Free Essays - Social Themes in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

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Social Themes in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel that will continue to

be read for decades to come. Why? The novel by Mark Twain, or Samuel

Clemens, has many themes that relate to society today. Even today society

continues to talk about whether the novel should be read amongst high-

school curriculums. Society is also continuing to deal with racism, and

its effects on the lives of African-Americans. Another theme that is

prevalent in society is lying among American children.

Huck Finn is a self taught liar, and a very good one at that. On

the raft, while floating down the Mississippi, Huck has an opportunity to

exercise his gift for lying. The boy enjoys mendacity; he lies for the

sake of lying and keeps the reader turning the page piling on one fiction

after another. Just before the runaways get started, Huck visits a

neighboring town to get information and encounters a farmer's wife. He is

dressed in an old dress and is pretending to be a young girl searching for

her relatives. The woman suspects his sex and tries various devices to

ascertain if her suspicions are true. Among these is threading a needle

and throwing a bar of lead at the rats which swarm around the house.

Finally she makes Huck own up that he is a boy. In any case, this is a

great example of a young boy lying until his nose is a foot long. Lying is

prevalent among today's children as well.

Racism has an obvious connection to today's society. In the novel

Huck says many "racist" comments. In this scene Aunt Sally hears of a

steamboat explosion.

"Good gracious! anybody hurt?" she asks.

"No'm," comes the answer. "Killed a nigger."

Aunt Sally later refers to the "nigger" as if they are not even a

person, regarding the death as if it did not even matter.

"Well, it's lucky because sometimes people do get hurt."

At first glance at the novel Huckleberry Finn, many would protest

to the explicit use of the "N" word which was used over two-hundred times.

As a result Huck Finn, one of the greatest American novels is noteworthy.

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