Preview

The Uniting of Theme and Plot in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1393 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Uniting of Theme and Plot in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
In Mark Twain's novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain develops the plot into Huck and Jim's adventures allowing him to weave in his criticism of society. The two main characters, Huck and Jim, both run from social injustice and both are distrustful of the civilization around them. Huck is considered an uneducated backwards boy, constantly under pressure to conform to the "humanized" surroundings of society. Jim a slave, is not even considered as a real person, but as property. As they run from civilization and are on the river, they ponder the social injustices forced upon them when they are on land. <br><br>These social injustices are even more evident when Huck and Jim have to make landfall, and this provides Twain with the chance to satirize the socially correct injustices that Huck and Jim encounter on land. The satire that Twain uses to expose the hypocrisy, racism, greed and injustice of society develops along with the adventures that Huck and Jim have. The ugly reflection of society we see should make us question the world we live in, and only the journey down the river provides us with that chance.<br><br>Throughout the book we see the hypocrisy of society. The first character we come across with that trait is Miss Watson. Miss Watson constantly corrects Huck for his unacceptable behavior, but Huck doesn't understand why, "That is just the way with some people. They get down on a thing when they don't know nothing about it" (2). Later when Miss Watson tries to teach Huck about Heaven, he decides against trying to go there, "...she was going to live so as to go the good place. Well, I couldn't see no advantage in going where she was going, so I made up my mind I wouldn't try for it." (3) The comments made by Huck clearly show Miss Watson as a hypocrite, scolding Huck for wanting to smoke and then using snuff herself and firmly believing that she would be in heaven. <br><br>When Huck encounters the Grangerfords and Shepardsons, Huck describes

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn are best friends that have many things in common and many things that are not in common. Tom is better at using his imagination. In the beginning of the Adventures of Huck Finn Tom makes a robber band with the neighborhood boys. Huck soon decides that it is boring because they were not doing anything that Tom promised they would. Huck could not pretend that they were doing what Tom said they were doing. This is again illustrated in the end when Tom and Huck are trying to free Jim and Huck simply cannot see the use of what Tom is doing with all his talk about rope ladders and messages on the walls. Huck is wiser, more sensible, and more grown up. He thinks that Tom is rather silly and nonsensical because he is talking about matters that are not important in the plot of rescuing Jim. Huck understands that the topics that Tom is talking about are not of use. Tom is more daring, civilized, and pushy than Huck. Tom lives with his aunt Polly and wears store bought clothes. He can make Huck do what he wants him to do. Tom is daring enough to help Huck steal Jim and Tom spearheads the mission and he adds all the extra effects. Both Huck and Tom are loyal friends. They did not give each other away when they were living with Aunt Sally. They both knew Jim and they helped him escape from his prison hut. Neither of them are afraid to lie, in fact, most of the book is contains at least one of them lying.…

    • 1686 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    learned from his gut feelings, the question is which one is right? Throughout the course of the…

    • 1153 Words
    • 1 Page
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mark Twain wrote the renowned nineteenth century novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as a humorist, with intentions solely entertain the reader. Although the author warns at the start of the book, “persons attempting to find a moral in this narrative will be banished”, he submerses the reader into Southern society to evaluate their values (Notice). Satirists seek to find motives behind people’s actions and by dramatizing the contrast between appearance and reality; they strive to aware readers of the unpleasant truths within society. With both satire and irony, Twain exposes the selfish qualities of Southern society and their unreligious morals through his realist perspective.…

    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In his novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain uses satire to criticize different aspects of society. The book follows an unruly boy named Huck and a slave named Jim throughout their adventures. During one episode, Huck lives with a wealthy family called the Grangerfords. While living with them, Huck is informed of a feud between the Grangerford family and the Shepardson family that had been going on for some 30 years. Over that time, many people from each family had been killed in the name of the feud. Shortly after Huck learns of this feud, Sophia Grangerford runs off to elope with Harney Shepherdson. After both families heard about this, they engage in a gunfight in which Huck escapes back to the raft with Jim. In this episode, Twain uses multiple satirical devices to criticize “civilized” society.…

    • 714 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    This story is about a boy who pretty much has a front row seat to witness the horrible things that we see being broadcasted on the news today; such as racism. Huck knows that the racists situations that he is witnessing around him are wrong in the eyes of society, but in his heart he knows what's right, which is why he chose to help Jim. Throughout the adventure , Huck struggles with the thoughts of turning Jim in, not because he knows it's the right thing to do but because he knows what could be the consequences for himself and Jim. The only thing that is holding Huck back from turning Jim in is their friendship and what he feels in his heart.…

    • 287 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory 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
  • Better Essays

    Antoine de Saint-Exupéry stated, “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly”. He implies that humans understand and comprehend the world by different means and rely on different sources to provide the truth. People use their senses, reasoning, emotion, and what others have taught them. However, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry expressed that in order to understand something for what it is truly, emotion is the most truthful and applicable source of knowledge. This source implies that what is true is equal to what is morally correct and just. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s statement is true and this is represented by the thoughts and actions of the characters throughout Mark Twain’s novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.…

    • 1337 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mark Twain’s The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn is an American masterpiece. Contrary to The Algerine Captive Mark Twain‘s satire and irony is emphasized through the style and the use of the American “vernacular” dialect for the first time as well as the use of the African-American dialect. Therefore Huckleberry Finn remains the work that elevates this onetime rustic humorist into the ranks of literary genius. It is considered by Satirist Dick Gregory once said that Twain “was so far ahead of his time that he shouldn’t even be talked about on the same day as other people Huckleberry Finn is considered as the first American Novel and aimed at forging an American identity independent from the European one. The Novel, hence, satirize the paradoxical issues of slavery and the hypocrisy of the society as well as the deep intuitions of America.…

    • 1160 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The dictionary says that a hero is a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. This definition couldn’t possibly describe Fredrick Douglas, Jim, and Huckleberry Finn any better. While of course, these three are certainly not the first that come to mind when thinking of heroes, they all completely fit the bill. Douglas is a hero because of his journey out of slavery and because of his moral development, and how his story affected nations. While Huck and Jim go through a similar journey by escaping from the slavery of society, and through their moral developments, they started difficult, but important, conversations about race and prejudice at the time. However, as they compare, they are all…

    • 841 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huckleberry Finn Analysis

    • 860 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Is your life perfect? Probably not we all have our demons we all have our faults but that is what unifies us. We are on a journey to become a better person all the time. Just like in the novels Underground to Canada by Barbara Smucker and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Therefore the journey by both protagonists in the novels The adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Underground to Canada differ, the style of writting used in both texts are complete opposites. They share similairties such as the setting used for both books and the fact both novels end on a positive note. Both authors succeded in conveying the readers attention to the central themes of the books: perserverance, moral awakening and finding your freedom. In this…

    • 860 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huck Finn Hypocrisy Essay

    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Huck watches this as it occurs, horrified. With this particular situation, Huck sees that even those society views as being the ‘most’ civilized, may actually be the opposite. He leaves his time with the Grangerfords changed. He goes through the rest of the novel with the knowledge of how hypocritical society can be, and it helps him rationalize his decision to aid Jim’s escape. Finally, at the tailend of the novel, Huck sees the greatest hypocrisy of them all through Tom. Despite Tom flat out stating that he only used Jim to find a sense of adventure, he turns around the next second and acts as though he has only ever been supportive of Jim as a freeman. The hypocrisy is shown in his decision to keep the information that Jim had been freed in Miss Watson’s will to himself, rather than sharing it with Huck and Jim when he reunited with them. Throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain satirizes the hypocritical nature of society in the hopes that readers will empathize with the conditions experienced in the pre-Civil War era and apply it to their own…

    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Dynamic Duo

    • 1341 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Mark Twain shows the reader how the institution of slavery is morally wrong by using racism, human inequality, and the encroaching on personal freedom. In the beginning, Huck treats Jim like nothing but property in the novel. Later throughout the story he treats Jim with care. Huck helps show his love for Jim when he lies to Jim about being lost in the fog and telling Jim that he had ‘“dreamt it, because there didn’t any of that happen” (Twain 86). Because Huck cares for Jim, he eventually tells the truth and sets it right between them. Another example is when Huck is trying to explain the Solemn and The Baby story to Jim, but he “see it weren’t no use wasting words, you can’t learn a nigger to argue. So I quit” (Twain 104). Even though Huck likes Jim as a friend, Twain still makes him use his stereotypical southern morals to express his frustration for Jim. Twain shows that Huck wants to help Jim, but he is struggling because he is not sure if he should listen to his conscience or the law. Eventually Huck decides to help Jim. Twain uses Jim to show the theft of the most basic human right, freedom. Jim is the perfect example of how slavery can steal or take away the human ownership of a life. It also strips them of human rights. Miss.Watson and all of southern society is satirized as the racist, strict, and crude ideal that “sees her nigger go right off and under her eyes and…

    • 1341 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The theme of individual vs. society is about a person (an individual) who has different ideas and opinions from a large group of people which we called the 'society'. These people usually judge an individual from their behavior and ideology and if the individual does not conform themselves to fit in with others, they will not be accepted as part of the community. What the majority said is not always right, it maybe right in the point of view in most people. The conflict between the individual and society is a consistent theme throughout "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". Huckleberry Finn was a boy who lived most of his life without his real parents, so he had to make most of the decisions using his own natural instincts which some of the decisions had more moral than people who tried to fit in with others. In "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", Mark Twain developed the theme of individual versus reality by creating situations where Huck had to face different characters that represent different aspects of the society such as civilization, unfairness of laws, slavery, and racism.…

    • 1342 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Setting of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is set in the time before the civil war. This setting of is when racism and civil rights were still around. It was around the late 1800s. The state of which story takes place in is Missouri. The town that Huck Finn starts off at is called St. Petersburg which goes along the Mississippi river. Later on Huckleberry Finn goes off to an island that he is familiar to called Jason Island after he faked is death. This is when and where the story of Huckleberry Finn took place. The story Finn a Novel Matthew Olshan took place in a more modern time in Missouri. Even know it was set in a more modern time there was still racism around. Later on they end up going to California. This was the setting of both of these stories.…

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Adventures, kidnappings, slaves oh my! The theme portrayed in the thrilling book; The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is freedom. The author develops this theme by using the river as a symbol of freedom for Huck and Jim. Both Huck and Jim are searching for two separate freedoms, but are striving for the same goal; living their own lives as themselves. In The Adventures of Huckleberry and Finn the characters experience quite a bit of turmoil and differences but they are united by their similar goal; freedom. Freedom is a privilege, but for some it’s not even an option.…

    • 516 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays