Summary Of The Conscience Of Huckleberry Finn

Throughout his article, “The Conscience of Huckleberry Finn”, Jonathan Bennet discusses morality, conscience, and sympathy and the connection between them. When we think of morality, we generally think of a set of moral principles that everyone has and follows. However, according to Bennet not everyone has the same set of principles, but everyone has “a morality” (Bennet, pg. 127). “A morality” implies that there are many moralities in the world, and differences in what everyone believes to be right or wrong. However, our moralities often clash with our sympathies and hence our consciousness. Bennet compares and contrasts fictional characters and historical figures to assess morality and its relation to sympathy and consciousness.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is set in the
Edwards was considered an upstanding citizen, known not to break rules. However, he believed that the whole world deserved to burn in hell and that God merely chose a few to enter Heaven because he felt bad for them, “Natural men are held in the hand of God over the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it; and God is dreadfully provoked, his anger is as great towards them as to those that are actually suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath in hell… All that preserves them is the mere arbitrary will, and un-covenanted un-obliged forbearance of an incensed God” (Pg. 129), Edwards says in his writings. Bennet considers Edwards worse than Himmler because of his lack of sympathy. Edwards doesn’t feel bad for the men who are doomed for eternal pain, but rather believes they deserve such punishment. Because he has no sympathies, his conscience is clear, no little voice in the back of his head bothering him about whether or not he was thinking the right