Huckleberry Finn Civilization Analysis

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Throughout the entire novel of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the only seemingly civilized place there is, is away from civilization itself, on the raft. In fact, every time to raft touches the shore, Huck Finn finds himself in a place that's even more corrupt and less civilized then the last. On the raft things seemed to be always quiet, and sometimes foggy, but on land Huck could see everything, including the awful reality of what is known as civilization. People are brutal beings who kill each other for no good reason, and they torture each other in cruel and unusual ways. Huck is faced with one of these realities when he gets caught in between a feud between two families; the Grangerfords and the Shepardsons. These two families seem to mindlessly hate each other. Their only reason for this boiling …show more content…

Now, the same image of the group can only be seen as barbaric, because the group was celebrating not because they have caught two weaseling con- artists, but because they had found an excuse to publically humiliate, and torture other human beings. Nobody civilized should ever be that happy about someone else's pain and suffering, and even Huck Finn, who has been wronged by the duke and the king in every single possible way, felt bad for them as they were walked off and paraded through town like a fisherman's prized catch of the day. In that moment, we can't evan be happy that the duo has been caught because we realize that there is no difference between the blood thirsty crowd and the two criminals. In the end neither one was any more or any less barbaric then the last and that is what Twain wants us to understand; no matter where you are or where you go, underneath humanities 'civilized' clothes, and 'civilized' masks, there is a cruel and barbaric presence that remains captivated within civilized

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