Huck Finn Marxist Analysis

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain revolves around the main characters Huck and Jim. It is the story of their journey together, escaping the strict regimes and their horrible lives in St. Petersburg. There are many criticisms about how accurate the book is in displaying race, history and morality. Many critics focus on the ending of the book and how it is comparatively flawed in relation to the rest of the book. Leo Marx, an emeritus professor of American cultural history, criticized the consistency of the novel’s plot and the change in Huck regarding heroism and confidence. Marx’s critique on both subjects can be supported, and furthermore Marx’s discussion on Huck’s minimal change in confidence by the end of the novel can be

Throughout Huck and Jim’s journey, Huck is in charge. All of his experiences gathered during the journey allow him to develop into a strong and mature person by the middle of the novel. However, by the end of the novel when Tom returns, Huck becomes his “helpless accomplice, submissive and gullible” (Marx 295). Marx argues that Huck does not grow and he instead returns to being the boy who had once been playing robbers with Tom’s gang in St. Petersburg. This regression from maturation causes the ending to be weak and have no closure. In comparison, Huck’s views on racism do not fundamentally change. Throughout the novel, Huck has moral dilemmas if he should turn in Jim back into slavery or not. Huck is about to sail onto shore to tell on Jim but when Jim says that he’s thankful for Huck and their friendship “it seemed to kind of take the tuck all out of me [him]” (Twain 102). Huck’s personal connection with Jim allows him to feel differently about race for a while. However, he returns to having moral dilemmas later in their journey. When Huck is writing to Miss Watson about Jim’s fleeting, he feels ashamed for helping a slave escape slavery, but then he suddenly remembers all of the memories him and Jim had together on the raft and rips the sheet. He says, “All right, then, I’ll go to hell” (Twain 201). Huck does repeatedly question the purpose of slavery but he doesn't not fully reject the idea of racism. He constantly regresses back to feeling ashamed for helping Jim, thus his ideals on racism do not fundamentally change just like Huck’s minimal growth in