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.
In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the reader gauges morality through the misadventures of Huck and Jim. Notably, Huck morally matures as his perspective on society evolves into a spectrum of right and wrong. Though he is still a child, his growth yields the previous notions of immaturity and innocence. Likewise, Mark Twain emphasizes compelling matters and issues in society, such as religion, racism, and greed. During the span of Huck’s journey, he evolves morally and ethically through his critique of societal normalities.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay: The river in the novel, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is a significant place where rules of society are forgotten and Huck and Jims relationship is built. While on the river, Huck seems to put aside everything he has learned from society and forms a strong relationship with a black slave, all in his willing. Society has no influence on Huck while traveling on the river which allows his friendship with Jim expand overtime.
Jim teaches Huck how it is wrong to trick people, but he also helps Huck learn how it is wrong to think negatively of other people simply because of their race. Huck does not think that Jim has the same feelings as a white individual, but Jim being upset causes Huck to learn that an African American does not enjoy being fooled, just like a white person. Through this quotation, it is also seen that Huck believes that he previously was superior to Jim. Huck says that he ‘humbles’ himself to Jim as if Jim is below him. Huck, through Jim's reaction, learns how someone's race does not determine who they are as a person and also that race does not make someone superior or inferior to someone else.
Civilization, and being “civilized” are topics that have been debated for centuries. In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, Huck Finn journeys down the Mississippi River and witnesses many of society’s facets. During his adventures, Huck experiences the negative aspects of the human race and witnesses slavery, racism, and con-men. However, Huck himself is considered uncivilized to the point where the Widow Douglas can only attempt to “sivilize” Huck (13). The dichotomy between what was considered civilized at the time and what Huck believes is civilized represents the backwards, violent, and cruel nature of society as well as Huck’s progressiveness. Civilizationed, in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, involves violence, theft,
Huckleberry Finn is unable to choose between his friendship with Jim and society. While he understands he “helped a nigger to get his freedom; and if I was ever to see anybody from that town again I’d be ready to get
Huck finds himself in a number of situations where he needed to lie. Although lying is wrong according to society, Huck knows it is the right choice to make in the moment. One example is when he and Jim are travelling on a raft and run into some men who are looking for runaway slaves. Huck has to quickly fabricate a story about his “sick father” on the raft so they would not approach Jim (Twain 72). Huck knows he must not tell the truth, again to help his friend escape slavery.
He sympathizes with Jim, but believes that turning him in is the right thing to do. This moral decision is not in line with his
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-
Huck describes the abusive and cruel relationship he has with Pap when he says, “He used to always whale me when he was sober and could get his hands on me; though I used to take to the woods most of the time when he was around”(Twain 9). The fact that Huck had to run “to the woods most of the time when he was around,” shows the kind of unsafe environment a young boy should not be raised in. Once Huck realizes that his own father may be a threat to his life, he deviously fakes his own death and begins his new adventures, setting sail on a raft with the company of a runaway slave named
Huck’s boyish innocenceis still pure and Huck still compromises the meanings of good and evil, and he resists all the customs and laws of the day that blur the distinction between human and inhuman, natural and unnatural, and moral and immoral. As wise as a serpent but as gentle as a dove, Huck is never fooled by all the sham and pretense that surrounds him always being the moral pure hearted soul that he really
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.
Huckleberry Finn is a story about a rambunctious young boy who adventures off down the Mississippi River. “The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain demonstrates a situation where a Huck tries to find the balance between what is right and what is wrong. Huck faces many challenges in which his maturity will play a part in making the correct decision for himself and his friend Jim. Huck becomes more mature by the end of the novel by showing that he can make the correct decisions to lead Jim to the freedom he deserves. One major factor where Huck matures throughout the novel is through his experience.
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).
"I will, sir, I will, honest – but don't leave us, please. It's the – the – Gentlemen, if you'll only pull ahead, and let me heave you the headline, you won't have to come a-near the raft – please do." Huck tries to keep Jim safe and to make sure he does not get caught by telling lies to the men on the river who is his boat. He starting to learn to consider others and that lying would lead to consequences. Through society and his experiences with Jim, he learns that some white lies can also protect people as long as it does not lead up to more lies that would cause more problems.