Huck Finn, a narcissistic and unreliable young boy, slowly morphs into a courteous figure of respect and selflessness. After Pap abducts the young and civilized Huck, Huck descends into his old habits of lies and half-truths. However, upon helping a runaway slave escape, Huck regains morality and a sense of purpose. Throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Huck lies to characters, casting the authenticity of the story into doubt but illustrating Huck’s gradual rejection of lying for himself and a shift towards lying for others. 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... ... middle of paper ... ...e to Miss Watson (224). Huck’s own morals replace the belief society gave him and convince him that turning in Jim would be wrong. As a result, he resolves that he will set Jim free again, and continues helping him. While Huck’s constant lies while narrating the novel makes the authenticity of certain events doubtful, it serves a much greater purpose of allowing the reader to indirectly see the continued improvements and declines of Huck’s moral judgment. At some points, he serves only himself; at other key events in the story, he creates elaborate lies that help others. The moral development of Huck makes itself apparent in the changing lies of Huck, allowing readers to observe the events taking place within Huck’s mind with ease. Work Cited Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Ed. Guy Cardell. New York: Penguin Classics, 2002. Print.
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 '.
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
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...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, is a novel about a young man's search for identity. Huckleberry Finn goes through some changes and learns some life lessons throughout his journey. Huck changes from being just an immature boy at the beginning of the novel to being a more mature man who looks at things in a different perspective now.
With prior friendships being mainly those of Tom Sawyer and misguided children of a “gang”, the concept of the nature of a friendship was misconstrued. Jim’s friendship taught him the importance of unconditional love, and having a friends back no matter what. Jim refers to Huck as the “best friend that old Jim ever had in the world” (214). This resonates with Huck and when tempted to write a letter to Miss Watson to expose Jim’s whereabouts, he recalls his relationship with Jim. He remembers the level of trust that has been created between the two of them, and how close their journey to freedom has brought them. Having come to this new realization of a moral compass, he is unable to do this to his new friend and states, “‘All right then, I’ll go to hell’ and tore it up” (214). He is suddenly able to better separate differences between what is truly right, and what is societally
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.
Huck faces many dangerous situations throughout the story and must use deceit to save himself from a racist society. Huck travels with an escaped slave putting him in fatal danger. When traveling with Jim on the river, Huck runs into a serious problem. Men searching for escaped slaves, wish to search Huck’s raft where Jim is hiding. If Jim is found, Huck could possibly be killed or be in terrible trouble. Facing a life or death situation, Huck uses the only thing that can save him. Huck deceives the men by lying to save himself. Huck tells the men, “He’s sick- and so is mam and Mary Ann”(Twain 95). The men are terrified that Huck’s family is sick and continue on without searching Huck’s raft. Jim is saved but more importantly, Huck has saved himself from any danger. Huck later runs into more trouble from slave hunters. The hunters have received word that Jim is hiding out possibly in a cave. Huck knows they are being tracked and nee...
Huck exhibits his morality when he hides Peter Wilks’ wealth from frauds. After learning about a large sum of money being inherited by the late Peter Wilks’ brothers, the duke and the dauphin try to steal the brothers’ inheritance; however, their plan is tampered when Huck, feeling mighty terrible, hides the money with the intent of giving the money back to Peter Wilks’ nieces, thus demonstrating that Huck is exceeding moral. Huck recognizes that stealing from these women is wrong and attempts to ensure that their money will be returned. Additionally, Huck proves his integrity when he tries to save robbers off a sinking steamboat. When Huck and Jim are on the Walter Scott, a broken steamboat occupied by three robbers, their raft floats away. Fearing for their lives, Huck and Jim decide to take the robbers’ boat, leaving the robbers to drown. Even though Huck originally puts his own life before the lives of the robbers, he feels remorse about leaving the robbers behind and convinces a ferryboat captain to save the robbers from the sinking ship. Thus, Huck truly demonstrates integrity because he acknowledges that even the lives of robbers have value. Also, Huck Finn exhibits virtue when he determines to help Jim become a free man. Debating whether to turn Jim into Miss Watson after Jim has been sold to the Phelps’ farm, Huck resolves that he must help Jim become a free man regardless of the
The outcome when contrasting personal and societal interpretations of morality is that Huck begins his narrative with a self-centric strategy and neglects the use of his moral compass. Over time however, Huck is able to mature his moral standards while mobs of people never progress morally beyond the threshold that is established in the status quo. While Hucks transformation allows him to make his own sound judgements and this leads him to indict slavery. Furthermore, social morality is shown to be unsophisticated and potentially detrimental. Specifically, this brand of morality seeks self-preservation and in essence, mobs seem to devolve their moral standards and consequently, they allow the institution of slavery to continue. In sum, Huck grows more mature in terms of his moral responsibility and the overarching message that his story provides is that individual moral lessons are comparatively better to sharing the possibly misguided sentiment of the
Throughout the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn there are numerous crimes. The violence of these crimes is described vividly by Huck, the narrator, which shows their impact upon him. By showing Huck's shock over these events, Twain is showing that there is no real justice in the South, except for the hollow and often inappropriate excess found attempts to obtain personal justice. During these scenes Huck's turmoil reflects what Twain wants the reader to feel. Ultimately, this novel is a sharp criticism of a Southern lifestyle where justice is unobtainable.
Huckleberry Finn lies quite frequently in tough situations to save Jim from being a slave again. Finn’s lying has become his defense mechanism on surviving through all of the adventures he has to go through. Huck first learned this style from his father, Pap Finn. In the beginning, readers get a first view at what Pap is like and how he deals with life. He steals, cheats and lies his way in every situation. Huck’s first influence was his father so that directly influenced his decisions. “Yes, he’s got a father, but you can’t never find him these days” (Twain 6).
Mark Twain’s strength of portraying Huck as realistic is shown by the feelings and relationships he has. Huck was adopted by the two sisters, harsh Miss Watson and the gentler Widow Douglas, who tried to civilize him into a proper boy. Huck said “so when I couldn’t stand it no longer I lit out. I got into my old rags and my sugar-hogshead again, and was free and satisfied” which shows that Huck is miserable under the roof of the two sisters and their rules and commands(Twain 13). Huck unfortunately also has a relationship with his father, who is the town drunk and is only interested in the money Huck has in the bank. These personal relations to Huck are far from a caring family and Mark Twain uses “the repetition of a simple word, such as ‘lonesome’” to describe Huck’s constant feeling(Morrison). Later when Huck escapes, he runs away to Jackson Island and surprisingly finds Miss Watson’s slave, Jim, who also has ...
Initially, Huck Finn’s life is that of a typical white boy during the early 19th century. His childhood primarily consists of two influential figures: his best friend, Tom Sawyer, and his guardian, Miss Watson. During the day, Miss Watson would educate and ‘sivilize’ Huck; while at night, he would furtively escape to enjoy his childish games with Tom. Both of these figures aid in presenting Huck as an innocent teenage male- his daily routine adheres society’s opinion of a standard child. On the other hand, Huck’s father is a violent alcoholic who strongly believes in his patriarchal authority over his son. Huck’s normal life is abruptly interrupted when he reunites with his father, who decides to confine Huck to a cabin away from society. He reprimands Huck for learning how to
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.
The above are not the only lies that are told in this story. Huck is actually quite good at telling lies and continues to tell them up until the end of the story, but what the majority of Huck's lies have in common is that they protect both him and Jim from the society of southerners that he has turned his back on. His lies are noble, when no other characters’ lies in the novel are. Huck chooses to follow what he feels in his heart rather that what he has been taught by those around him. The lies he tells are told so that he can continue in his search for happiness, truth, and freedom. For the most part Huck’s lies are morally good which may seem like a contradiction, but as Twain shows, is not.