Huck and Jim: Who's "protecting" Whom?

One thing that really stuck out to me as I continued my reading of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was that Huck and Jim seem to be in a very CO-dependent relationship; that is to say, where at first I thought that Huck really depended and relied upon Jim to fill his void for a father figure and give him life advice along the way, it seems that there are many times in which Jim needs Huck as well. At the very least, Huck is extremely concerned for Jim's well-being, and he protects him with urgency many times throughout the novel. In return, Jim helps Huck to see things in a more rational, logical manner instead of only seeing things in a short-sighted way. In short, I've noticed that the two truly "balance" each other out, and although I am uncertain if they are exact "yin yang" opposites, they definitely have some opposing tendencies and character traits.

I love Huckleberry

I read both The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as a middle school aged student. Reading it the was just interesting and the book truly "caught me up in a world" where things were always full of adventure. However, now that I am reading the novel with the eyes of a Senior Literature major who has been specifically trained to notice themes and motifs in works, I cannot help but notice that the theme of love and suffering (and the relationship between the two) are over-arching and emphasized greatly in this novel. Huck is always looking for the kind of love he needs: he receives tough love in the form of the widow forcing him to have manners, and he receives extremely tough "love" from his pap who is cruel to him, and then he meets Jim, a runaway slave who has experienced extreme suffering, and finds the love of a companion that he has always needed. Does love bring suffering, or does suffering bring love, or neither? I think that this theme would be interesting to explore throughout the entire work.

This is my very first time to read any of the Harry Potter series, and although I would rather have been able to read the series in sequence instead of reading the last book first, I do have a different perspective to offer, perhaps, than those students who have read the entire series. One thing that really struck me about this book is Harry's passionate hate and desire for revenge on those who are his enemies. True, his enemies are cruel and some may say deserve their fate, but some of the spells Harry casts and the torture he invokes on others seems a little excessive, and a little far removed from the lovable boy who I assumed Harry must be. Perhaps if I had seen his character develop from the beginning, I would not be so taken aback by his meanness. Harry does seem to grow and mature throughout the book, but taken as an individual book and not as an entire series, I am not sure if I am able to see his true character development.