Huck's Dilemmas

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In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck finds himself in a myriad of dilemmas. Whether it is his own life or the life of another that is in peril, Huck makes decisions based on his moral compass. His code of ethics has been shaped by his onerous life and by the society he lives in. However, Huck sometimes strays from society’s version of what is right and what is wrong. In those situations, Huck feels that he has done wrong because he does not realize that society’s perception of ethics is very narrow minded. After Huck tells Mary Jane the truth about her “uncles” he thinks, “Pray for me! I reckoned if she [had known] me she’d take a job that was more nearer her size. … She had the grit to pray for Judas if she took the notion.” Huck did a very good thing by not allowing Mary Jane to be conned by the King and the Duke, but he still deems himself a bad enough person to compare to Jesus’ betrayer. Huck’s morality is a constant theme in Huckleberry Finn and Mark Twain uses it to animadvert on the morals of society.

Despite his limited education and fragmented upbringing, Huck know...

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