Morality In Huckleberry Finn

In the classic novel, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” growing up in a time, where along with society, Huck has been taught that slavery is not only acceptable, but also a practice that should be preached. Mark Twain makes his hidden message clear to the reader of the intense issues the South is dealing with. The one thing that Huck Finn was taught that slaves were pieces of property and worthless. Huck does something in the novel that no one else appeared to do; he had a moral debate between his conscience and social ethics. In the beginning, we can tell Huck Finn is different from most, he epitomizes independence and living the way he wants. When he starts living with Widow Douglas, she said she was going to “sivilize” him. Huck prefers
to live free and to be able to do what he wants, when he wants. This ironically shapes who Huck is as a person. Huck Finn's actions during the novel makes you wonder “Who is the real Huck Finn?” and his behavior makes you question if he is for society or against it.

At the beginning of Huck’s “freedom”, he displays society's stereotypical view of African American people.
When Huck accidentally sees Jim at Jackson’s Island, he is surprisingly happy to see him. Later on, he plays a bad trick on Jim by placing a dead rattlesnake under Jim’s blanket. He is expecting that good old Jim, will act like any other foolish, black person. What Huck doesn’t realize is that Jim is not like a stereotypical black person and Jim ends up getting bit by the snake because of it. This scene shows Huck’s immaturity but when Jim has to drink whiskey in order to numb the pain of his swollen ankle; this shows the very first of Huck genuinely caring for Jim. Which is significant because if society believes that blacks are not human beings then why would they care, which shows that Huck is breaking away from society’s values. This first scene shows Huck Finn’s stereotypical thoughts that slavery is a way of life and racism at the beginning of the novel. However, throughout the novel, Huck grows close to Jim. Jim showed him how a true father should be to their son, and what love really is. Huck soon realizes that Jim is a human being and not just a slave. This theory challenges Huck’s
morals.

Huck was raised in the South; not just the South but the deep, backcountry, South.
Confederate patriotism is strong there. When Jim is sold into slavery by the king. Huck has contradictory thoughts on whether or not he should help Jim out because of the sole purpose that he doesn’t want to be known as the person who helped a “slave” get free. Huck ironically out of all things pray for the fact that he ran away with a slave. This shows the conflicting systems of morality, because of his upbringing, he battles his conscience and society. When he ends up doing the right thing and listens to his heart, this reveal to Huck that Jim is a human being, not society ignorant view of black
people.

Progressing to the end of the novel, Huck faces another challenge. Should he save Jim from slavery or turn him in. He again is faced with a moral choice, because everything he has been taught would have advocated for the fact that what he is doing is a sin. If he frees him, he’ll be committing a sin and believes will go to hell. He writes a letter to Miss Watson on Jim's whereabouts. Amidst writing the letter, Huck then decides that he doesn’t care and acceptingly says, “All right, then, I'll go to hell” and rips the paper up. This was one of the most significant scene because he also says, “I was a-trembling, because I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it” this scene was a turning point This scene shows the most intense question of if society’s rules matter or if he should go on his own human inclination. Huck decides that he’d rather go to hell for his friend then turn in a slave.

Twain uses Huck to send a message to society in the south. Living with Jim, and forming that father-son relationship teaches Huck that society’s beliefs are wrong. Huck even begins to realize that Jim is more than just the color of his skin, and that Jim is just fine the way he is. He begins to recognize the extent of evil in slavery and realizes that he must go with what his heart says in the actions he takes toward Jim. That is who the real Huck Finn is. A courageous boy that defies the social evils. That even though everyone in society had a firm belief in slavery, he would go with what his human inclination was. That was Twain's intention. The goal was to make the people that were ignorant and who trusted the values society had established for them; change their perception and question what is right and what is wrong.