Social Issues In Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain and Henrik Ibsen were both influential authors. Their books are read today and seen as stories that dive into social problems during the author’s respective times. Mark Twain’s Huck Finn (from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) is about a young boy who finds himself struggling with an issue within his morals that he was taught. Nora Helmer, from Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll House, deals with a secret that could cause her to be disrespected in society. Although both Twain and Ibsen use a bevy of characters that affect how they persuade the audience of their social issue, Twain uses supporting characters to build up Huck’s moral dilemma, whereas Ibsen introduces challenging characters into Nora’s situation. The three women that brought
He no longer thinks that slavery is okay, but he still does not believe that stealing someone’s property (Ms. Watson’s slave Jim) is morally correct either. The relationship between Huck and Jim is a paradox because they are two people who are from total different social classes and should stay in their classes, as was the thought at the time. However, because slavery was a hot topic at the time, Twain introduces this relationship, although fictional, to prove to all readers that the white and black man can get along. In Heather Shrum article “The Father-Son Relationship of Jim and Huck in Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, she explains that towards the end of the book, Jim feared losing Huck as a close companion and son if he were to gain absolute freedom (1). Working together without discrimination is one of the main things that aided Huck and Jim to finding freedom. Without Huck’s moral dilemma being pacified, Huck and Jim would not have been able to succeed. Further, had Twain not written in Jim’s character, Huck would not have had to even think about slavery because he would not have come in contact with it. Therefore, Twain would not have raised awareness to anything and would have simply written another
For example, Jim keeps the fact he knows Pap is dead to himself and saves Huck from the pain of knowing that (293). Shrum’s article showcases this aspect of Jim and Huck’s relationship as the sacrifice that makes their relationship work (2). Because of Huck’s apprehensiveness and confusion towards slavery, this trust that Jim places in his own gut feeling to keep that fact to himself shows that Huck’s morals are right when it comes to confiding in and respecting black people. Further, in A Doll House, Nora’s dilemma of leaving her children reaches center stage when she speaks to Anne-Marie, the nurse. Nora tries to confide in the nurse but it backfires as the nurse only makes Nora feel worse about leaving her children. Byatt says that this conversation shows Nora’s insensitivity (4). But, when keeping secrets and confiding in certain people to protect others, insensitivity is not an issue because people are just trying to figure out what they should do; they may not necessarily act on it. On the contrary, Shrum shows that interactions between people of different class (Huck-Jim; Nora-the Nurse) actually help build a stronger relationship between the two (1). Collectively, these interactions between the main characters and supporting characters help form new insights as to their opinions and moral codes. The effectiveness of the supporting