river. When Huck leaves, Tom stays at this level of maturity and Huck begins to grow. Seeing the world beyond the little town he left changes Huck in a great way. He learns to be himself, away from the mold that the society on the bank wants him to be, and develops his own ideas about many issues including slavery. Since Tom is still a part of the society Huck is running away from, he is unable to experience this sort of a change. This is the first thing that makes the two boys different from each other.

After Huck’s adventure, I’m sure that he sees the world in which he lives a lot differently than before. In the beginning, Huck was a child living in a society that he was used too. When he leaves the social normality of home, he notices that he doesn’t have to follow he rules that he grew up with. With this new lifestyle that he develops, he becomes just as used to it as the old one from home, and it is only when he returns to land that he finds out what he agrees and disagrees with from his original society. But once again, Tom has stayed the same because he has not experienced anything that has taken him away from what he’s used too. Theses are the differences between Huck and Tom.

But, why do Huck and Tom stay friends throughout the book despite their differences? I think it is because Tom although in the normal society of the land, is the closest person that can relate to Huck. Tom has a desire to be like Huck in the way that he is able to leave the society that he knows. Tom would probably do the same thing.

Tom represents a conformity of the values and ideas of society, while Huck strives to break away from those values in his trip down the river.