Book Learning Vs. Life Experience

The debate between book learning and life experience is played out throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Huck talks about the education that the Widow Douglas wanted for him. It was not only regular school, but Sunday School, also. He talks about the Widow reading her Bible to him after supper. Books were very important to them. Books could teach them about history, religion, cooking, etc. Tom Sawyer read books that were about gangs and he used ideas from the books he read throughout the novel.

Life experience also played an important part in Huck’s adventures. Some of these adventures include escaping from his father and making it look like he had been murdered and sailing down the Mississippi River with a runaway slave. Huck had been with Jim a long time when the King sold Jim, but Huck’s conscience told him to save Jim. The books said that white people were of higher class than black people, but because of Huck’s life experienced he tried to save Jim.

Miss Watson and her sister both thought learning from books was more important than life experience. Miss Watson would keep telling Huck to behave. The Widow Douglas read her Bible to Huck every night. Huck’s father was the exact opposite. He didn’t want Huck to go back to school. He thought that if Huck had an education, he would think he was better than him. I believe Mark Twain felt that life experience was more important than book learning. His view can be seen through the two main characters Huck and Jim. Huck stopped going to school and Jim never had an education, but Huck and Jim both became free.

I think that life experience is more important than learning things from a book. Sure, books can help teach you things but they are nothing compared to a real hands-on experience. I’ve learned things from books, but I’ve learned a lot more from my experiences and other people. For example, I baby-sit a lot. I’ve learned a lot through the years while I was baby-sitting, and I’m pretty sure a book would not be able to teach me everything that I know about how to take care of a child.