Essay On Huck Finn's Journey

He goes from playing a trick on Jim which hurts him physically, to saving his life, and in doing so himself so he doesn’t get in trouble for helping an escaped slave, and then finally he plays another prank on Jim, which almost ruins his friendship with Jim. Through his constant compassion and love for Jim he goes against what convention sees as wrong and apologizes to Jim. However, he does it with a lot of hesitation and embarrassment. This shows that Huck’s compassion for Jim grew but didn’t change his morality and character at all. This is because he had compassion for Jim in the beginning of the novel and all it did was grow but it still didn’t affect the way he felt about his actions he was doing towards Jim. Throughout the novel Huck finds Jim’s pain to be funny and wants to mess with him. Therefore, Huckleberry Finn is not a bildungsroman novel but in fact the opposite. Huck never morally changes or becomes a more mature character that does what he wants to do. Instead he stays as the same person but leaves the place in which he doesn’t meld with. He flees to a place of nature and not yet convention to get away from the battle that is inside of him: whether he should do what he feels is right or do what he is told by the other people in his life. He still doesn’t know what he should do so therefore, he hasn’t evolved throughout the

Huck experiences things normal people have never experienced, this allows him to embrace the people around him and mature as a person. Growing up he was taught to turn in people like Jim, he questions this belief and is once close of doing so. Then he realizes what good would it do

At this moment, Huck is at a low in his maturation on his morals journey. A person with morals would not willingly sacrifice the life of someone else just in order to be part of a gang. It is at this point where Huck can now begin his journey of moral progression.Huck encounters his first major dilemma when he comes across the wrecked and sinking steamboat and three robbers. When Jim and Huck take the skiff for themselves, leaving the three robbers stranded, Huck realizes that he has left them to die. “Now was the first time that I begun to worry about the men- I reckon I hadn't time to before. I begun to think how dreadful it was, even for murderers, to be in such a fix. I says to myself, there ain't no telling but I might come to be a murderer myself yet, and then how would I like it?” (76). This is the first time that Huck questions the actions and outcomes that he has set in motion and the effects they have on other people. After he realizes that he could now be considered a murderer, he makes a plan to get a captain to go investigate the wreck in order to save the men's lives. Even though the men he would be saving are murderers and robbers, he doesn’t want to be responsible for their deaths, and tries to correct what he has done wrong. This is the first major step in Huck's moral maturation. At that point, he establishes a set of standards that

To begin, Huck’s struggles within the deformed conscience of an entire society leads to his maturation. Throughout the book, Huck struggles within himself whether or not to follow his heart or to follow society’s deformed views. In one situation, Huck begins to feel guilty about helping a runaway slave, Jim, to freedom. Huck narrates, “My conscience got to stirring me up hotter than ever, until at last I says to it, ‘let up on me- it ain’t too late yet- I’ll paddle ashore at first light and tell’” (89). This is just the beginning of Huck’s journey to maturation. This is one of the first times Huck begins to question his heart. Following society’s views, Huck believes he’s doing the wrong thing helping Jim run away, when in fact he is doing the correct action. Later on, Huck continues his battle with his moral compass, and his view of the world. Huck still

In Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn, he utilized diction to illustrate the change in Huck’s view on slavery and more specifically, Jim; from believing that all slaves are subhuman and ignorant to befriending and respecting Jim as his equal.

Throughout the rest of Huck 's journey he continues to meet people along the way that believe themselves to be good civilized people but they all contradict that in some way. The Grangerford 's are in a murdering feud with another family, the Phelps own slaves and are trying to get a reward for Jim, the townspeople that feather and tar the Duke and King without a trial, the execution of Boggs, even the Widow tells Huck not to smoke but takes snuff herself. Huck spends a large amount of time in the book pondering over how to be good and do the right things, and at the end of the book when he decides to go West and leave it all behind he has finally realized that he 's not the one that 's bad, society is. Huck heads back out into the world not for more adventure, but to get away from

The constant complements and conflicts between Huck and society or parts of society lead him to question himself. Huck struggles between siding with society’s standard of right and wrong or his own personal code of ethics but eventually discovers to trust and rely on himself more than worrying about what society thinks he should do. The author, Mark Twain, instills his opinions about ignorance, slavery, and unique consciences into the hearts of the characters he creates to give the reader an exaggerated example of what is wrong with our society and how we can fix it by being

After Huck finds out that Jim is captive, Huck “set down and cried. [He] couldn’t help it” (210). After returning to the raft and not finding Jim there, Huck is overcome with emotion. The fear of Jim not being around causes Huck to realize how important Jim is to him. The friendship they developed on the river and through their adventure causes Huck to be more concerned for Jim’s safety than society’s need to keep Jim captive. Huck, therefore, sees Jim as his friend and ignores society’s expectations to treat him less than human. After tearing up the letter he writes to Miss Watson, Huck “... studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: ‘All right, then, I’ll go to hell’” (214). Huck realizes that Jim is in need of assistance so he decides to do what is morally correct, which is to help Jim escape. Huck decides to act on his morals rather than be held captive by society; Huck believes that he has to act in the best interest of Jim and does not consider what society believes is acceptable behavior. By stating that he will “go to hell,” Huck reiterates what he promises Jim in the beginning- that he rather be a “low down abolitionist”; these statements combined supports his feelings to protect Jim from society. When Huck and Tom get back to the house, Huck states, “...it don’t make no difference whether you do right or wrong, a person’s conscience ain’t got no

Mark Twain emphasizes the theme that a person's morals are more powerful than the corrupt influence of society in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Based on how Huck Finn views the world and forms his opinions, he does not know the difference between right and wrong. In the novel, Huck escapes civilized society. He encounters a runaway slave, Jim, and together they travel hopes of freedom. But along the way, Huck and Jim come across troubles that have Huck questioning his motives. Throughout their journey, Huck is aware that Jim has escaped but does not know whether or not to turn him into the authorities. Huck’s mentality about society matures and he realizes his need to protect Jim from dangers. As the novel progresses, Huck begins to realize the flaws in society. Huck ultimately chooses to follow his own

In the text, The Ethical Life, by Russ Shafer-Landau, it questions Jonathan Bennett’s morality and sympathy and how the two of them can come into conflict. Morality and sympathy are connected, but still very different. Throughout this chapter, Jonathan Bennett outlines many important points and factors that go into these connections and how they can overlap and conflict.

This leads into the main internal conflict that Huck must face. He must chose whether to break federal law by running away with Jim, a slave, or to do what society believes what is right and return him back to his owner. In the end, Huck chooses to not turn Jim in and go on a journey with him, defying the laws of the country. Johnson says that this recommends disobedience and defiance on the part of young people, however it does the opposite. This shows that Huck’s moral values are more in tune with making the right choice than society’s. On their journey, Jim even tells Huck that he is the best friend he had ever had (Twain 72). Huck might break the law, but he selects that option over condemning his friend to a lifetime of unhappiness and

In Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck and Jim bond closely to one another, regardless of the fact that they belong to different ethnic groups. Huck, a coming-of-age teenage boy, lives in the Southern antebellum society which favors slavery. At the beginning of the book, Twain claims that “Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; and persons attempting to find a plot will be shot” (Twain 2). Ironically, through his experiences with Jim, the uncivilized Huck gradually establishes his own moral beliefs, although sometimes struggling against the influence of society.

Jim, a runaway slave, is the most influential individual when it comes to Huck’s moral development. During the beginning of the novel, Huck’s morals are primarily based on what he has learned from Miss Watson. Huck begins to become wary of such ideals that Miss Watson has imposed on him, and decided all he wanted “…was a change” (Twain 10). As Huck escapes from society by running away he had the chance of running into Jim on Jackson Island. During this time Huck displays his moral growth after playing a trick on Jim. Huck displays his moral growth because after placing a snake skin under Jim’s blanket, which eventually causes Jim to be bitten by a snake, he

Likewise, critic Laurel Bollinger describes Huck as “…courageous enough to stand against the moral conventions of his society…rather than conform to the "sivilizing" process of communities he rejects” (Bollinger). During his epiphany, he truly sees all the flaws in a “sivilized” life and realizes he cannot live his life according to ideals he does not agree with. Consequently, Huck decides, “And for a starter, I would go to work and steal Jim out of slavery again…” (Twain 215). He resolves to ignore what society thinks, because society’s beliefs are fallacious. He now knows that no matter what people think, slaves are not lesser beings. His epiphany opens his eyes, and he sees that they are worthy of life and love, and although he is going against everything ingrained in him, he will save Jim even if it means he goes to hell. There is no turning back after Huck comes to this realization. He sees the faults of everyone around him, even his best

Specifically, through the controversy of slavery at the time, Huck learns how to listen to his intuition and conscience. His slight hesitation escaping with Jim makes him question the authenticity of his morality. He says, “I begun to get it through my head that he was most free--and who was to blame for it? Why, me … But you knowed he was running for his freedom, and you could ‘a’ paddled ashore and told somebody” (Twain 87-88). At this stage in the novel, it is important to denote his ambivalence toward the situation. Though he helps Jim, he feels a sense of guilt for going against societal standards. Regardless, Huck has a myriad of opportunities to turn Jim in--and doesn’t. This verifies that Huck progresses in developing his maturity and poise. Naturally, as his bond with Jim cultivates, Huck unknowingly treats him as a human. Through Huck’s sensibility, he states, “It didn’t take me long to make up my mind that these liars warn’t no kings nor dukes at all … I hadn’t no objections, ‘long as it would keep peace in the family; and it warn’t no use to tell Jim, so I didn’t tell him” (Twain 125). Correspondingly, Huck gains a consideration for Jim and his personal feelings, which he expresses nonchalantly through motley aspects of their journey. This also shows how his aspects of racism are changing; he starts to believe people are people, no matter