i. St. Petersburg had the same characters as Hannibal. There was the town drunk, Mr. Finn; his son Huckleberry; a loving and generous mother figure (Aunt Polly, based on Mrs. Clemens) taking care of a brat (Sid in the novel, brother Henry in life) and a responsible girl (Mary in the novel, sister Pamela in Twain's life). Injun Joe was a miscreant in Hannibal, Becky Thatcher is the Laura mentioned before, and Judge Thatcher is similar to Twain's father, an unemotional lawyer (Thayer 5). Becky and Tom once got lost in a cave just as Twain and Laura did. Tom once witnessed a murder and experienced conflicts of emotions and had bad dreams until he gave into his conscience and told the true murder story, letting an innocent man go free (Twain 147-150). Twain wrote a better closing for Tom than he ever had in real life, because in real life murder was a part of everyday life. Huck's life is also similar to Twain's, but not in such a direct way. Twain, and many of his main characters, including Tom, are fatherless. Huck, and assumedly his real-life counterpart's father is a "filthy," abusive drunk and is often absent (Twain 46). Huck is a dirt-poor boy who is practical for the sake of survival. Huck sees things in such a straightforward manner--as opposed to the soft-focus way of both Twain as a child and Tom-- that the coming of age is very abrupt. Huck also grew up on the river, but, unlike Tom and Twain, he was so poor that he could not live in a house, or have the motivation to go to school or Sunday School. One of Tom's dreams was to live a carefree, rule-free life on the Mississippi River, and he attempts that when he escapes to the island. Twain wanted a life on the river, and eventually became a steam-boat pilot (Sanderlin 24). But Huck, on the other hand, actually lived the river life as a boy. His oppressive father abducted him (50), so he ran away and floated down the lazy Mississippi with Jim (the slave of Miss Watso...
