Although in reality and illusion may be mistaken for one another and they both play a large part in the novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” illusion and reality differ in how they impact the minds of characters. Near the beginning of the novel, Huck Finn fakes his own death to protect himself and escape from his father. He later meets the Grangerfords, who are locked in a blood feud with the Shepherdsons. One of their daughters, Charlotte, pretends to hate the Shepherdsons as much as any other member of the family, when in actuality she is in love with a Shepherdson and plans to run away with him. Huck and Jim also meet two frauds, the Duke and the King. As Huck and Jim travel, Jim assumes multiple guises as does Huck Finn. Although these are to protect Jim from being caught as a runaway, the deceptions used are a form of illusion used in the novel; and keep minor characters from seeing the reality of Jim and Huck’s situation. Illusions are more commonly seen in the novel. Huck tells lies and false stories, in some circumstances to help others and attempt to preserve his morality, whereas in other situations he uses fallacy to help himself, and Jim, move down the river.
Huckleberry Finn’s first encounter with deception in the first section of the novel is when he decides to escape his father and fakes his death. In this matter, Huck is able to use props and other commodities to cause people to believe that he was murdered when in actuality Huck was neither murdered nor attacked. The lack of evidence and severe implication of the scene that Huck created led people to believe that Huck had been murdered. He was able to use the presumptive nature of the scene and of people as well as their deductive reasoning to make them be...
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... the story. Huck deceives people when he fakes his own death and as he takes on multiple different personas as he moves down the Mississippi River. Jim plays different parts as they travel to protect himself from being captured and called out as a runaway slave. Charlotte Grangerford turns her back on her family to run away with a Shepherdson, a member of the opposing family in a blood feud. The duke and the dauphin begin their lies from the moment Huck and Jim meet them. Throughout the novel we are able to see lies and illusions manufactured by the characters propel them through the story. The deceptions of the characters apply to a recurring theme of illusion in comparison to reality seen in “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”
Works Cited
Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. 1989. Reprint. New York, NY: Tom Doherty Associates, LLC., 1989. Print.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the main character finds himself living in a society that does not suit him. Everywhere he looks there are people who value things that he sees as meaningless. Huck Finn feels trapped and begins his journey down the river in an effort to find someone or some place that will bring him happiness. Almost immediatly he finds this person in the form a run away slave. In this story, Huck and Jim are against the entire world, and every person they come in contact with has the potential to destroy their plans of happiness and freedom. Under these circumstances Huck is forced to tell many lies, but the only one he regrets is the one that he tells Jim. The biggest and most harmful lie Huck tells is when he fakes his own murder in his fathers shack. He goes through a great deal of trouble to make sure that people believe that he is dead, and it is not until the end of the novel that it becomes known to the people of his home town that he is actually alive. He had been a likable young boy, and people in the town had thought highly of him. This is evident from his relationship with adults like the widow and the judge. Jim even tells him 'I'uz powerful sorry you's killed, Huck, but I ain't no mo, now'. (1292) Based on Huck's consistent concern for others, it is likely that he would have written home to inform them that he was still alive if it had not been for his situation with Jim. However, he does not want to risk doing anything that might get Jim captured, so he writes no letter. Huck finds himself working against the world. He is not an immature boy that tells lies just for the sake of doing so, but rather he tells them in order to protect himself and also Jim. In the instance where he dresses up like a girl and speaks with the farmer's wife in an effort to find out what is being said about their situation, the information that he gets ultimately saves them from the capture of a building search party.
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
Lies and deceit is a theme often seen in children’s books giving a lesson on the consequences they create, but instead, the authors have placed them in adult literature, for all know adults cannot resist the temptation as well. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, there are lies after ...
Deceit and trickery can be lifesavers. In the, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, deceit and trickery are essential traits in Huck’s life. Huckleberry Finn is a young boy living in the South in the late 1800s. Being in such a racist environment, Huck is not prevented from associating himself with African Americans. When Huck runs away from home, he runs into one of his own family’s slave who is escaping. Huck soon befriends the slave named Jim and both of them travel on a raft to the North seeking freedom. Jim being a runaway slave, presents many problems for both Huck and Jim. Huck must use different styles of trickery and deception to stay out of danger, and also help his companions. Twain suggests in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, deceit is essential to function in a corrupt society.
Huckleberry Finn starts as a child with little thoughts concerning slavery and its importance in the south. In the fourth chapter Huck encounters Jim for the first time in the novel; you can plainly tell that Huck is intelligent, but submissive to new ideas. This is discovered when Jim tells Huck of the hair ball oracle. “It felt pretty solid, and only rolled about an inch. But it warn’t no use; he said it wouldn’t talk.” (Huck Finn page 25) Huck finds himself trusting Jim, and this leads way to the overall evolution of Huck’s believes. Further in the novel Huck finds himself arguing with himself over one thing; Whether or not to turn Jim in or not. By this time they have set out for Cairo in search for freedom, and that is what brought this emotion to Huck. He feels morally wrong for stealing Jim from Miss...
In Conclusion one should be able to understand not only the uncertainty or disillusion of Huck but also both the atmosphere of fear and remorse, that helps portray human themes of Huck, and the ubiquitous idea that will lie and deceive themselves of truth if the truth is not what they desire. Also due to Huck’s confusion with morality, he helps develop and explain the unpredictable nature of life. Thus without understanding first the character Huck Finn one could never obtain a true grasp of the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and its many meanings.
The book introduces Huck as the first person narrator which is important because it establishes clearly that this book is written from the point of view of a young, less than civilized character. His character emerges as a very literal and logical thinker who only believes what he can see with his own eyes. In this section Huck’s life with the Widow Douglas and her attempts to raise him as a civilized child sets up the main theme of this book which is the struggle or quest for freedom. Huck’s struggle for freedom from civilized society is paralleled by Jim’s struggle to escape from slavery. Irony as a key literary element in this novel is apparent in this chapter and is primarily expressed through Huck’s sarcasm. A major element of superstition is introduced and continues throughout the entire book. This superstition is used to give insight into Huck’s character, which is very naive and gullible, as well as foreshadow events. For example the killing of the spider in chapter 1 and, in a later chapter, the spilling of the salt does result in bad luck in the form of Pa coming home. Twain puts together an interesting juxtaposition of theft with honor when Tom Sawyer establishes his robber band with Huck and the other boys and they swear to their code of ethics. Interestingly, this is also paralleled at the end of the book when Tom is able to help steal Jim “honorably” because Jim is already a free man. Throughout this section, Huck’s character and personality is established. He is revealed as humble in that he constantly underplays his own intelligence. An example is when he plans his own death and then whi...
Probably every character of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn lies. Huckleberry Finn is the biggest liar, who lied more than ten times in the novel. In chapter 7 Huck lies to the entire town by creating the illusion of his own death. This lie makes a foundation for all of Huck’s subsequent lies. Because from then on Huck is already dead, he has to reestablish a social identity, that...
Mark Twain creatively invents many settings throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; each setting effects the characters in different ways. One of the many motifs throughout the novel is the idea of freedom versus slavery. Through various incidents, lifestyles, and character developments taking place on land and water, Mark Twain is able to create two opposing worlds; i.e. one of freedom verses one of enslavement. Twain determines the characters' situations in life in accordance with each location and surroundings. Huck and Jim are constantly moving between these two worlds. For the most part, both are presented with the luxuries of freedom and serenity while on the river, which ends up changing both of their characters for the only as more of person, but a reliable friend. The reader gets a sense of Jim's kindness when he is willing to stand watch all night so Huck can get some extra rest.
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.
Huckleberry Finn’s thinking about telling the truth develops throughout his experiences. In the first chapter of the novel, Huck is describing a book made by Mark Twain which told the truth. There were many things that Twain stretched but mainly told the truth which indicate that the novel might contain a lie: “There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth”(1). Sometimes the truth can be told but can also be a lie. Huck is indicating that that book is going to contain some lies although is a true book: “I never seen anybody but lied, one time or another, without it was Aunt Polly, or the widow, or maybe Mary”( 1). Clearly, Twain is suggesting that a lie is told in the book. After Pap, Huck’s father had kidnapped him and
“In this novel, Twain uses Huck as a relatively naïve narrator to make ironic observations about Southern culture and human nature in general” (“Mark Twain” Novels 1:16). Twain uses Huck as the first-person narrator in his novel. Twain presents his topics using “the colloquial, philosophical, self-deprecating, stubbornly boyish, provincial, sensitive, but always tough and realistic voice of Huckleberry Finn” (Bloom 10). Adults and children see things from a different perspective, and Huck is definitely believable as a young boy. Children are easily believed by others, and Twain appears to know this better than most. Through Huck’s words and narrative, the reader is pulled into Huck’s feelings. Huck’s conflicts become the reader’s conflicts, and Huck’s way of solving his conflicts is not only believable but is agreeable to the reader as well. Wit...
... about the fog and felt bad, to when he decided he would tell the truth to Mary Jane in a note. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an excellent example of how people can change over time and events. Huck generally feels that "humans are good and trustworthy, but you always have to watch out for people that always want to make a benefit at others loss". He is surprised by the fact that people have a tendency to do kind things (like when he helps Jim) and the fact that people can do terrible things to hurt others emotionally (as shown by the King and the Duke's heartless ways to get money). Huck talks with his concious (that little voice in the back of your head) to find what choice is better, turn in Jim or help Jim, and when he decides to help Mary Jane. So all in all Huck's good heart may have been buired beneath his deformed conscious but it prevailed in the end.
Huck Finn, the main character of Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, travels down the Mississippi River in search of personal truth and freedom, which ironically he achieves by living a lie. Huck's journey causes him to wear a variety of disguises and masks to survive. Unfortunately however, the people he meets along the way wear disguises which they use to deceive and cheat the same society that Huck and Jim, a runaway slave, are trying to escape from. Jim must use his own cleverness, Huck's protection and disguises in order to avoid getting caught by society. Together, all these characters use disguises, which are lies in physical forms, to their advantage. Huck's motive is to escape the rules of a restricting society. The King and the Duke are con men who want only to cheat society and take what isn't theirs. Jim uses disguises for survival, to escape from social prejudice and unfair punishment.
In Huckleberry Finn one of the main contributing ideas is that appearances are often false to the truth. Throughout the story Huck meets people of many different lives and some of them pretend to be something more than they are.Huck often finds himself in situation where he must lie or act as though he was someone else or risk being found. I am going to give some examples and show how they are relevant to the story and how it shows the character of Huck and others in the story.