The Night of the Hunter

I did enjoy the Night of the Hunter, and i found it had alot of similarities with Huck Finn. The burden, to care for his sister and keep secret the hiding place of the money, took a great toll on the poor boy. It reminded me of the situation Huck is in with his father after his inheritance. But I felt that the boy in Night of the Hunter had a maturity that Huck doesn't seem to have. Additionally, the boy was incredibly intuitive about the intentions of his step father from the very beginning which threw me for a surprise. Again we also see the situations these incredibly young children are in, forcing them to make decisions that should be beyond their years. It was said that "it's a hard world for little things," which in both cases is accurate. In the movie though, the young boy has support that Huck does not receive from a guardian, and you see the boy slowly open up to the older woman as he begins to trust her. The phrases "flew away" and "went a runnin" caught my attention because they lead us to think about escaping which in both cases the boys do. The boys are both alienated by family, the supposed biological support that you are born into. Also, a binary that i had noticed was the right hand left/hand or good/evil contrast said by the supposed preacher. He made associations with both that the boy found rightly suspicious. His manipulative quality reminded me of Huck's father, who is using the idea of "family" to keep his son meanwhile his only concern is the money. Huck's dad says that they have no right to take away his flesh and blood but biological family doesn't mean he is an appropriate guardian by any means. And it just shows that some connections, those you are born into, could be the most harmful especially in Huck's case.