Examples Of Justice In Huckleberry Finn

Written by Mark Twain, the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, Huckleberry Finn tells adventurous stories about life in the southern United States in the time before the Civil War. During this period, slavery continued to be prominent in the area and tension proliferated. The story of Huckleberry Finn addresses the justice and injustice of life in this area and time period. Throughout the story, Huckleberry Finn, more commonly known as Huck, completes his search for justice by making decisions using his newfound sense of morals, relating people of different types, and realizing that rules and morals developed by civilized society are not necessarily correct.
Huck responds to justice when he makes important decisions using his newfound sense of morals. At first, Huck thinks that Jim running away is a terrible sin even though he is also running away from abuse. However, Huck does not tell on Jim out of fear for getting caught himself. In the end, Huck decides that Jim is benevolent and vows to help Jim out of slavery even if his decision ends up harming himself. Although this decision is the turning point of Huck’s search for justice and allows him to respond to
justice, his search is not completely resolved as Huck still believes that helping Jim is a sin and goes on to think he might as well commit more sins now. Huck’s justice also seems to become muddled when Tom decides to help. Although their ultimate goal is to get Jim out of slavery, Huck allows Tom to treat the escape as a game and in the end, treat Jim like a toy. Overall, Huck realizes his understanding of justice but does not seem to completely develop it making his search only a small success.
Huck comes to an understanding of justice as he relates people of different types. As a child living in the southern United States, Huck is constantly reminded that African Americans are inferior to his own race. He finds it strange when Jim can’t understand him and not normal when he learns that Jim really cares about his family. Throughout his journey with Jim, Huck constantly notices Jim’s kindness and thinks to himself, “I knowed he was white inside…” (207). Even though this statement still shows Huck’s deep-rooted racism, Huck begins to think of Jim as a human being and friend rather than a slave. This allows for Huck to come to his understanding of justice as he realizes he would rather do as his conscience says than what society says he should do.
Huck’s search for justice becomes significant when Huck realizes that rules and morals developed by civilized society are not necessarily correct.
Huck develops his sense of justice when he goes from talking about criminals getting hung like they should, to not wanting to see people in danger. When Huck sees the king and the duke getting tarred and feathered he feels sorry for them even though they made his life difficult and were criminals and says, “human beings can be awful cruel to one another” (174). Huck sees many seemingly nice people that are religious and pray but then are very cruel to other people. He is confused by this and in the end decides that he will do what he thinks is right even if it is a sin. Huck learns that he should not just go along with society but do what he thinks is
best.
Throughout the story, Huckleberry Finn, more commonly known as Huck, completes his search for justice by making decisions using his newfound sense of morals, relating people of different types, and realizing that rules and morals developed by civilized society are not necessarily correct. Huck’s justice is significant as he is a teenager that learns to go against the pressures of society. For teenagers of every time period, many are often pressured into doing things they may not necessarily feel are right. Huck’s search for justice teaches teenagers of all age and type to not get pulled into the pressures of others. Although Huckleberry Finn is an adventurous and humorous story, the lesson of justice learned is very significant.