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Huckleberry Finn Morality

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Through upbringing, children learn right from wrong, be it about language, stealing, or other behavior. Yet this is not true in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (a satire by Mark Twain, 1884). Young Huck never experienced a home that felt like home, or taught the rights and wrongs of life. Between his father Pap and The Widow’s influence on him, Huck was as confused as a chicken in a pillow factory. The immoral Pap passed his negativity and uncivilized lifestyle to Huck. Conversely, The Widow imposed strict regulations regarding her rightness, making Huck resentful. Nevertheless, when faced with tough decisions on matters regarding slavery, religion and stealing, Huck is as moral as possible despite his incongruous upbringing. Regarding …show more content…

Huck was taught by The Widow and Miss Watson to embrace religion and thank his good Lord, while Pap scolded Huck for participating in such activities mostly because doing so made Huck better than his own father. Huck wasn’t very religious in the first place although when Pap visited Huck at the Widow’s house he said “First you know you'll get religion, too. I never see such a son.”(Twain.24) Huck enjoyed spiting his father and after he said this, even though Huck didn’t always agree with religion he started to acknowledge it more and speak of it’s teachings more, specifically how he didn’t comply to them. The biggest case of Huck going against his religion is him helping Jim, a runaway slave. Huck says “There was the Sunday-school, you could a gone to it; and if you'd a done it they'd a learnt you there that people that acts as I'd been acting about that nigger goes to everlasting fire."(Twain.248) Huck has gone against religion, and improved his morals by doing so because he is helping a slave, someone Huck considers to be his equal. Since Huck has decided to help Jim escape to freedom he has essentially renounced his religion (Shmoop Editorial Team) by committing what would be viewed as a sin by the Widow, Pap and the entire society. Yet in reality Huck is acting more appropriate and morally upright than others, especially in today’s

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