On his many adventures, Huckleberry Finn encounters numerous situations in which his morality is tested or needs to be implemented. Huck has moral dilemmas to a degree, but he figures out the answer to his questions. He also figures out that sometimes, society has it all wrong, and that at times you just have to follow your heart. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Twain reveals that what is honorable is to follow your natural moral instincts, not what society and civilization say is moral.
From the beginning of the book, it is shown that Huck is forced to conform to what others think is best for him. Huckleberry was taken in by Widow Douglas because his dad wasn’t a part of his life anymore and he needed a parent figure. “The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would civilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time, considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all her ways; and so when I couldn’t stand it any longer I lit out” (11). By trying to civilize Huckleberry, Widow Douglas was imposing what she assumed was best for him and wasn’t listening to what he thought or wanted. Huck was a very opinionated person and often spoke his mind with no remorse, which Widow Douglas didn’t like. “All I wanted was to go somewheres; all I wanted was a change, I warn’t particular. She said it was wicked to say what I said; said she was going to live so as to go to the good place” (12). We see here Widow Douglas explaining to Huck how her way of life was the best and to get into “the good place”, or heaven, that he must live his life like hers. Twain portrays the widow as unpleasant and preachy to make it so the reader sympathizes with Huck as a young boy who needs to get out of ...
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...uenced by anyone else. “And I let them stay said; and never thought no more about reforming” (210). This quote expresses how Huckleberry was tired of doing what others thought was best. He had come to the realization that he was independent and didn’t have to reform to the norms of society. As the book progresses, Huckleberry gains a deeper understanding of how to take a step back and not think in terms of what society says is true, but what his heart tells him.
Huckleberry’s distaste for society is what ultimately pushed him to look deeper into what he himself wanted with his life. He figures out that sometimes, society has it all wrong, and that at times you just have to follow your heart. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, we find that what is honorable is to follow your natural moral instincts, not what society and civilization say is moral.
When one is young they must learn from their parents how to behave. A child's parents impose society's unspoken rules in hope that one day their child will inuitivly decerne wrong from right and make decisions based on their own judgment. These moral and ethical decisions will affect one for their entire life. In Mark Twains, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck is faced with the decision of choosing to regard all he has been taught to save a friend, or listen and obey the morals that he has been raised with. In making his decision he is able to look at the situation maturely and grow to understand the moral imbalances society has. Hucks' decisions show his integrity and strength as a person to choose what his heart tells him to do, over his head.
In order for Huck to alienate himself from society and reveal the hypocrisy of society’s values. Twain uses the morals of the widow Douglas to insure Huck’s understanding of how contradicting these morals really are. “The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me” (Twain 1). It’s shown from this quote that the widow Douglas most truly believed that her moral values where the correct and civilized morals. But it wasn’t only the the widow Douglas who taught Huck, her sister Mrs. Watson taught Huck the ideas of Christianity and read stories from the Bible to him as well. They both tried to insure that Huck turn in to the what they believed was the civilized and religiously correct human being.
The book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn tell the tale of a young boy who embarks on an adventure, one that leads him to find himself. Throughout the novel Huck develops a sense of morality that was always there to begin with, but not nearly as developed as it is by the end of the novel. Through living on his own, independent of societal and peer pressures, Huck is able to identify his own morals in defining what is 'right ' or 'wrong '.
Huckleberry Finn, “Huck”, over the course of the novel, was faced with many obstacles that went into creating his moral compass. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn begins with Huck, a 12 year old boy heavily swayed by society and by Tom Sawyer, a fellow orphan. His opinions and depiction of right and wrong were so swindled to fit into society’s mold. Throughout the story Huck Finn’s moral compass undergoes a complete transformation in search of a new purpose in life. Huck was raised with very little guidance from an alcoholic father, of no mentorship.
Twain pictures the widow as a diligent religious subject of Christianity. She reads the Bible, prays often, doing good service to the community by taking care of orphaned Huck, and comically mocks Huck for his sins by referencing the Holy Bible. However, Twain points out the situation irony at play. The widow herself grumbles through meal’s blessing when she asks Huck to be thankful for what he has, and snuffs tobacco when she tells Huckleberry it’s wrong to do. Twain wants to display this a prime example of religious hypocrisy through verbal irony. Huck isn’t the best person when it comes to behavior and the Widow prides herself in finding his faults in his moral sin, but fails to realize that she herself is the one who is sinful. By criticizing the other person, one should look into his life before pointing out the faults of other. Otherwise, the person is committing
At the beginning of Huck’s moral journey, Huck is no more than a young boy just starting to develop his understanding of what is right and what is wrong. Huck has grown up under the conflicting influences of his abusive, drunk father, Pap, and his guardian, Widow Douglas. The Widow tries her best to educate and civilize Huck, whereas Huck’s father tries to drag Huck down and feels that a son shouldn’t be better than a father. Up to this point in Huck’s life, Huck has never had to think about what is right or wrong; he was always told by the Widow or Pap. Huck’s moral journey begins when Huck breaks free from the influences of the Widow and Pap, and is finally able to begin to decide for himself what is right and wrong as well as to develop his own moral conscience.
Life on land was filled with many difficulties. There were many rules that Huck had to follow set by both the widow and his father. The widow’s main goal was to “civilize” Huck into a member of society. She expected Huck to go to school, wear clean clothes, sleep in his bed, and go to church. She just wanted him to be like a normal child of his age. Even though Huck bends the rules a bit and tries to sneak a smoke here and there, he eventually grows to like living under the widow’s protection. He proves this point when he says, "Living in a house, and sleeping in a bed, pulled on me pretty tight, mostly, but before the cold weather I used to slide out and sleep in the woods, sometimes, and so that was a rest to me. I liked the old ways best, but I was getting so I liked the new ones, too, a littl...
In the beginning of the story, Huck seems to feel at ease to be with his father instead of being with the widow, "It was kind of lazy and jolly, lying off comfortable all day, smoking and fishing, and no book nor study." (Twain 24) Yet, Hucks' father is not exactly the father figure a child would want. He's an abusive, "But by and by Pap got to handy with his hick'ry and I couldn't stand it. I was all over welts." (Twain 24) and he's not thoughtful of Huck. Once Huck figures his father is crazed and is an alcoholic, Twain, through Huck's eyes, gives readers a feeling of fear towards Huck's father. "There was Pap looking wild, and skipping around every which way and yelling about snakes. He said they was crawling up his legs." (Twain 28) "Then he went down on all fours and crawled off, begging them to let him alone, and he rolled imself up in his blanket and wallowed in under the old pine table, still a-begging; and then he went to crying." (29)
Twain shows that there can be moral confusion in a society. Cohen Ralph said, "... in Huckleberry Finn, by which the characters arrive at the most profound moral decisions." Twain has shown that it is more important for Huck to live his life freely rather than to be closed in by religion.
"What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right." Whether he knows it or not, the character Huck Finn is a perfect example of the truth in this quote. His struggle between knowing in his mind and what is legal, but feeling in his heart what is moral was predominant throughout the novel. Today, we'll examine three examples of situations when Huck had to decide for himself whether to follow the law, or his heart.
The Widow Douglas and Miss Watson try to "sivilize" Huck by making him stop all of his habits such as smoking, etc. They try to reverse all of his teaching from the first twelve years of his life and force him to become their stereotypical good boy. The rest of the town also refused to view him as good and he was considered undesirable. The only time that the town's people were able to put away their views of Huck was when there was excitement to be found, like when they all crowded on the steamboat to see if the cannons could bring Huck's body to the surface. Everyone got interested in him and tried to show that they cared about him, but this is only after he is presumed dead.
In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the main character Huck Finn goes through many moral changes. At the beginning, Huck is wild and carefree, playing jokes and being a guileful little fellow. When Huck's adventures grow to involve more people and new moral questions never before thought of, you can tell that Huck has started to change. By the time the story is almost over, most everyone can see a dramatic change in his view on "right and wrong", his opinions, and values. Serious events often times affect a person's morals, opinions, and values. This is lucidly shown in Huck as his adventures evolve further into seriousness. Though the book has it's serious points a lot through-out, Twain still added a punch of humor to keep everything interesting and entertaining. The reader's opinion may have change a little after reading of Huck's adventures and seeing his changings.
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.
Society is not always right. In Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a young boy by the name of Huckleberry Finn sets off on a journey along the Mississippi River to get away from his previous lives. One of the main themes in the novel is the conflict between society and the individual. During his time with Widow Douglas, a friendly woman who adopts Huckleberry Finn, he is taught about the importance of education, what is morally right in society, and how to be civilized. On the other hand, Pap, Huckleberry’s father, taints Huckleberry’s mind with his views which differ drastically from Widow Douglas’s guidelines. The moral dilemma that Huckleberry Finn faces between moralities illuminates the main message of individuality.
At the beginning of the tale, Huck struggles between becoming ?sivilized? and doing what he pleases. He doesn?t want to listen to the rules that the Widow Douglas and her sister force upon him, even though he knows the widow only wants what is best for him. Miss Watson pushes Huck away from society even more through the way she treats him. She teaches him religion in such a dreary way that when she speaks of heaven and hell, Huck would rather go to hell than be in heaven with her: ?And she told all about the bad place, and I said I wished I was there?I couldn?t see no advantage in going where she was going, so I made up my mind I wouldn?t try for it? (12-13). Huck is taught a very different kind of morality by his father who believes ?it warn?t no harm to borrow things, if you was meaning to pay them back?? (70). He likes his father?s idea of morality better because he is not yet mature enough to fully understand right and wrong, although living with the widow...