Morality In The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain
In “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain morality is often questioned. The main character Huck is in a constant battle of right and wrong. Huck’s journey throughout the book shows how morality can come from anything, things like church, family, and society, but most importantly, from one’s self. The community in the novel states that slavery and the conditions that follow it are acceptable and that African Americans are not equal to its white counterpart. Towards the beginning half, specifically chapter Ten, Huck shows a little of the society’s values when he puts a dead Rattlesnake on Jim’s bed as a prank which attracted other Rattlesnakes to bite Jim. When the snake bites Jim, he becomes ill and his leg starts to swell. Feeling bad, Huck learns that Jim is a human with feelings and emotions, just like everyone else. Following that scene Huck states “I
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warn’t going to let Jim find out it was all my fault, not if I could help it.” (Twain, Pg 55), showing that he is not going to tell Jim he was the one who left the dead Rattlesnake on his bed. Religion and church are also one of the many things in the novel that create moral boundaries.
Many of Huck’s preconceptions are from his forced attendance at church and from Miss Watson. Churches obviously preach about good, and things such as the Ten Commandments, which Huck obviously breaks. However, Huck ends up being the most moral character in the novel, at least towards the end. He lies his way through to save a slave, and he even attempted to save a couple of burglars lying by saying that there is a group of men on a steamboat in need of help. All these situations included lying in one form or another, but are they right or wrong? In one hand, you are helping someone but in the other you are either breaking the law or you are lying which is against one of the Ten Commandments. The line “All right then, I’ll go to hell” (Twain Pg 217) shows that Huck disregards what religion states as right or wrong, he accepts that he is committing a crime and is aware of the consequences that await him, but he doesn’t care. Instead, he goes with his conscience and what he thinks is
right. As for Mark Twain favoring one source of morality I would say he favors the churches. He never mocks the church, even though he makes satirical jokes about religion which is associated with church. He does, in fact, mock the community. Quotes such as “Well, it made me sick to see it; and I was sorry for them poor pitiful rascals, it seemed like I couldn’t ever feel any hardness against them any more in the world. It was a dreadful thing to see. Human beings can be awful cruel to one another.” (Twain Pg 233) and ““Do I know you? I know you clear through was born and raised in the South, and I’ve lived in the North; so I know the average all around. The average man’s a coward. In the North he lets anybody walk over him that wants to” (Twain Pg 149) shows how Twain felt towards the community during that time period. He describes the community as cowards and how people are like sheep’s, following what the other does.
In conclusion, much of Huck’s moral values and ethics come from his experiences. An example of this would be him acknowledging the fact that lying is bad, he never understands the good of lying till he is being put in a tight situation. Family and religion do play a part in structuring morality but in the case of Huck, he never cared for things such as religion much less his family who he dislikes.
warn’t going to let Jim find out it was all my fault, not if I could help it.” (Twain, Pg 55), showing that he is not going to tell Jim he was the one who left the dead Rattlesnake on his bed. Religion and church are also one of the many things in the novel that create moral boundaries.
Many of Huck’s preconceptions are from his forced attendance at church and from Miss Watson. Churches obviously preach about good, and things such as the Ten Commandments, which Huck obviously breaks. However, Huck ends up being the most moral character in the novel, at least towards the end. He lies his way through to save a slave, and he even attempted to save a couple of burglars lying by saying that there is a group of men on a steamboat in need of help. All these situations included lying in one form or another, but are they right or wrong? In one hand, you are helping someone but in the other you are either breaking the law or you are lying which is against one of the Ten Commandments. The line “All right then, I’ll go to hell” (Twain Pg 217) shows that Huck disregards what religion states as right or wrong, he accepts that he is committing a crime and is aware of the consequences that await him, but he doesn’t care. Instead, he goes with his conscience and what he thinks is
right. As for Mark Twain favoring one source of morality I would say he favors the churches. He never mocks the church, even though he makes satirical jokes about religion which is associated with church. He does, in fact, mock the community. Quotes such as “Well, it made me sick to see it; and I was sorry for them poor pitiful rascals, it seemed like I couldn’t ever feel any hardness against them any more in the world. It was a dreadful thing to see. Human beings can be awful cruel to one another.” (Twain Pg 233) and ““Do I know you? I know you clear through was born and raised in the South, and I’ve lived in the North; so I know the average all around. The average man’s a coward. In the North he lets anybody walk over him that wants to” (Twain Pg 149) shows how Twain felt towards the community during that time period. He describes the community as cowards and how people are like sheep’s, following what the other does.
In conclusion, much of Huck’s moral values and ethics come from his experiences. An example of this would be him acknowledging the fact that lying is bad, he never understands the good of lying till he is being put in a tight situation. Family and religion do play a part in structuring morality but in the case of Huck, he never cared for things such as religion much less his family who he dislikes.