Examples Of Lies In Huckleberry Finn

The novel Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain and edited by Thomas Cooley, is a story about the adventures of a 13-year-old boy named Huckleberry Finn and a slave named Jim. The novel takes place in the South in the 1840s and is written with Huck narrating to the reader about the adventures he and Jim have together as they travel along the Mississippi River trying to get Jim to a free state. Throughout the story, the author has characters lie frequently. Some of the lies seem to be for good, while others seem to be bad. If a lie serves as a way to save a life, can that be considered a good lie, or is lying always wrong? Lying raises a moral dilemma, which is good for story-telling. Huck is the average American boy who likes to create

Other lies are told to help keep himself separated from his dad who is abusive to him. Some of Huck’s lies help Jim by keeping him safe or help himself remain safe from more abuse from his father. These kinds of lies feel like they are good or necessary lies. Yet, every time he tells one of the “good” lies, he still puts himself at risk. For example, Huck begins to question his relationship with Jim and almost gives him up to some white men with guns who are out on a skiff looking for runaways. Huck initially plans to turn on Jim, but when the men ask him what color the other man on the raft is, Huck Replies, “[Huck] He’s white. [Man] I reckon we'll go and see for ourselves. [Huck] I wish you would," says I, "because it's pap that's there, and maybe you'd help me tow the raft ashore where the light is. He's sick—and so is mam and Mary Ann” (177). If Huck had not lied, the men who stopped them would have either killed or beaten Jim and Huck would have been sent back to his father where he probably would have been beaten up. This example makes it hard to find fault with the

They lie all the time purely for their own gain. For example, they lie to some local girls who are in line for a big inheritance simply so that they can steal the money. The king tells the girls that he and the duke are their long lost uncles. “The king he spread his arms, and Mary Jane she jumped for them, and the hare-lip jumped for the duke, and there they had it! Everybody most, leastways women, cried for joy to see them meet again at last and have such good times” (313). Their real uncles arrive from England and disrupt the plan. It was a complete fiasco and the charlatans managed to escape before they could be killed. Huck, who had originally tried to keep the lies going, saw an opportunity to expose the lies and confessed to Mary Jane because he felt terrible about a such sweet woman being taken advantage of. Here, Huck begins to see that lying can have serious