Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is written from the view point of the boy Huckleberry Finn., who tells about the adventures he is having on the Mississippi River with a runaway slave, whose name is Jim. It becomes apparent early in the book that there are a couple of people who play major roles in Huck's life. One is Jim and the other is Tom Sawyer, the person Huck wishes he could be like. Throughout the story references occur that illustrate Hucks desire to be more like his friend Tom.
Tom Sawyer is a leader to Huck from the very beginning of the book, when Huck is living with the Widow Douglas. She is raising Huck because his father is a drunk and is not in the area. Huck is doing fine living with the Widow Douglas for a while, but he soon becomes aggravated with her way of life. Huck does not like having to stay clean all the time and having to wear neat clothes. He also doesn't appreciate her attempting to civilize and cultivate him, so he puts on his old rags and leaves. Tom Sawyer is the one who is able to convince Huck to come back to the widow and be respectable (p. 1). Huck wants to be a part of Tom's gang, so he agrees to go back. It takes a certain type of person to make Huck willing to go home because it is a lifestyle he really doesn't like. Tom is the one who has that kind of control and influence in Hucks life.
Another reason that Huck looks up to Tom as a role model is that Huck feels Tom is more intelligent than himself. Huck is amazed by how brilliant Tom is. What a head for just a boy to have! If I had Tom Sawyers head I wouldnt trade it off to be a duke, nor mate of a steamboat, nor clown in a circus, nor nothing I can think of (p. 236). It isn't simply that Tom is smarter. It is that Tom often makes Huck feel he isn't as smart. One example is when the two boys are trying to free Jim. Huck doesn't understand why they have to do things the hard way. That is when Tom says, Oh, shucks,...