Flaws in Society

Young and old. Rich and poor. Black and white. When one person thinks about those comparisons, they are thought of as opposites. Most often, one is classified as being superior over the other category. These are the differences that people face in everyday life. It is challenging to overcome any one of these classifications, and it takes a great deal of effort. Often times, people are found struggling in the minority that is not commonly liked, creating a problem in their life and in society. In the books Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, the main characters face multiple problems in society; Pip encounters the challenge of social classes and Huck deals with the segregation in the South.
Even in today’s society, social classes and segregation is still a problem. Back in the Victorian Era, when both Pip and Huck were characters, classifications were a major problem in society. Even as children, the characters could identify and experience the problems of the society that they were living in. In England, Pip was facing the challenge of different social classes and everyone not being treated equally. He was also experiencing the difference between a common person like Joe and an uptown lady similar to Miss Havisham. Facing two worlds, Pip wanted to be “a gentleman” (Dickens 117) and move up to the class that was most commonly accepted, especially in the larger cities. Similarly, Huck was experiencing inequality by the color of skin. Jim, a slave in the North, became really close friends with Huck and traveled down the river together, therefore Huck started to realize the difference just by the color of a person’s skin. Huck even came across another child like him, and was shocked when Jim was...

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...t from Jim, including many nature items dealing with superstition. Near the end of the story, Huck thought of Jim as an equal and was very disappointed with the people around him who didn’t think the same way. When Jim would always help out in a bad situation, he showed truly who he was and that the color of your skin doesn’t matter. A doctor in the South even recognized that receiving help is a good thing, even if it is from the opposite color. Black people, especially Jim, gained a reputation that “he ain’t a bad nigger,” (Twain 253) after always going the extra mile to help out. The difference, and major opposites, of skin color definitely influenced Huck’s life. The experience of dealing with diverse people made him more knowledgeable and tolerable. Even though dealing with the problem in society was hard at times, Huck and Jim were still very close friends.