Huck, Emma, and Asher: Studies in the Theme of Self-Actualization Essay

In Mark Twains The Adventures of huckleberry Finn, Jane Austens Emma, and Chaim Potoks My Name is Asher Lev readers be presented with tether suits that of different conviction periods that apiece accept similar psychological traits. They each get to to attain self-awareness as they learn the lessons of flavor through with(predicate) huckabacks jaunt d sustain the river, Emmas experiences in the artistic creation of match-making, and Ashers conflicts with his familys Hasidism. Each new uses the theme of psychological struggle for self-actualization of its new-made protagonists to explore exploitation up in the different periods. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck is a young, immature boy at the stolon of the novel maintenance by the multiple sclerosis in the nineteenth century. Huck observes his spotlight as one that is the design of former(a)s, non himself The Widow Douglas she overlyk me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me that it was rough l iving in the house all the time and so when I couldnt indorse it no longer I illuminate out and was free and satisfied. But gobbler Sawyer he hunted me up and said he was going to spark a band of robbers, and I skill join if I would go game to the widow and be respectable. So I went back (Twain, 1953, 11).This statement evidences Hucks undying love for the freedom and fountain he honors in genius, and also his desire for Toms approval. Huck is forming his declare soulality, growing through his personal observations and realizations that elegance is not all that it appears or that he desires. During his trip d ingest the river on the chaw with Jim Huck observes, Other places do look so cramped up and smothery, but a raft dont. You ascertain mighty free and easy and pleasant on a raft (118). It is this course credit of value that in the long run allows Huck to present Tom and civilization behind, as he sets out for the west to pursue his cause independence and maturity.Twain utilizes several literary techniques in order to convey Hucks come alonging to the reader. Firstly, by presentment the story from a beginning(a) person perspective, we moot Hucks discipline as it occurs, from his own mouth. Rather than beingness told by an external narrator that Huck is growing up, we run into it evidenced in his speech and perceptions. Also, the recurring theme of cunning that occurs in Hucks encounters with the polish world and in the views on bondage that emerge from the text, a framework of repeat is established so that readers might enchant Hucks growth, when comparing it to a constant. Finally, Twain utilizes the symbol of the Mississippi Rivera thing that is in constant ruffleto illustrate Hucks own movement toward adulthood and self-awareness. standardized Huck, we actualize the theme of great personal maturation in the character of Emma, the Victorian position middle class girl. Austen introduces her as a girl used to having r ather in any case much her own way, and a inclination to think a little too well of herself (Austen, 2000, 1). As a result, Emma spends the loudness of the novel meddling in other peoples lives and circumventing her love for Mr. Knightley. When Emma at last admits to herself her true feelings, it is the result of the lessons she has learned on the way and her own self-actualization.Because of the near fall of Harriets romance, her insults to Miss Bates, and Mr. Knightleys bluish guidance end-to-end the novel, Austen writes, Emmas eyeball were instantly withdrawn and she sat wordlessly meditating, in a fixed attitude, for a few minutes. A few minutes were sufficient for making her acquainted with her own heart. A mind like hers, at one time opening to suspicion, made rapid surface she touched, she admitted, she ack flatledged the whole truth (268). Like Huck, Emma found out her true nature through personal observations, and was able to travel into maturity with her own independent wisdom. With as much acuity as Twain, Jane Austen utilizes rhetorical techniques to convey the theme of self-actualization in Emma. By structuring the story around social class, Austen creates a framework through which Emma moves. Also, Austen utilizes word games throughout the text, such as Mr. Eltons hue meaning courtship. Emmas resolution to the puzzle poses a double entendre, as she correctly guesses the answer, but does not consume its meaning, just as she does not control the implications of her feelings for Mr. Knightley. Finally, Austen uses Mr. Knightley as a static character, in order to emphasize Emmas changing nature. In Mr. Knightleys steadfast character we see a yardstick by which Emmas maturity is measured.Like in the previous two novels, in Chaim Potoks novel My Name is Asher Lev, the theme of a youth struggling to achieve self-actualization is relayed. Readers are presented with the title character, a Hasidic Jew growing up in Brooklyn, and an incre dibly able artist. Through Ashers struggle with this arrest religious sect, that views his paintings as a sacrilege, he learns ultimately to accept his art and himself. out-of-door from my world, Asher states when living in Paris, alone in an apartment that offered me neither memories nor roots, I began to find old and distant memories of my own, long inhumed by pain and time and soft brought to the surface now (Potok, 1972, 322). Because he has survived the hardships enforce upon him by his familys strict fundamentalism, Asher is now able to emerge from his past as an individual, apart from the culture, club, and family that produced him. Like Huck and Emma, Asher achieves maturity and independence by the end of the novel.Potok conveys this phylogenesis of character through several literary techniques. Like Twain, he utilizes a first person point of view to rise Ashers movement from boyhood to maturity. Also, in the put down of Ashers mythical tooth root we see a reflecti on of the protagonists development. As a child, the image of his ancestor invokes fear in Asher, but at the conclusion of the novel he acts as an embodiment of Ashers own struggles with his heritage. Finally, Potok creates coercive images throughout the novel, using Asher as a mouthpiece. Through these beautiful descriptions we see Ashers ability to comprehend and appreciate art, and, ultimately his growth as an artist.In each of these three individuals stories we see the theme of a youthful trip into mature self-actualization. In Hucks trip up the river, Emmas gallivanting through the social circles of Highbury, and Ashers banishment from the Ladover community and excursion through Europe, there is a great and inspiring parallel that of the homosexual capability for change, growth, and enlightenment. Whether the young characters come of age in the rural Midwest, Victorian England, or Brooklyn, the result is similar and includes the greatest present a person can confide to his or her self thoughtful independence.BibliographyAusten, J. (2000). Emma. sassy York, brisk York W. W. Norton & Company.Potok, C. (1972). My Name is Asher Lev. New York, New York Alfred A. Knopf.Twain, M. (1953). The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. London, England Puffin Books.