Sometimes in a dangerous situation, one needs to lie to protect oneself. The first-time Huck lies to defend himself was when a drunk Pap comes and tries to hurt him. To save himself from his pretty violent father, Huck took the gun even though he did not intend to use it. That is not really much of a lie but the morning of, Pap asked Huck why he was holding a gun and Huck lied and said that someone was trying to get into the house. When really Huck was trying to shield himself from his intoxicated, aggressive father. This lie protected Huck and maybe got a little appreciation from his father. This is an example of when it is okay to lie to shelter oneself in a bad situation. Another example is when Huck was just getting fed up with thinking …show more content…
Huck then decides to fake his death which is a form of lying. In an ideal society, an abused child would go to a higher authority and turn in the cold-hearted parent. Sadly, Huck's society is not like this and consequently feels as if everyone abandoned him. Because of this, he had to take his life into his own hands and fend for himself. Huck has to lie to get out of this threatening and unsafe situation. Huck decided the best solution would be to fake his own death. This ends up being to Huck's advantage when he leaves with Jim. Another example when Huck lies to protect himself was when he first came out of hiding dresses as a girl. The reason for Huck coming out of hiding was because he was bored and wanted to hear the town gossip. The logic behind Huck dressing up as a girl is so no one recognizes him. He goes to this house and sees an old woman and thinks that she looks like a lady who tells gossip. When asked his name, he lied and responded that his name was Sarah Williams. The old woman whose name was Judith started to figure out as they were talking that "Sarah Williams" is not who she really says she …show more content…
He did not care whether society thought what he was doing was right or wrong he just wanted to look out for Jim. When Huck gets washed ashore after the wreck he comes upon this strange family, named the Grangerfords. The Grangerfords are very cautious of Huck because they are in the middle of a feud with a family named, the Shepherdsons. When they notice that Huck is not a Shepherdson they welcome him into their home. Since Huck was a stranger they wanted to know more about him and his family. Huck shares with them about his family and how they used to live on a small farm in Arkansas. He explains that his sister ran off and his brother went to go find her but both of them were never heard of again. Also, he had two brothers who died and a father who was very poor. So when his father died he took what was left and went up river but fell overboard. Huck never says anything about Jim or mentions him at all. Huck did not know the Grangerfords for all he knew they would try to get the prize money for Jim because they themselves have slaves. Even though they were nice people Huck does not know if they can be trusted so Huck just does not say anything about Jim. Huck lies about Jim again when they meet up with the Duke and King. The Duke and King asked if Jim was a runaway and Huck proclaims, "Goodness sakes! Would a runaway nigger run south?" (125) Huck then continues to lie about his family
Society has always denounced the acts of death and children running away from their homes. Huck can be seen as a morbid child as he is always talking about death and murder. Society would rather not have anything to do with people who have such a melancholic outlook on life. Living with years of torment by his drunkard father, Pap, Huck feared the day he would return to daunt his life. When Pap does return, he seizes Huck and drags him to a secluded cabin where Huck is boarded inside and unable to leave: This is where the dilemma occurs. In this position, Huck has a decision to make, either take note to the morals of society and listen to his conscience, which will result in more added years of pain and anguish from Pap, or Huck can listen to his heart and do what he thinks is best.
He gets into all sorts of conflicts that force him to battle and work his way out of them, and in turn, they propel his moral position’s evolvement. It is especially hard on Huck when it comes time to resolving moral dilemmas. He is always stuck between making his own moral decisions, be it conventional or not, or allowing influencers, his father, the widow, and society, to make the decisions for him. He can never let go of the guilt associated with taking the unconventional path and rejecting what society upholds because that is all he has ever been taught in his life. That is why it is hard to apologize to Jim at first, but given time Huck is able to muster the courage to do so because that is the right thing to do even when society says so otherwise. The same goes for helping a slave, such as Jim, escape to a free state where he can find the opportunity to reunite with his family. Ultimately, he violates the demands of society to do what is right and not contribute to the enslavement of another human being. And it is not until the end of the novel that Huck no longer views his decisions as moral failings, but instead as moral triumph because he stayed true to himself and not once did he allow society to dictate his
In the Novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Huck can seem dumb and naive at times. This tends to occur when he has to pretend to be someone else so he can conceal his identity from others. For instance, when Huck is pretending to be a long lost relative of the Wilks family that lived in England along with the Duke and the King so they could con them and make a big profit by inheriting the family's wealth. Then one day in the house on the day of the funeral of Peter Wilks, Mary Jane asks Huck if he's ever seen the king before and Huck forgot “his identity” and Mary Jane quickly becomes skeptical of Huck. She says to Huck, “Why, how you talk -- Sheffield ain’t on the sea”(175). Huck goes on to question what Mary Jane heard
Huck has been raised in a high-class society where rules and morals are taught and enforced. He lives a very strict and proper life where honesty and adequacy is imposed. Huck being young minded and immature, often goes against these standards set for him, but are still very much a part of his decision-making ability and conscience. When faced to make a decision, Hucks head constantly runs through the morals he was taught. One of the major decisions Huck is faced with is keeping his word to Jim and accepting that Jim is a runaway. The society part of Hucks head automatically looks down upon it. Because Huck is shocked and surprised that Jim is a runaway and he is in his presence, reveals Hucks prejudice attitude that society has imposed on him. Huck is worried about what people will think of him and how society would react if they heard that Huck helped save a runaway slave. The unspoken rules th...
Upon arriving at Cairo, Huck must decide if he should go along with society and turn Jim in as a runaway slave, or keep his promise to his friend, and see him through to freedom. Huck feels guilty not turning Jim in when he hears him talking about hiring an abolitionist to steal his family. He does not think it is right to help take away slaves from people that he doesn 't even know. To turn Jim in for these reasons would be the influence of society on Huck. Huck 's decision on this matter marks another major step in Huck 's moral progression, because he decides not to turn in Jim on his own. This is the first time he makes a decision all on his own based on his own morality. They stop at Grangerford’s Farm, in Tennessee, after the raft is temporality destroyed. With Huck busy with the Grangerford family, Jim was able to rebuild the raft. Huck just met the Grangerfords, but fits right in immediately. He later feels that someone should take the time to write poetry about Emmeline Grangerford, recently deceased, since she always took the time to write about other people who died. He even tries to write the poetry himself, but it doesn 't turn out right. Then he also sees people shooting at each other makes him sick to his stomach. He sees it as an act against humanity and he simply cannot relate or understand how humans can treat each other in such an uncivil
Jim's character traits are easy to over look because of his seeming ignorance, but in reality Jim possessed some qualities that created a positive influence on Huck. He began by demonstrating to Huck how friends teach friends. His honest compassion also eventually causes Huck to resist the ideas society has placed upon him, and see Jim as an equal-- rather than property that can be owned. Huck knew he was going against society, and of the consequences that he could receive for freeing a slave. "It would get all around, that Huck Finn helped a nigger to get his freedom; and if I was to ever see anybody from that town again, I'd be ready to get down and lick his boots for shame", (269-270). Huck then claims, "All right, then, I'll go to hell…"(272) This shows that Huck was willing to put himself on the line for a slave, because he ceased to view Jim as property and recognized him as a friend. At the beginning of the story Huck would have never done this, but after the many adventures that occur, Jims unconditional love for Huck pierces the shell society placed ar...
When the middle of the novel comes around Huck begins to distinguish what is right and wrong in life and begins to mature and do the right thing. He shows this when he chooses not to partake in the scam that the King and the Duke are playing on the Wilks family. Instead he takes the money back from the King and Duke to hide it because he believes it is only fair to the family. "I'm letting him rob her of her money...I feel so ornery and low...I got to steal that money somehow; and I got to steal it some way that they wont suspicion I done it" (Twain 133) This shows that Huck is starting to see the line between games and real life.
In chapter 16, Huck goes through a moral conflict of whether he should turn Jim in or not. “I was paddling off, all in a sweat to tell on him; but when he says this, it seemed to kind of take the tuck all out of me (89).'; Right off from the beginning, Huck wanted to turn Jim in because it was against society’s rules to help a slave escape and Huck knew it. But when Jim said that “Huck; you’s de bes’ fren’ Jim’s ever had; en you’s de only fren’ ole Jim’s got now (89),'; made helped Huck to grasp the concept that there is a friendship in the making. Even though Huck didn’t turn Jim in, he is till troubled by his conscience when the slave catchers were leaving because he knows it is wrong to help a slave. Still Huck cannot bring himself forward to tell on Jim, thus showing that his innate sense of right exceeds that of society.
In lieu of his escape, Jim emphasized his feelings of becoming a free man. Jim said it made him all over trembly and feverish to be so close to freedom (p. 238). Huck came to the realization that Jim was escaping for a far different reason than he, and began to see this “nigger’s” freedom as his own fault; he was an accomplice. Huck’s conscience became plagued by the fact that Jim was escaping the custody of his rightful owner, and he was doing nothing to stop this. In Huck’s eyes, Jim was essentially the property of poor old Ms. Watson, who didn’t do anything less than teach Jim his manners and his books. Altogether, Huck felt that he was doing wrong by concealing this, and felt miserable to say the least.
Huck struggles with this . Lying is often thought to be bad but in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Huck’s lies seem justified and most are meant to protect himself or those that he cares for most.
While Huck is traveling down the river with Jim, he must lie and often disguise himself to survive on his own to conceal his identity. Huck rebels because he does not want to follow his aunts house rules or live up to her expectations which are to conform to social norms. This means he has to dress cleanly and neatly, use manners, go to school, and be polite to everyone. Huck also is confused because he wants to get away from his abusive father who excessively drinks. Huck is afraid of his father who has beaten him and verbally abused him repeatedly therefore, his only solution is to run away. He does this by faking his own death. Curiousity overwhelms him and he wants to know how society has taken to the news of his death. In order to get some information Huck disguises himself as a girl. He meets with Judy Lawson, a local woman, and asks about the disappearance of Huck Finn. Although his disguise works well, Judy Loftus starts to test him to disguise whether Huck is really a girl. As soon as Judy says, "What's your real name? Is it Bill, or Tom, or Bob? -or what is it?"(Twain 70) Huck realizes he has no chance in pulling such pranks. When confronted with his lie Huck tells the truth and ends up making a friend who says he can count on her. Huck also tries to protect Jim from being captured by lying about himself and his situation.
Huck rejects lying early in the novel, a testament to his successful training bestowed upon him by the Widow Douglass and other townspeople. Huck begins the story by lecturing the reader that The Adventures of Tom Sawyer contained lies about him, and that everyone has lied in his or her lives (11). Huck’s admittance of the lies contained in the previous book about him demonstrates his early dedication to truth in the novel. Later, Tom forces Huck to return to the Widow Douglass where he continues learning how to be “sivilized” (11). When Huck returns, the Widow Douglass teaches him the time when lying is appropriate, improving Huck’s sometimes unreliable moral directions. After Huck spends enough time with the Widow Douglass and her sister, Miss Watson, Huck begins enjoying the routine of his new life (26). Huck, a coarse character prior to the beginning of the novel, enjoys his education more and more, and displays promise for a cultured future. Prior to the arrival of Pap, Huck sells his money to Judge Thatcher avoiding telling his father a lie (27). Even though his father is an appalling man and an alcoholic, Huck respects him and avoids lying to him by selling Ju...
Throughout reading the story of Huck we find out that he has always been a liar, he would lie to the Grangerfords family, to Miss. Watson, and Jim too. During the moment when Huck finds himself with the Grangerfords the first thing he does is that he lie his name soon later lie about his personal life story such as Huck’s family. Comparing to Gatsby, he also lie about his personal life story most of all his family. For example when
The way Huck and Jim encounter each other on the island, draws parallels in their similar backgrounds. Huck is torn between a life of manners and etiquette and a dangerous life a freedom, and while Jim at an impasse because he is being sold into slavery farther away from his home and away from his family. Each choice, for both characters comes with a cost so they both decide to runaway, in an attempt to assert some control over their lives. After spending much time together, the pair establish a connection which at times Huck feels guilty about since it violates everything he was raised to believe. At a certain point, Huck considers turning Jim in by, writing a letter, but after recalling the goods times they shared, Huck exclaims, "All right, then, I 'll go to hell!” (Twain) and quickly tears up the letter. Twain depicts Huck and Jim 's eventually friendship as a source of emotional strife for Huck and Huck constantly has to decide whether to abandon Jim and turn him in or abandon his religious beliefs and stay with Jim. The ripping up of the letter that would have turned Jim in symbolizes the choice Huck 's has selected. For this moment onward, Huck is dedicated to keeping Jim from being sold back into slavery and has no intent on going back on his choice. While there are times, Huck pays attention to the color of Jim 's skin he believes that
I said I wouldn't, and I'll stick to it. Honest injun I will." He is telling Jim he wont tell anyone that he ran away which means Huck is breaking the law of the land. We knows this because Huck also says "People would call me a low sown Ablitionist and despise me for keeping mum-but that don't make no difference." Huck again lies for Jim in chapter XVI when he is about to tell the men on the raft that Jim is with him but his conscience comes into play. When this happens he lies to these men and this is just adding more to his bad habit. Also in this chapter Huck breaks his own moral code. When him and Jim miss Cairo he says "There warn't anything to say. We both knowed well enough it was more work of the rattle-snake skin; so what was the use to talk about it?" This is breaking his own moral code because he didn't believe that a rattlesnake could bring bad luck. Then he broke the law of God in chapter XXXI when he said, "You can't pray a lie-I found that out." This is when Huck realized that he doesn't think what he was doing was wrong. Last in chapter XL Huck realizes that the colors of the skin really don't matter. So at the end Huck breaks through his bad habit. Well my bad habit basically started when my mom started telling me no. And I just wasn't going to take it.