Women in Huck Finn

On the surface, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn seems to be a story only involving males.   The story consists of twelve year old Huckleberry Finn completing a dream most adolescent boys only think about.   He takes off on an adventure down the Mississippi River, while running away from society and his father.   On his way, he meets a runaway slave named Jim, along with other male characters as well.   The story focuses deeply on these male characters throughout the novel, and only touches upon women characters in small forms.   However, when analyzed, the small parts including women show much deeper meanings than they originally appeared to be.   Mark Twain portrays woman, as any male in the mid-1800s would; sweet, innocent, and ignorant.   When on his journey, Huck comes across women portraying these qualities such as Sally Phelps, the three Wilks sisters, and Sophia Grangerford.   By creating women characters that possess these qualities, Twain creates a male superiority in his text.
While on his journey down the Mississippi River, Huck comes across a family named the Grangerfords.   They are a tradition, homey Southern family, who are in a feud with the Shepherdsons, a neighboring family.   Huck is welcomed to stay a few nights with the Grangerfords, a family consisting of three boys, and two girls.   The youngest girl, twenty year old Sophia Grangerford, portrays the typical Southern women of this time.   She is kind and angelic as describe by Huck as, “She was gentle and sweet like a dove” (106). However Sophia is ignorant in the fact that she does not abide to her families rules.   One day she asks Huck to retrieve a note left from Harney Shepherdson, a boy who belongs to the family the Grangerfords are in a feud with.   It is a love letter instructing Sophia to meet Harney at half past two in order to run away and get married together.   When in love with someone, it is usually accustomed for each partner to want the other to be safe at all times.   By seeing Harney,...