Analysis Of Peter Wilks 's ' Hometown '

Huck's observation and reaction to the feud of the two families has reinforced his conscience about the chaos of white society in comparison to Negroes. Huck's reaction in regards to the King and the Duke is also an important point in Huck's development as a person. Huck, having been exposed and shown the immoral and corrupt products of society has grown strong enough to work against society in the end. This development has allowed huck go approach society in a more skeptical manner and to confront and accept that society and the world is not Widow Douglas' delusional mirage. This resulted in Huck to have more confidence in his relationship with Jim and loosened his bond with society's immoral

In the middle of the book, Huck starts to distinguish what is the right thing to do. He starts to think if all the things he was doing before with Jim and Tom were too mean and stupid to do. One specific example is when he decides to steal the money that the king and duke have, “I got to steal that money somehow; and I got to steal it some way that they wont suspicion I done it." (Twain 133) After Huck stole the money Huck and Jim didn’t feel bad at all, and knew that they did the right thing after all. He learns that not everyone can be scammed on, that the real life is important and that you can’t do anything stupid like that. He sees eye to eye with Jim and realizes that he cant have someone taken advantage of just because of their

Huck shows his growth through his ability to understand that their religious beliefs are in conflict with their own actions. Huck learns even more about his own morals during his encounter with the King and the Duke. The King and the Duke lie about being the Wilks brothers in order to get money. For Huck, they cross the line when they lie to Mary Jane. Huck watches them cry for

While on the river, Huck comes across the duke and the dauphin, two individuals that represent selfishness and greed in the community. These “liars aren’t no kings nor dukes at all, but just low-down humbugs and frauds” (125) and take advantage of innocent

An early indication of Huck maturing is when he feels guilty about playing a joke on Jim. This acceptance of knowing he did something mean shows that he has gained a sense of responsibility. Another major step in Huck's maturity is when he decides to give Mary Jane back her stolen money. Huck footnotes, “I felt so ornery and low down and mean that I says to myself, my mind’s made up; I’ll hive the money for them or bust”(177). By saying this, it shows guilt in Huck's heart for the King and Duke’s criminal activity, and it shows a sense of morality that is developing inside of Huck. This morality developing in Huck blossoms when he decides to go after Jim. Huck then and there concludes, “All right, then, I’ll go to hell” (215). This display of a moral compass is one of the novel's most important representations of Huck's growing maturity. A continuation of Huck's moral compass is his empathetic reaction when he sees the Duke and King tarred and feathered running from an angry mob. Huck remarks, “Well, it made me sick to see it; and I was sorry for them poor pitiful rascals, it seemed like I couldn’t ever feel any hardness against them any more in the world. It was a dreadful thing to see. Human beings can be awful cruel to one another” (232). Even though the Duke and King were criminals and liars, because of Huck's now established maturity, he feels sorrow for the

As a team completely isolated from society, Huck and Jim are an unlikely pair formed perfect; the king and the duke, who are exceptionally similar in terms of their personalities and pursuits, are seemingly natural partners, but are more individual than joined. Huck and Jim are of entirely different social standings, yet both are able to form an unbreakable bond. Huck is a young, white male who is seemingly above Jim on the social ladder, though much younger, and Jim is a runaway slave who Huck could have turned in for his own benefit. During the river/raft scene, Huck discovers how much he needs Jim as a moral companion for his own happiness and protection. Huck solely uses “we” to refer to himself and to Jim, thus suggesting that Huck does not see himself and Jim as two individual people, but rather one pair. Huck and Jim’s dedication to each other also breaks down all social and racial walls built by society that they have chosen to leave. The two speak to and treat each other as equals, and no judgment of racial inferiority is imposed by Huck to Jim, despite that Huck was brought up with racism and cynicism. Huck says that he and Jim “was always naked, day and night” (178); nakedness is the most vulnerable state of all humans, as one’s

Huck steals the money from the mattress because he wanted to give the money that King and Duke stole from pretending as Wilks brothers to the nieces; Huck felt like letting King and the Duke have the money Peter Wilk left will make himself rueful. The money was hiding by Huck Finn in Peter Wilks’ coffin so that the King and the Duke will not accuse Huck of stealing their money.

Throughout the novel, Twain shows his contempt for corrupt human nature. Although these instances are often satirized and exaggerated, the message is still the same. For instance, when the King and the Duke first start to lie about being the dead Peter Wilks’ brothers to obtain his money, Huck says, “It was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race,” (191). In this instance Twain is utilizing Huck to show his aversion to the way people lie and cheat, and how a couple of people can make a bad name for all of us. Another example is when Jim sells the King and Duke out to the townspeople and they are carried on a pole, tarred and feathered. Although Huck, has tried to escape the King and Dukes several occasions and has witnessed the cruelties put on others and lies they tell, he does not think that they deserve similar treatment. In fact, he says, “Human beings can be awful cruel to one another,” (269). Through Huck, Twain is voicing his opposition to how people treat one another, whether they deserve it or not. Thus Twain is using his novel to voice his enmity for the cruelty in human nature.

Right from the first time Huck hears the story of the king and duke's amazing pasts Huck knows, "these liars warn't no kings

The reader can clearly see that the Duke and the king have bad intentions that seek to benefit nobody but themselves. Lying is a crucial part of the story that occurs in almost every chapter. Typically people view lying as wrong, but in the case of Huck’s journey with Jim, lying is the only thing that keeps Jim safe. Hucks

Another example that indicates hypocrisy in the civilized society in the novel is the biased punishment of crimes according to the society’s rules and regulations. This is shown by the non-judgment of the Duke and the King regardless of the fraudulent schemes that both con artists involved in the community. Huck and Jim rescue the Duke and the King and offer them their raft. The first scheme begins when both criminals present fake identities to Huck and Jim. The Duke introduces himself as the English Duke’s son, also known as the Duke of Bridgewater whereas the King presents himself as the Lost Dauphin as well as Louis XVI’s son and France’s designated King (Twain, 144-145). Additionally, one of the con artists, the Duke, takes advantage of Jim’s race and position as a runway slave and prints leaflets that offer $200 reward to any person that manages to catch the runaway slave. The Duke is

When the King goes to feel out one of the towns to see if the people of that particular town has heard of the fraud of a show that he and the Duke had been putting on Huck is planning his and Jim’s escape. Huck at this point knows that the King is actually going into the town to look for more people’s houses to rob. The Duke is visibly agitated for some reason and Huck senses it. When Huck and the Duke go into the town to look for the King he is obviously drunk. Huck runs as soon as he sees an opportunity to lose the King and the Duke. Huck thinks he and Jim are finally free only to find that Jim is gone. When Huck realizes Jim is gone and he cannot find him he actually cries. We see the emotional attachment and bond that Jim has formed with Jim. When Huck comes across a young boy who tells him of how a runaway slave was caught and he learns that he was caught because the Duke and the King tricked them. Following this encounter Huck is upset. The first reason he seems upset is because he was turned in by the hands of people he thought he was helping but the most ironic reason for his anger

They have a generation long feud with the Shepherdsons. The two families do not even know why the feud started, but they continue to kill each other for some unknown reason. Huck sees this brutality and realizes that even the most sophisticated and dignified families are not perfect. Huck sees his friend killed and decides he does not want to stay here any more and travels down the river with Jim where the eventually comes to the Wilkes

Throughout Huck’s life he managed to find his own form of family. In the beginning of the book he was staying with Widow Douglas, she was much like a mother to Huck. She wanted Huck to be a normal child of the time, but Huck just wanted to be himself the typical good bad boy. He would get tired of living by her rules so he would set out in search of change and adventure. The widow couldn’t bare the thought of losing him, she considered him her own son. “The widow she cried over me, and called me a poor lost lamb, and she would call me a lot of other names, too, but she never meant any harm by it.”(Page 1) The widow cared deeply for Huck, she only wanted the best. Judge Thatcher was another person that filled a void in Huck’s life, yes he had a father, but Judge Thatcher taught him things that Pap should have. When Huck and Tom received their money Judge Thatcher

Why do you think they were behaving in that manner? Who do you think was their intended audience?