Mark Twain gives the readers a sense of freedom in his book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain Portrays the sense of freedom through his characters Jim and Huck, in the entire book they are fighting for their freedom. In their fight for freedom they come across various people who are an obstacle in their journey. These people that Jim and Huck meet are a depiction of the American society and the government. Yes, I do agree that Mark Twain is pessimistic towards the American society and government even though there is a sense of freedom present in the book.
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
To begin, Experience is the best teacher anyone can have. Twain uses experiences all throughout Huck Finn to convey his message of freedom. While Huck’s alcoholic father was away, Huck saws his way out of the cabin he was locked in and escapes to freedom. While describing the escape in the novel Huck said, “I waited till I reckoned he had got a good start; then I out with my saw and went to work on that log again. Before he was t’other side of the river I was just a speck on the water away off yonder” (Twain 32). This quote tells the reader how Huck escapes from the cabin. This experience shows that Huck deserved freedom from the abuse of his father. Huck has to earn his freedom by sawing his way out, without this
Is anyone really free in this world? What does being enslaved feel like, and what kind of enslavement do men endure? In “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, slaves like Jim are eager to find their freedom, but so is Huck himself. There are many different ways authors use diction, regionalism, and imagery in their stories to make it more intriguing, and to make the reader want to read more.
In Chapter 16, when Huck sees Jim’s reaction to being near freedom, Huck describes his feeling as, “miserable”, “abusing”, “scorched”, and “die”. Although Jim is happy to face his future, Huck becomes burdened by societal beliefs and more importantly, his own moral values. For Huck, bestowing freedom to a slave is shameful and unethical; no different from one’s “property”. This also implies that Huck values the societies view more than his relationship with Jim. Later on, Huck’s view of the past changes as he separates his own conscience from the societal values. This is seen in chapter 31, when Huck reflects on his journey as “good”, “laughing”, and “best”. Despite conflicting with societal values, Huck was able to enjoy Jim’s companionship. This is a direct result of him starting to believe that Jim is his equivalent and is worthy of being his friend. By referring to slaves as “n*****” and other derogatory dictions earlier in the novel, then calling Jim “white” and using joyful dictions, Twain highlights Huck’s shift in view from the typical societal view that slaves are “properties” to his own belief that people are not inherently
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
Authors of classic American literature often utilize a character’s development to establish a worldview or opinion. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Great Gatsby, Mark Twain and F. Scott Fitzgerald use their narrators, Huck Finn and Nick Carraway, to suggest an argument about American society. Seeking adventure, both characters embark on a journey, but their encounters with society leave them appalled. While they each have personal motives for abandoning their past, both end up interacting with different cultures that lead them to a similar decision about society and their futures. Ultimately, they stray from the dominant culture in order to escape the influence of society. Therefore, Twain and Fitzgerald claim that American society
Mark Twain portrays Huck as a character superior to Tom by making Huck as the complete opposite of Tom. In this book, overall, Huck has foresight about in which event will happen; for example, Huck’s notable quote “I’ll go to hell” implies that he is completely aware of the fact that he will eventually get punished for his action, which was to release Jim--an act that is not accepted by the public. Additionally, Huck is introspective (deep), realistic, and mature; even though ironically, Huck lies in order to resolve the situation. Huck’s maturity is shown in his beliefs, where he believes that Jim (or possibly other black slaves) should be treated equally like any other whites and views the minorities as equal people. On the other hand, Tom simply believes Jim should be released just because Tom believed the story of releasing Jim would make a great adventure. Moreover, Tom’s overall craving for adventure exhibits his childlike and fantastic qualities, which contrasts Huck’s quality of being a mature boy. By describing Huck as a boy who is more thoughtful than Tom, Mark Twain deliberately makes Huck to be superior to Tom (which ultimately implies Twain’s contrast of realism and romanticism).
After lying to Jim and getting caught, Huck thinks on his actions. “It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger; but I done it, and I warn’t ever sorry for it afterwards, neither” (86). Huck knows that his actions are wrong but struggles to apologize to Jim because he is conditioned to believe that Jim has no real value. Huck tries to break free from the influence of society and in doing so, he realizes that his actions are not morally acceptable. With no interference from society, Huck is therefore able to humble himself to Jim and treat him in a way that opposes society’s expectations. After leaving the feud, Huck comes back to the safety of the raft and says to Jim, “We said there warn’t no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don’t. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft” (116). For Huck, the raft is a safe and secure spot; with Jim on the raft, Huck feels protected and that he has a dependable friend. As Huck spends more time with Jim, he begins to see Jim as more human and someone he can trust. In this moment of reflection, Huck is therefore able to remove the stigma society places on him being friends with Jim because of their races; he is able to think for himself without the fear of society’s influence or thought on his choices. When Huck wakes up in the
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.
Mark Twain’s idea of captivity is slavery and keeping Huckleberry Finn in the the standards of civilization. Slavery and racism is a major concept discussed throughout the novel using the character Jim. Jim is a slave that decides to run away so that he can free his family; the place he is running away from, the town which he is held captive, is keeping Jim captive. In Huckleberry Finn the author says,"Well, I b 'lieve you, Huck. I—I RUN OFF" (37). This quote is showing where Jim ran away from his masters home and town so that he can free himself and his family. The town is also keeping Huckleberry Finn “captive” to. Throughout the novel Twain talks about how Huckleberry Finn feels trapped in the town and how he wants to escape civilization and his father. “Every little while he locked me in and went down to the store, three miles, to the ferry, and traded fish and game for whisky, and fetched it home and got drunk and had a good time, and licked me.”(Twain 34). This quote shows how Huckleberry was treated by his father and that he felt trapped. Twain discusses slavery and the standards of civilization is very mature manner using symbolization
“...[The widow] sent a man over to get hold of me, but Pap drove him off with the gun, and it warn’t long after that till I was used to being where I was, and liked it, all but the cowhide part…”
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
The idea of freedom being a overall goal and striving to be independent without further connection from past actions or people. Freedom in the aspect of Huck throughout the book is not only freedom as a thing its freedom as a goal and striving for it. In the book Huck and his best friend Jim want to be free, Jim of course wants to be free from slavery but it’s more than that, Huck wants to have no connection with his past. Huck states in the book how he was “feverish to be so close to freedom” this quote explains how Huck was going for this goal of being free and how he didnt want to say it but people like Miss Watson and Widow Douglas were holding him back, not literally but he would always think back to them and he would be indecisive about decisions because he didn 't want to upset them. Jim was wanting to be free from everything he was just happy that he met someone like Huck that treated him equal and how he was treated like a human.