“That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth” (1). Those are among the first lines in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, so it’s obvious from the very beginning that the truth, or lack thereof, is a major theme in the book. Huckleberry Finn is a liar throughout the whole novel but unlike other characters, his lies seem justified and moral to the reader because they are meant to protect himself and Jim and are not meant to hurt anybody. Mark Twain shows four types of lies in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: vicious and self-serving lies, harmless lies, childish lies, and Huck’s noble lies. An example of lying is presented right at the beginning. After Tom and Huck play a joke on him, Jim lies to all the other slaves about how his hat got taken of his head and put on a tree limb above him while he was sleeping. He tells an incredible yarn about some kind of spirits visiting him, gaining him an almost-celebrity status among the slaves. Some may argue that this is a self-serving lie. Although it is harmless to others, it certainly isn’t a noble lie. Another set of harmless, somewhat clever, lies Jim tells are of his famous hairball. He claims it can predict the future and only he can tell what it’s saying. Not only that, but this hairball doesn’t work unless Jim gets paid first. The king of childish lies would definitely be Tom Sawyer. Through Tom’s ridiculous lies, Mark Twain makes the reader begin to hate this impractical, unrealistic, unoriginal adolescent. His immature lies are to gain a sense of adventure like in his books and they occasionally hurt people. Tom tricks Huck into coming with him to see the caravan of “A-rabs a... ... middle of paper ... ... get some money too, and no one is hurt. Once again, Huck’s lies are noble, Tom’s are childish, Jim’s are harmless, and the Duke and King’s are vicious and self-serving. 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.
He gets into all sorts of conflicts that force him to battle and work his way out of them, and in turn, they propel his moral position’s evolvement. It is especially hard on Huck when it comes time to resolving moral dilemmas. He is always stuck between making his own moral decisions, be it conventional or not, or allowing influencers, his father, the widow, and society, to make the decisions for him. He can never let go of the guilt associated with taking the unconventional path and rejecting what society upholds because that is all he has ever been taught in his life. That is why it is hard to apologize to Jim at first, but given time Huck is able to muster the courage to do so because that is the right thing to do even when society says so otherwise. The same goes for helping a slave, such as Jim, escape to a free state where he can find the opportunity to reunite with his family. Ultimately, he violates the demands of society to do what is right and not contribute to the enslavement of another human being. And it is not until the end of the novel that Huck no longer views his decisions as moral failings, but instead as moral triumph because he stayed true to himself and not once did he allow society to dictate his
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.
When the middle of the novel comes around Huck begins to distinguish what is right and wrong in life and begins to mature and do the right thing. He shows this when he chooses not to partake in the scam that the King and the Duke are playing on the Wilks family. Instead he takes the money back from the King and Duke to hide it because he believes it is only fair to the family. "I'm letting him rob her of her money...I feel so ornery and low...I got to steal that money somehow; and I got to steal it some way that they wont suspicion I done it" (Twain 133) This shows that Huck is starting to see the line between games and real life.
Later, the two men lie to Huck and Jim. Huck does not say a thing, though he realizes they are lying. But I never said anything. never let on; keep it to myself; it's the best way; then you don't have no. quarrels, and don't get into no trouble. I have no objections, long as.
...tantially different mindset than before where he couldn't stop telling lies left and right to protect him and Jim but now he sees that telling the truth may be the better option. This shows that the friend ship with the Duke and the King has had a big effect for the positive on Huck’s morality.
First, Huck Finn shows honesty through his voice, which “wins him modern approval” (McCullough). No matter who Huck is dealing with he always stays true to himself. For example, when Huck meets
Clemens, Samuel. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter, et al. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. Lexington: Heath, 1994. 236-419.
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.
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...
On his many adventures, Huckleberry Finn encounters numerous situations in which his morality is tested or needs to be implemented. Huck has moral dilemmas to a degree, but he figures out the answer to his questions. He also figures out that sometimes, society has it all wrong, and that at times you just have to follow your heart. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Twain reveals that what is honorable is to follow your natural moral instincts, not what society and civilization say is moral.
Huck Finn is the main character of Twain’s book. He is portrayed as thoughtful and willing to come to his own conclusions in important situations.
For example, Tom 's tendency to treat people as a means to provide entertainment for himself is an example of the commodification in Huck Finn, and the manner in which Huck grows to question Tom 's authority represents Huck 's acknowledgment that people should not be used carelessly. Perhaps the greatest example of commodification, however, can be seen in The Duke and the King who truly represent the capitalist ideology. Huck describes them as conmen, and soon after being introduced learns he 's not far off. The Duke and the King successfully rip of towns with false advertising and fake shows, all in the name of acquiring wealth and popularity. Twain appears to criticize their behavior, however, as well as their values through the eyes of Huck. For example, Huck notes that "they ain 't agoing to leave till they 've played this family and this town for all they 're worth" (Twain 188). Huck consequently plots to try and fix some of the wrong the Duke and the King did by stealing back the money they took and returning it to the rightful owners. The way Huck opposes the capitalistic tendencies in the Duke and the King shows Twain 's desire to break free from society 's impersonal and greedy
“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...
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 ...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, is an immensely realistic novel, revealing how a child's morals and actions clash with those of the society around him. Twain shows realism in almost every aspect of his writing; the description of the setting, that of the characters, and even the way characters speak. Twain also satirizes many of the foundations of that society. Showing the hypocrisy of people involved in education, religion, and romanticism through absurd, yet very real examples. Most importantly, Twain shows the way Huckleberry's moral beliefs form amidst a time of uncertainty in his life.