Preview

Huck’s Moral Conscience

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
727 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Huck’s Moral Conscience
Huck’s Moral Conscience
In the classic novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by the great Mark Twain the memorable character of Huck Finn is constantly choosing between the social morals of the southern states during the time of slaves in America and his own self morals. Throughout the novel Huck is being taught that slaves are lesser beings compared to white folk and that they do not deserve the same amount of respect, this leading to the main example of Huck’s struggle with his conscience. Huck has a good heart and knows what is right from wrong even in the smallest situations and is tested many times through strangers and friends.
After Huck fakes his death he finds a true friend where he never thought to look before, in the heart of a supposed socially unacceptable, escaped slave named Jim. Jim sticks with Huck through thick and thin regardless of the consequences, whether they are returning to slavery or a broken finger. In the entirety of Huck’s life, he was taught that someone who confides with an escaped slave is no better than the black man himself. This thought haunts his mind throughout the book, making him even considers turning Jim in but he realizes that Jim has been “might good’ to him and is his best friend. Their relationship is tested when the duke and king sell Jim to the Phelps and Huck decides to rescue him whatever way it takes, no matter how long it takes.
The king and the duke are two trouble making characters who lie about everything to whomever they talk to just to get a few coins. The two misfits even take it so far as to attempt to steal a dead man’s money before Huck realizes it’s a horrible deed and his conscience takes over. The money belonged to a family known as the Wilks, the three sisters Mary Jane, Susan, and Jenna. When the duke and king impersonate their uncles in order to get the money and Huck meets the three gals he says, “ I felt so ornery and low down and mean that I says to myself, my minds made up, it’s

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    When Huck first befriended Jim, he was still in this ignorant and immoral state. He, like most others at this time, was a believer and supporter of the institution of slavery, but he did agree to help Jim escape because he himself would benefit from it. He still saw Jim as a slave though, and therefore as someone inferior to him. As his friendship with Jim deepened because of their time spent together on the raft, Huck's view of Jim began to change. This change first became apparent when Huck tricked Jim into believing that he only dreamed about them getting separated in the fog. When Jim learned that Huck tricked him, Huck felt awful about hurting Jim's feelings, and after that, he "didn't do [Jim] no more mean tricks, and [he] wouldn't done that one if [he'd] a knowed it would make [Jim] feel that way" (148). Huck was clearly beginning to truly care about Jim as a person.…

    • 694 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Mark Twain’s quote, “a book of mine where a sound heart and a deformed conscience come into collision and conscience suffers defeat” evidently has symbolism. The deformed conscience in this quote refers to southern society in Huckleberry Finn’s world, while the sound heart refers to individuality and Huck Finn being an individual. There are many influences that contributed to Huck Finn’s “deformed society”. Some are the southern society he grew up in, the fact that Jim is a slave, his heart and individuality, and the fact that he feels that Jim is a person and not a slave. In Huckleberry Finn, Huck and Jim, a slave, take many adventures together. The problem is that the time period is pre-Civil War. Slavery is still huge in the South and…

    • 395 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To begin with, among the many characteristics of Jim, his compassionate nature shows throughout the book. When Huck and Jim come across the floating boathouse, Jim finds a dead man inside. He advises Huck not to look as he says, "It's a dead man... dead two er three days... come in Huck, but doan' look at his face." At the end of the book the reader finds out that the dead man turns out as Huck's father. Further on down the river, Huck and Jim engage in a deep conversation. Jim speaks of the family he feels he has left behind. Jim tries hard to save up all his money in hopes of buying back his wife and children when he becomes a free man. He expresses that he feels terrible for leaving behind his family and misses them very much. As a result, Huck feels responsible and guilty for ruining Jim's freedom. Huck decides that he wants to reveal the truth, that Jim really isn't a free man. His conscience tells him not to and instead he finds himself helping Jim rather than giving him up. Jim feels so thankful to Huck when he says ". . .it's all on account of Huck, I's a free man, ... you's the best friend Jim's ever had..." Even further along, Huck becomes separated from Jim and living at the Grangerford's. Huck doesn't know if he'll ever see Jim again. He also doesn't realize Jim has found a hiding spot not very far away. He asks one of the Grangferford's slaves…

    • 967 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The conflict between society as well as religion against the individuals ability to see past the mold that we live in, is a theme that is portrayed throughout the Huckleberry Finn. The book begins by creating a scenario in which a young boy, brought up in a regular South American society in the early 1800's and goes on to have him fight his way through a complex, internal, moral struggle caused by his love and friendship for a runaway slave. He had to figure out at a weather “right” was defined by what is correct in the eyes of society, or by what he felt was “right” in his heart, and then make a major decision. Huck Finn's inner struggles included; differentiating between religious, governmental, and societal rules which taught to him what is acceptable and what is not from the day of birth,and his own moral instincts. When it came time for huckleberry to make up his mind he took all that he was taught by society and his own ideology in to account and then he declared “Alright then, I’ll go to hell”. This indicated that Huck believed that following his own moral compass was more important than following the moral compass of others, or even G-d for that matter.…

    • 670 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Set in a pre-civil war time period, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is overall controversial and symbolic of a greater moral that is heavily present in this society. During this time was a large separation of North and South over the ethics of slavery and the morals of the enslaved population. During this story the protagonist, Huck Finn, makes a very important ethical decision upon whether he should or should not turn in Jim, a runaway slave. Huck has a moment of moral liberation and searches the social and religious principles of society. By having to think about these things when making a decision such as this, it can be said that this society is backwards. Mark Twain suggests that society is morally wrong with what they believe is right, their opinion of civilized and has a faulty logic.…

    • 634 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Mark Twain’s book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck Finn was a troubled kid who grew up and matured in several ways. Huck ran away and had to learn how to make it on his own, and as he went on that journey of going from boyhood to adulthood he learned so much about doing the right thing.…

    • 785 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Censorship in Huck Finn

    • 1676 Words
    • 7 Pages

    In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a young boy named Huckleberry Finn runs away from his life and travels down the Mississippi River with his friend Jim, a runaway slave. The story follows Huck 's moral growth and maturity throughout his many adventures and experiences. The major turning point of the book is when Huck realizes that Jim cares about him, and that he cares about Jim in return. As a child, Huck is taught that Jim isn 't a person because of his skin color and that he does not deserve respect, but Huck discovers that Jim is a person and deserves more respect than most people Huckleberry met on his journeys. He comes to this decision because Jim cares for him and treats Huck better than his own father. Huck says “All right, then, I 'll go to hell.” when he decides to go against the racist teachings of his childhood and help Jim get his freedom (Twain 216-217). The book was written to show what life was like in the 1840s and successfully revealed the way people viewed each other and people of other races. In the beginning of the story, Huck treats Jim poorly because he is taught that…

    • 1676 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jim then warns Huck not to look at the man's face, which allows Huck to have the motivation to continue his adventure thinking that his father is not dead. Jim continues to stay with Huck and provide him with moral support on the river, serving to develop Huck’s moral development along the way. An example of this moral support is where in Chapter 16, Huck makes up a story to preserve Jim's freedom and then Jim remarks he will never forget Huck's kindness. Huck later experiences a coming of age when he is faced with the ultimate moral dilemma of reporting Jim at the Phelps Farm to Miss Watson. Feeling conflicted about stealing “property” from Miss Watson, he writes a letter which he then crumples up after fully understanding that his letter would harm Jim, who he then realizes is a human being. This incident evokes feelings of regret in Huck, and shows that Huck is the one good person in the novel.…

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Racism In Huck Finn

    • 253 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In chapter 8 on page 41, Huck and Jim seem to grow a bond, a bond that society wouldn’t accept, when Huck later finds out that Jim ran away and were wondering in the woods they seem to develop a close friendship. Huck could have told someone that Jim ran away but instead Huck accepted Jim and took part in an adventure along with Jim.…

    • 253 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Knowing how to differentiate between what is ethically right and wrong is not an innate value, but rather a skill that must be learned and developed through experience. This concept is expressed in Mark Twain’s book, Adventures Huckleberry Finn, through the eyes of Huck. Huck is a seemingly naive teenage boy born in a time when slavery and racist ideologies are prevalent and he is strongly influenced by those archaic principles of society. Accompanying him during his adventure is an African American runaway slave named Jim, who befriends Huck while striving to achieve freedom. This unlikely coalition presents Huck with many internal and external conflicts, which ultimately allows Huck to discover values and beliefs that he truly believes. In…

    • 1256 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huck learns a variety lessons from the various figures in his childhood, some good and some bad. From his Pap, he learns how to fend for himself and to reject formal society, but he also learns about racism, alcoholism and has to suffer years of abuse. From the Widow and Miss Watson Huck learns about generosity and kindness but also about religious indoctrination and the boundaries of what deemed is acceptable in society. From Jim, Huck learns about love and compassion, trust and honesty as well as the difference between right and wrong. Floating down the Mississippi River Huck learns to challenge social norms and constructs when he decides to help Jim to freedom. The contrasting characters of Pap and The Widow mirror their contrasting beliefs systems. And yet with the help of Jim, one of the only constant characters in the novel huck learns the truth about the world. Huck’s new world image is tested when the King and the Duke, two “rapscallions”, sell Jim to Mr. and Mrs. Felps. Once again attempting to use his own judgment, but erring on the side of his upbringing Huck decides that Jim would be…

    • 714 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huck Finn is constantly surrounded by greed from most people he comes in contact with. Furthermore, the grangerfords and the shepherdsons are two families who are in a family feud between them. They both have kids that escape from their parents to fall in love with each other. Huck narrates, “En ole Mars Saul en de boys tuck dey guns en rode up de river road for to try ketch dat young man and kill him” (113). These families feel greed because Miss Sophia and Harney Shepherdson have a desire to marry each other and a plan to escape to pursue their dreams. In this case greeds role plays a major part in the morals of Sophia and Harney. Colonel Sherburn is a store owner and the richest man in town. Huck narrates, “By and buy a proud looking man about 55 and he was a heap of the best looking man in town” (180). Colonel Sherburn is a greedy swindler who swindles people for money to pay for his lavish lifestyle. To sum up, greed can be connected back with Miss Sophia and Harney and in Colonel Sherburn's lavish lifestyle.…

    • 921 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huck Finn Racist

    • 916 Words
    • 4 Pages

    While all this is happening, while Huck is playing these tricks on Jim, we have to remember Huck is still a kid. He’s only around 13 years old, and that’s what kids do. They don’t think before they do things, and they like to play pranks and tricks on people. Huck was just trying to have fun with Jim, not be mean to him and be racist to him. In the novel Huck and Jim have a good relationship, they become friends and Huck starts seeing him as a person rather than a slave. They form a bond, a friendship.…

    • 916 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Huck Finn

    • 1632 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The Old South’s way of life deformed the consciences of the people living there, convincing them of the humanity of slavery. Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn tells the story of Huck Finn, a young redneck boy, who finds friendship in a runaway slave named Jim, despite his own racist background. Though Huck and Jim bond throughout their journey, Huck struggles to overcome the way he was raised and see Jim as a person capable of feelings and emotions. Throughout his journey down the Mississippi, Huck is faced with challenges where he must decide Jim’s fate, but as his bond with Jim grows stronger, he begins to unlearn the racist views he was taught. He begins to mature and follow his heart when he apologizes to Jim, decides not to turn him in, and when he finally has the epiphany that he would rather rot in Hell than turn in his best friend.…

    • 1632 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huck Finn

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel which displays a young boy named Huck's dilemma on whether he should turn in a run away slave named Jim, that he has been helping escape to freedom. Huck must decide upon what he feels is the right thing to do, even if that means going against society and changing his own morals. Huck exemplifies how his opinion of society's beliefs changes throughout this novel.…

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays