Lies in Huck Finn

A detailed Summary of Lies in Huck Finn


Throughout the tale of Huckleberry Finn as told by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), almost every character for his or her own reasons lies. This can be considered a commentary on the morality and ethics of man kind by Mr. Clemens. Almost no person exists that has never uttered at lease one untruth. That is one of the wonderful things about this novel. It closely mimics real life. There are characters that lie for personal gain. There are also those that lie only in hopes of helping others. Though both are lies, one can be considered courteous or even heroic at times, where the other can only appear greedy and wrong no matter what light it is viewed in. Mark Twain often uses the river to denote freedom and purity, however just as many lies are told on the river as off. This is because Twain doesn't make the assumption that all lies are wicked, and can thus attach them to his symbol of pure good.

Practically every "good" character in Huckleberry Finn lies. Huck himself lies on almost countless occasions. Miss Watson lies on at least one occasion. Jim tells several lies during the tale. Tom Sawyer is practically unable to speak the truth. Yet none of these characters are seen as morally corrupt.


Even the lovable innocent Jim will lie for personal gain. His "innocence is lost" when he successfully scams unwitting Huck (Miner 21). He manages to trick Huck out of a quarter for the use of his "magic hairball" that tells the future (Clemens 19). This lie was only designed to get Huck's money, not to hurt anyone. This and the fact that Jim is practically ignorant account for his being a "hero" in the story even though he lies to his friend and steals himself out of slavery.

While all characters and for the most part all people lie, it is the motivation behind the lie and the moral fiber of the person telling it that causes harm or good. The fact that a character in the story lies does not make them a bad or evil character, simply more realistic. The focus of Clemens through the social graces of his characters and their dialects was to create a true to life story. By adding the complexity of honesty to good or evil ends greatly contributes to this theme of realism.



Some common words found in the essay are:
Miss Watson, Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, Samuel Clemens, Royal Nonesuch, Huck Miner, Mark Twain, Jim Huck, King Duke, Bridgewater Clemens, characters lie, miss watson, huckleberry finn, king duke, personal gain, tom sawyer, king duke lie, person telling, story lies, huck jim, jim seen, lie personal gain, fakes own death,

Approximate Word count = 1234
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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