Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The theme of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The theme of civilization versus wilderness in huckleberry finn
The theme of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: The theme of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
To many readers, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is known as the “Great American Novel”. It tells a story about a young boy and an escaped slave who develop an unlikely friendship while traveling down the Mississippi River. Twain explores many American literature themes in his writing. Three themes that appear frequently throughout the novel are freedom, nature, and individual conscience.
Freedom plays a significant role in the story because Huck is trying to free himself from Widow Douglas and his father and Jim is escaping from slavery. When Miss Watson and Widow Douglas took Huck in, they were determined to make him more civilized. They don’t allow him to smoke and they’re constantly reminding him to stop scrunching up and sit up straight (4). With the women always on his case, he isn’t able to be the independent, carefree boy that he really is. When Huck gets kidnapped by Pap, he’s grateful to be away from the widow’s house because it’s too “cramped up and sivilized” (30) for him there. Even though he’s free from the widow, his life is in danger if he stays with his drunk abusive, father. Huck’s goal is to “get so far away that the old man nor the widow couldn’t ever find me any more” (31). He’s able to do just that by coming up with a clever escape plan that tricks the whole town into thinking he’s dead. This leaves him free to do whatever he pleases, just like he wanted. Jim’s goal, however, is to escape from his slavery and help free his family. After overhearing Miss Watson tell the widow that she’s going to sell Jim, he realizes that he’s going to be separated from his family so he runs away to Jackson’s island, where he meets Huck. His plan is to travel to the free states so he can free his family and f...
... middle of paper ...
...nd he truly cared about Huck. That’s when Huck realizes that he needs to go save his friend. He tells himself, “’All right, then, I’ll go to hell.’” (250) and tears up the letter he had written.
Freedom, nature, and individual conscience are just a few of the American themes that are explored by Mark Twain in the novel. Both Huck and Jim were able to achieve the freedom that they longed for. Huck managed to escape from both the widow and his father, and Jim was no longer a slave after Miss Watson died and freed him in her will. When Huck lived with the widow and Miss Douglas, he thought of Jim as just another stupid negro. However, after spending time on the river together, he was able to see a different side of Jim and develop a real friendship with him. Huck battles with his conscience several times throughout the story when he feels guilty for helping free Jim.
While living on the island he meets Jim who was a slave but Huck soon learns that he has ran off and now in the process of making his way up north to Canada. Here Huck is faced along with his first tough decision, to go with Jim and help him, or just go and tell the officials of a runaway slave and get the reward. Huck reluctantly joins Jim and promises him to get him to free land for the sake of a good adventure but he still feels guilty to be conversing with a runaway slave let alone help him escape. Along the way Huck has many challenges, which are just like this one. This is truly remarkable for a child to be able to break away from the influence of society and go with his heart and do what is right especially when it was considered wrong.
Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the greatest American novels ever written. The story is about Huck, a young boy who is coming of age and is escaping from his drunken father. Along the way he stumbles across Miss Watson's slave, Jim, who has run away because he overhead that he would be sold. Throughout the story, Huck is faced with the moral dilemma of whether or not to turn Jim in. Mark Twain has purposely placed these two polar opposites together in order to make a satire of the society's institution of slavery. Along the journey, Twain implies his values through Huck on slavery, the two-facedness of society, and represents ideas with the Mississippi River.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain is about the great adventures that Huck finn has with his slave Jim on the Missouri River. The story tells not only about the adventures Huck has, but more of a deeper understanding of the society he lives in. Twain had Huck born into a low class society of white people; his father was a drunken bum and his mother was dead. He was adopted by the widow Douglas who tried to teach him morals, ethics, and manners that she thought fit in a civilized society. Huck never cared for these values and ran away to be free of them. During Huck’s adventure with Jim he unknowingly realized that he didn't agree with society’s values and could have his own assumptions and moral values. Twain uses this realization to show how the civilized and morally correct social values that was introduced to Huck was now the civilized and morally contradicting values.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel and sequel through which Mark Twain weaves a consistent theme regarding the battle of right versus wrong. Twain presents Huckleberry Finn, or simply Huck, as the main character who finds himself on a current-driven journey down the Mississippi River to escape the abuse of his alcoholic father. The encounters of Huck and Jim, the escaped slave of the widow Mrs. Watson, serve as a catalyst for the moral based decisions in this MORAL-riddled novel.
In lieu of his escape, Jim emphasized his feelings of becoming a free man. Jim said it made him all over trembly and feverish to be so close to freedom (p. 238). Huck came to the realization that Jim was escaping for a far different reason than he, and began to see this “nigger’s” freedom as his own fault; he was an accomplice. Huck’s conscience became plagued by the fact that Jim was escaping the custody of his rightful owner, and he was doing nothing to stop this. In Huck’s eyes, Jim was essentially the property of poor old Ms. Watson, who didn’t do anything less than teach Jim his manners and his books. Altogether, Huck felt that he was doing wrong by concealing this, and felt miserable to say the least.
In nature, on the journey down the river, Huck decides to help Jim obtain freedom from slavery. In that time period, it was frowned upon to think of blacks as more than slaves, but Huck does not conform to that idea, befriending Jim, a slave. As soon as the bond between the two sparks, Huck wants to help him escape slavery. Huck thinks to himself that he should write a letter to Miss Watson explaining how the Phelps family is keeping Jim, but then he quickly decides against it. Thinking about the repercussions of what would happen to Jim and himself he ponders, “And then think of me! It would get all around that Huck Finn 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 down and lick his boots for shame” (223). If word got around that Huck helped Jim, he would receive negative remarks for going against the common belief. With the use of Huck’s inner dialogue, Twain is able to express his opinion of how society causes conformity. Huck has knowledge that his going against the beliefs of society would have great consequences and Twain emphasizes its impact with Huck’s indecisiveness towards this situation concerning Jim. At the end of the novel, once Jim gains freedom for risking his own freedom to help nurse Tom back to health, the discussion over who Huck is going to live
acts mean towards Huck, even though Huck is his own son. Not only is Pap
Ransomed? Whats that???.. it means that we keep them till they're dead (10). This dialogue reflects Twains witty personality. Mark Twain, a great American novelist, exploits his humor, realism, and satire in his unique writing style in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain, born in 1835, wrote numerous books throughout his lifetime. Many of his books include humor; they also contain deep cynicism and satire on society. Mark Twain, the author of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, exemplifies his aspects of writing humor, realism, and satire throughout the characters and situations in his great American novel.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is a classic novel about a young boy who struggles to save and free himself from captivity, responsibility, and social injustice. Along his river to freedom, he aids and befriends a runaway slave named Jim. The two travel down the Mississippi, hoping to reach Cairo successfully. However, along the way they run into many obstacles that interrupt their journey. By solving these difficult tasks, they learn life lessons important to survival.
Another theme that is dealt with in this book is slavery. In fact, slavery is one of the main topics that has been frequently debated in regards to Huckleberry Finn since it was first published. Twain himself was vehemently anti-slavery and Huckleberry Finn can in many ways be seen as an allegory for why slavery is wrong. Twain uses Jim, a slave who is one of the main characters, as a way of showing the human side of a slave. Everything about Jim is presented through emotions: Jim runs away because Miss Watson was going to sell him South and separate him from his family; Jim is trying to become free so he can buy his family's freedom; and Jim takes care of Huck and protects him on their journey downriver in a very materialistic manner.
Mark Twain, who is a realistic fiction writer, incorporates satire and humor in his writing, including Archetypal elements to modify how the reader interprets the story. He uses many archetypal characters like Huck and Jim who both can be argued as the heroes. They both have good intentions and help others. Mark Twain portrays Jim as a deeply caring and loyal friend. Jim becomes a father figure to Huck, helping him realize the human face of slavery. Twain Portrays Huck as a young and naive boy who has been under the wrong influence for a long time. Another archetypal element that Mark Twain uses is Jims Quest for freedom. This was a quest for most all African Americans, to run away north so you could be free. But Jim was one of the few who was brave enough to do so; that’s he can be classified as the hero in the story. But Jim’s life is not too bad compared to historical records about the lives of slaves. Even though he had to struggle for his freedom, he didn’t have any good reason to leave. His life contested of helping round and not doing hard enduring work like some of the other slaves. The way Jim’s life is portrayed in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Mark Twain criticizes the life of African Americans at the time.
Mark Twain, a famous American writer and satirist, wrote many highly acclaimed books throughout the world. His masterpiece, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, earned him recognition as one of the greatest writers America would ever produce. The novel follows a teenage boy named Huck Finn, whose father is an alcoholic. Due to his father's violence, Huck runs away and meets a runaway slave named Jim. Instead of turning Jim in, Huck goes against society and decides to help Jim break free from slavery.
Before he runs away,The widow wanted Huck to have good manners and etiquette,but revolts by not listening to them. Huck’s father forbids him from going to school because he didn’t want Huck to be better than him,but Huck goes to school anyway. Huck’s need for freedom,in my opinion,seemed to be trivial in comparison to Jim’s need for freedom considerin...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, is an immensely realistic novel, revealing how a child's morals and actions clash with those of the society around him. Twain shows realism in almost every aspect of his writing; the description of the setting, that of the characters, and even the way characters speak. Twain also satirizes many of the foundations of that society. Showing the hypocrisy of people involved in education, religion, and romanticism through absurd, yet very real examples. Most importantly, Twain shows the way Huckleberry's moral beliefs form amidst a time of uncertainty in his life.
...y Miss Watson in her will. Jim’s struggles had not been necessary for him to be free but had been for the emotional growth of Huck and his freedom from society’s view of slavery. Huck is also revealed to be free from Pap as it is finally reported to him that his father was the dead person found on the river. The ending of the novel, however, finds Huck still in the same place of trying to escape civilization but Huck is no longer seen as the poor uneducated boy rather intelligent young man who does not want to be part of the middle class hypocrisy. The most profound change throughout the book is the view of Jim and thus of slavery. At first Jim is a background character as are all slaves, his importance as a human being surfaced throughout the book as well as the strength of his character. Through this change Twain sends a strong message about slavery to his reader.