Examples Of Self-Reliance In Huckleberry Finn

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, Huck Finn, the main character is a young boy that over the course of the book, goes on the adventure of a lifetime. He has to make many decisions as a young boy. Many times he battles with the views of society and what he as an individual believes is the the “right” way which goes against what society says. He represents many of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s ideas in Self-Reliance. Huck becomes the ultimate personification of the ideas of independence, self-reliance, and non-conformity.

Emerson implies that people need to be true to themselves and do what they want and what they think is right and not what society says. Emerson was going to seminary school and he was told that he had to follow

They need to follow there own instinct and consciousness because it can shape them into the person they become. They need to trust themselves and that they are there for a reason. In life, everything happens for a reason and God puts you right where you are supposed to be so you don’t have to worry. You just need to trust in God and trust in yourself. This connects with what Emerson said which is, “Trust thyself... accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events” (Emerson 364). Huck is put on the raft and sent down the river for the scariest adventure of his life. However, he is supposed to be there because that is where God put him and he trusted himself and made the right choice to escape from the hut he was in with his dad. He is there to help Jim and he is trusting his conscious and makes a decision to help Jim and not turn him into the slave catchers. Once the slave catchers leave Jim gratefully says to Huck, “But lawsy, how you did fool ‘em Huck! Dat wuz de smartes’ dodge! I tell you, chile, I ‘spec it save’ ole Jim-ole Jim ain’t going to forgit you for dat, honey” (Twain 92). Huck chooses to go against society and chooses what he believes is right because he trusted in himself and decided that the right choice was to help Jim. By not questioning God and choosing to help Jim, it leads to, in the end, working out for them and Jim becomes free. Huck went on this journey to shape him into the man that he became by the end of the book. In the beginning, he was just a young boy that went along with what society and Widow Douglas said. However, God put him on the raft to shape him into a nonconformist and help him become a man which shows that Huck chose to do the right thing and was in the right