What is reinvention? For most things, it is defined as changing something so much that it appears to be entirely new. However, reinvention, when applied to people, is somewhat different. For characters and people, reinvention can be defined as drastically changing an aspect of oneself. Whether an individual changes every part of themselves or just one part, altering an identity for any reason can be defined as reinvention. Two such characters that reinvented themselves are Huckleberry Finn from Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Sara Smolinsky of Anzia Yezierska’s Bread Givers. Although set in opposite parts of the same country nearly a century apart, both characters face obstacles constructed by society. From sexism to racism and economic inequality, these protagonists face no shortage of troubles. These challenges are the sources of…show more content… They almost succeeded, but only were caught after Tom was shot in the leg by a stray bullet. Jim and the boys were back at the house, with Jim in chains, when Tom demanded that Jim be set loose and declared that he had been freed by Ms. Watson in her will. Huck states his surprise by saying: “Tom Sawyer had gone and took all that trouble and bother to set a free n****r free! And I couldn’t ever understand before, until that minute and that talk, how he could help a body set a n****r free with his bringing up” (401). At that point, Huck realized that most likely the only reason that Tom helped was because Jim had already been freed. Had Ms. Watson not set Jim free in her will, Tom, with his racist upbringing, would not have aided Huck because he, like Huck at the beginning, would have thought it wrong. Here, the difference between Huck and Tom became apparent. At the beginning, they treated and viewed slaves similarly. At the end, however, Huck views Jim as his equal, while Tom just views him as an opportunity for
