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Development of Theme in Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

 

      In Mark Twain's novel, The Adventures of  Huckleberry Finn, he uses

several different themes.  His themes help to portray the meaning and

message of the novel.  Twain's major theme in the novel is man's inhumanity

to man.  He develops this theme through the inhumane actions of Pap toward

Huck, the dishonesty of the King and the Duke toward the Wilkes girls, and

the betrayal of Jim for money by the King and the Duke.

 

      Twain uses the inhumane actions of Pap toward Huck to help develop

the major theme of his novel.  "' I'll take you down a peg before I get

done with you'" (20).  This quote shows how man is inhuman to other men,

even if they are related and supposed to love each other.  Pap talks and

acts mean towards Huck, even though Huck is his own son.  Not only is Pap

mentally abusive toward Huck, but he is also physically abusive toward him.

"But by and by pap got too handy with his hick'ry, and I couldn't stand it.

I was all over welts"(24).  The way that Pap treats Huck shows the

inhumanity of man toward other men and helps to develop the major theme of

the novel.

 

      The dishonesty of the King and the Duke toward the Wilkes girls

also help to develop the major theme of the novel.  The Duke and the King

take their cruelty to another level because they steal and lie to the

Wilkes girls, who are left all alone with no parents.

 

            And not sell the rest o' the property?  March off

            like a passel of fools and leave eight or nine

            thous'n' dollars' worth o' property layin' around

            jest sufferin' to be scooped in?-and all good,

            salable stuff, too. (170-171)

 

The Duke and the King are so inhumane that they will go as far as stealing

from three innocent girls.  "And he said of course him and William would

take the girls home with them"(176).  Not only do the Duke and the King

steal money from the girls, but they also lie to them about bringing them

to England just so they can have more money.  They plan cruel and inhumane

things to do to the girls when the girls have done nothing to deserve it.

 

      Twain also develops the major theme of the novel through the

betrayal of Jim for money by the King and the Duke.  "... and nobody came out

of the wigwam.  Jim was gone!"(203).  The Duke and the King symbolize the

nation's scum, and through their action of selling Jim they prove this as

well as prove that they do not care about Jim or Huck.  They are inhumane

and just care about money.  Huck learns about the Duke and the King's

actions from a boy in town.  " 'It was an old fellow - a stranger - and he

sold out his chance in him for forty dollars'"(203).  The Duke and the King

are so cruel and desperate that they can not even wait to sell Jim back to

his owner for $200, they must have some kind of money, even just $40, now.

The Duke and the King are cruel to their fellow man, Jim, even when him and

Huck are so good to them.

 

      These are just some of the many ways that Mark Twain develops the

major theme in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  Twain uses this type of

deliberate cruelty to help make the major theme clearer to the reader.  By

the inhumane actions of Pap towards Huck, the dishonesty of the King and

the Duke toward the Wilkes girls, and the betrayal of Jim for money by the

King and the Duke the theme of this novel is well developed.

 

 

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