Huck Finn
In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain presents the idea that society can greatly influence an individual, and sometimes the individual must break from the accepted values of society to determine the ultimate truth for himself. In Huckleberry's world, society has corrupted justice and morality to fit the needs of the people surrounding him. Huck however looks to his own morals to question the validity of a practice that has been inscribed into his daily life, slavery. Huckleberry decides to ignore society's thoughts and puts his own life in jeopardy to aid a runaway slave. In Huck's moral reconciliation, he is able to disregard the ideas of society and depends on his own choice of right and wrong. Twain urges his audience to understand that society can never decide what is morally right but the individual who must come to a decision on his own. Huck's non-conformist attitude creates a conflict between him and society. With a highly abusive drunkard for a father, Huckleberry relies solely on himself from his childhood. Because of this, he effectively alienates himself from the rest of society. Society continues to try to "reform" him, but Huck shows his lack of appreciation in the effort from the very beginni
ng of the story. He says that the Widow Douglas took him for her son and would "sivilize" him, but Huck gets back into his "old rags and his sugar hogshead again, and is free and satisfied." His actions are based on instinct and his own experience, rather than conventional conscience. As a result, he makes up the rules for himself as he goes along, forming a conscience that is keenly aware of society's prejudices but actions based on that which he has experienced. Ironically, often his own instincts hold him to a higher moral standard than those of society. His decision to help free Jim, a slave, is an example of one such instance. Huckleberry recognizes Jim as a human being, but fights the beliefs bestowed upon him by a society that believes slaves should not be free. Tom Sawyer, an individual who as well thinks like society, influences Huck's young mind on slaves. Tom manipulates Huck into "stealing" Jim out of slavery and does things with no sympathy. While Huck follows Tom, he looks at blacks including Jim as " most ruined, for a servant." Huck is oblivious to the justice, the righteousness, and even the heroism of his own actions, which are simply in accordance with his own conscience. The climax comes in the end
Some common words found in the essay are:
Mark Twain, Fay Weldon, Tom Sawyer, Widow Douglas, Huck I'll, Watson Huck, Miss Watson, moral reconciliation, huck's moral reconciliation, help free jim, huck's moral, help free, miss watson, free jim, actions based, jim own, own life,
Approximate Word count = 839
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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