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An Appeal to Charm and Humor: Huck Finn’s Morals
Morals and ethics, which are founded on views of what is right and wrong, explain how people make decisions in their lives. In one’s developmental stage, the community and those around you have a lasting impact upon the basis in which people establish what is right and wrong. So, opposing society’s ideas and values would definitely be a challenge for many. However, Huckleberry faces this task head on during his journey with Jim. In his novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain was able to illuminate beliefs society held in such a way to make them laughable and ridiculous by using satire, irony, and an especially lovable and relatable character, Huckleberry Finn.
Ignorant, though intelligent in his own way; uncivilized by nature and habit; grubby, inadequately fed, yet still possessing a “heart of gold”; is the essence of a rebellious rapscallion and a lovable underdog, Huckleberry Finn. Throughout the story he wishes to run away from his homes and flee his lives. Both Pap and the widow (his guardians at the time), while diametrically opposed in nature, do not really listen to him, appreciate the intelligence he has, or respect his wishes. “The Widow Douglass, she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me…” (Twain 5). The widow and Miss Watson attempt to reform him, and rather he behave as a miniature adult throughout the beginning of the novel.
The place where Huck most clearly does not stand completely apart from the doctrine of his two guardians, but instead engages it in a dialogue occurs when Miss Watson instructs Huck about prayer. Huck listens to Miss Watson and actually tries to pray; and even though it does not work to his satisfaction ("I got a f...
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...ck’s companionship with the two frauds, he wishes he had never associated himself with the King and the Duke. After they impersonated the Wilks brothers, Huck commented “…it was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race,” (Twain 149). This helped Huck realize the impact of one’s actions and helped him gain compassion for those around him.
In conclusion, Huckleberry Finn’s endearing qualities and Twain’s humor show the ridiculousness of society’s moral system at the time. Twain's emphasis on Huck's qualities of compassion, practical intellect, and charm make it easy to understand his point of view and criticize the illogical rules of that society. Ultimately, Twain appeals to the reader’s opinion of Huck and their sense of humor to get his point across, and it is clear that he intended to show the incredible flaws in the laws and social conventions of society.
Mark Twain throughout the book showed Huckleberry Finns personal growth on how he started from the bottom as a lonely, racist, immature kid who knew nothing to where he is now, by finally breaking away from society’s values he was taught in the beginning. He has alienated himself from the from that society and revealed how in fact these values were hypocritical. He realized that he can choose his own morals and that the one he chooses is the correct one.
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 '.
In the novel Huck Finn, the author repeatedly uses satire to ridicule the insanity of racial ignorance and inequity of the time period. With his masterful use of role reversal, irony, and the obvious portrayal of double standards, Twain exemplifies the injustices of different races contrasting them with example after example of counter-argument shown through the friendship and adventures of Jim and Huck together.
Twain uses Huck to show the readers how living under an authoritative figure causes one to conform to the ideals and beliefs created by society. He proves to the readers, that while under the care of adults, Huck is forced to follow rules and is limited in his own freedoms. However, in the setting of nature, Twain explains how Huck has more liberties and is free to live his life as he pleases, including “shameful” activities such as befriending Jim. As the story unravels, Twain emphasizes to the audience that society is the cause of one to conform and that action should be taken to permit more liberties and uniqueness within
Pap Finn instills a "Southern race prejudice" and leads Huck to believe "that he detests Abolitionists" (374). Huck comes into conflict with this philosophy as he journeys on the raft with Jim. He can not decide if he is wrong in helping Jim escape slavery, or if the philosophy is wrong. The education of Huck also stirs some values from Pap. When Pap tells him that education is useless, Huck is confused because the Widow Douglas told him that education was important.
He was even disappointed when all the gang did was cause trouble at a Sunday school meeting. Later on in the novel, Huck is also faced with a moral dilemma when he comes across Jim, Miss Watson’s runaway slave. As they travel down the river, Huck mentions, “I began to get it through my head that he was most free—and who was to blame for it? Why, me. I couldn’t get that out of my conscience, no how, no way.
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.
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.
“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...
Mark Twain’s masterpiece The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn through much criticism and denunciation has become a well-respected novel. Through the eyes of a thirteen-year-old boy, Huckleberry Finn, Twain illustrates the controversy of racism and slavery during the aftermath of the Civil War. Since Huck is an adolescent, he is vulnerable and greatly influenced by the adults he meets during his coming of age. His expedition down the Mississippi steers him into the lives of a diverse group of inhabitants who have conflicting morals. Though he lacks valid morals, Huck demonstrates the potential of humanity as a pensive, sensitive individual rather than conforming to a repressive society. In these modes, the novel places Jim and Huck on pedestals where their views on morality, learning, and society are compared.
In the very beginning of the novel, Huck is forced into learning the religious ideals of what is right from wrong according to Miss Watson and the Widow Douglas. Religion in all standards is clearly one of the major influences when it comes to teaching morality. It provides the general opposition of good versus evil and even the distinction of heaven and hell. For example, Huck takes no pleasure in these teachings by saying “Then she [Miss Watson] told me all about the bad place and I said I wish I was there... S...
In the book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the protagonist is faced with many moral dilemmas. Huckleberry Finn is barely an adolescent who is used to skipping school and horsing around with his friends. Regardless, he is forced to make decisions that no person should have to make, even though he is only a child. Huckleberry is an outstanding role model and a model of what a human being should represent. Even though Huck is surrounded by corruption and is led by examples that do not recognize right from wrong, he is still able to address nonconformity. He makes the most morally upstanding decisions while under stress and the disapproval of society. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is about a young boy who grows up without the leadership of a father to guide him as he struggles with decisions that heavily impact those around him. Huckleberry makes the conscious decision to help a runaway slave escape to his freedom. He struggles with this decision for an extremely l...
In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain illustrates several traits that are common in mankind. Among these traits are those that are listed in this essay. Through characters in the story Twain shows humanity's innate courageousness. He demonstrates that individuals many times lack the ability to reason well. Also, Twain displays the selfishness pervasive in society. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, many aspects of the human race are depicted, and it is for this reason that this story has been, and will remain, a classic for the ages.
Society is not always right. In Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a young boy by the name of Huckleberry Finn sets off on a journey along the Mississippi River to get away from his previous lives. One of the main themes in the novel is the conflict between society and the individual. During his time with Widow Douglas, a friendly woman who adopts Huckleberry Finn, he is taught about the importance of education, what is morally right in society, and how to be civilized. On the other hand, Pap, Huckleberry’s father, taints Huckleberry’s mind with his views which differ drastically from Widow Douglas’s guidelines. The moral dilemma that Huckleberry Finn faces between moralities illuminates the main message of individuality.
Consequently, Mark Twain recognized the double standard and addresses it in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.Huck was not raised in accordance or the accepted ways of civilization at the time, in fact, he faces many aspects of society which end up making him choose his own individuality over civilization. In a sense, he raises himself. He relies on his instincts and skills he learns from other people to guide him throughout his life. Twain depicts a theme of how civilization and the ethics of a society can conflict with individuality. Huck is a social outcast because he has been out on his own and reared from a drunken father and no mother. Huck experiences that social conventions inhibit personal growth. As a general rule, society has accepted depravity and immorality from some of its members while rejecting others because of their brand of depravity and immorality.