Morality In Huckleberry Finn

What is right and wrong is often very subjective. What a person values and believes in coupled with what they experience helps them piece together their own moral code. Since everyone places value on a wide array of interests and causes, it is impossible to determine if there is a correct, or a best, way to resolve any situation. Luckily, Kohlberg’s system of morals, marked by both levels and stages, can help distinguish those who are trying to act as the most upstanding moral citizens. This system helps analyze how characters progress morally throughout the course of a story, such as Huck in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Huck moves towards being a conscientious and moral member of society as he progresses through the novel, even though

The storm gives Huck the upper hand and aids in his escape. The flashes of light “[became] brisker and brisker, and the thunder boomed” (231). While the lightning illuminates their path, “the dark wiped it all out,” making their escape easier (231). While the duke and dauphin turn to mischief before, this is the first time that they put Huck in imminent danger. The wording that Mark Twain adopts such as “brisker and brisker” shows a sense of extreme urgency, caused by Huck’s desire to escape the situation he is in and rid himself of the duke and the dauphin, two negative influences. This pushes Huck to establish a system of morals, which the duke and dauphin clearly lack. When Huck is on the island at the beginning of his journey, the lighting functions as a symbol representing the moral and the immoral as it is described “as bright as glory {...} (and as) dark as sin” (49). This, one of several biblical references present in the novel, highlights yet again the stark difference between Huck’s lack of morality in the beginning of the book and his enlightenment which causes him to become virtuous in the end. Huck begins establishing something that all of his influences lacked growing up: a