Essay on Critical Analysis of Huckleberry Finn

Huck Finn, a narcissistic and unreliable young boy, slowly morphs into a courteous figure of respect and selflessness. After Pap abducts the young and civilized Huck, Huck descends into his old habits of lies and half-truths. However, upon helping a runaway slave escape, Huck regains morality and a sense of purpose. Throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Huck lies to characters, casting the authenticity of the story into doubt but illustrating Huck’s gradual rejection of lying for himself and a shift towards lying for others.

The satirical Southern novel, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain, is often a novel debated between critics if it should prohibit from being taught in schools across America. The novel shouldn’t be expelled from schools since it’s a literary work that takes in-depth on societal norms that were acceptable at the time it was written, like owning a slave as an example. The novel depicts on how owning a slave was okay during the pre-Civil War period of the Southern states. It shows some insight, political and social events that were occurring, as for example during chapter 8, Huckleberry encounters Jim on Jackson's Island when Huckleberry ran away from home. Accordingly, Huck tells Jim that his running away with him could cause Huck

that Huck and Jim had run a thousand miles down the river and ended up

Huckleberry Finn is trying to say that telling lies can be hurtful and that the truth must be always be told. After Huck had faked his death and being able to escape. He met Jim in the wood and they become friends. Jim asked Huck how he faked his death and Huck decides to tell Jim the truth. “Then I told him the whole thing, and he said I was smart”(32). Jim also told Huck the truth about why he runoff and it was because Miss Watson was trying to sell him off. Jim did not think about how risky it can be telling Huck the truth because Huck can turn him in: “I hear ole missus tell de widder she gwyne to sell me down to Orlean”(33). Also Huck was deciding rather to tell Jim the truth about the snake he place on Jim’s blanket. Huck is upholding information which shows how he is lying.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel by Mark Twain that focuses on the coming of age of a young boy in the mid 1800s in Missouri. Throughout the novel, the main character Huckleberry Finn faces many moral dilemmas through his adventure where his decisions affect the growth of his maturity and morality of his character. However, Huck Finn eventually shows that by the end of the novel that he has matured morally through his interactions and shared experiences with runaway slave Jim and reaches Stage 6 of Kohlberg’s Moral Development Theory whereas at the start of the novel he was at Stage 1. Kohlberg’s Moral Development Theory is a belief started by John Kohlberg that ranks the stage of morality that a human has based on social interactions from stages of 1 to 6. The first two stages of this theory is when a human makes moral decisions based on self-interests/conveniences, the next two stages is when decisions that are made are based off pleasing others, and the final two stages are decisions made based on what is right even if they break the social norms.

Samuel Clemens, also known by his pen name Mark Twain, wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in, 1885. Young sam grew up in a poor family; his father worked four jobs but died when sam was 12. Sam grew up and headed out west; he became the greatest storyteller and writer around. The Adevntures of Huckleberry Finn is about a young boy, Huck Finn, who runs away with his adult-slave friend named Jim down the mississippi river and their adventures are told in this

Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain's classic novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, tells the story of a teenaged misfit who finds himself floating on a raft down the Mississippi River with an escaping slave, Jim. In the course of their perilous journey, Huck and Jim meet adventure, danger, and a cast of characters who are sometimes menacing and often hilarious.

Huckleberry Finn is not an escapist, but a free spirit who only wants to live deeply disentangled from the bonds of society. An escapist is someone who flees from his/her responsibilities, while a free spirit is a person who knows no boundaries, and cannot be tamed by society.

Families are the backbone of civilization. The culture and worldview of a civilization are transmitted through families. Often, certain idiosyncrasies, many of which would be considered an abomination in today’s culture, become ingrained in a society. In the antebellum period before the American Civil War, one such idiosyncrasy was that persons of African descent were treated as subhuman. In Huckleberry Finn, Huck realizes the absurdity of these beliefs. When Huck leaves for the western territories, he is leaving behind his family and civilization, along with their deformities. In the end, the light, Huck’s pure heart, overcomes the darkness, his deformed conscience by severing his ties with the society in which he was raised.

There is an amazing disconnect between a conscious mind and the subconscious of a heart in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. In this novel, the mind represents a deformed conscience, but the heart is pure; the main figure in the story, Huckleberry, “Huck”, possess both characteristics. Among the many topics to debate within the novel, the question of whether this story is ruled by hope or cynicism determines the way the novel is read and interpreted. Although there are examples of lightness in this novel, Twain writes this novel with a predominantly dark mindset of humanity. He shows it through the the obtuseness and violence of humans through the Grangerfords, and materialistic ideals of the King and Duke and what they stand for; these characters represent major character flaws that are prominent in the entirety of the human race. He displays these characters in such a way, showing how common these vices are, and how they can appear in anyone. All of these dark character flaws seem tempting at first, Huck, a light character, always tries to escape them and the darkness of society.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, The Prologue by Anne Bradstreet, and “On Being Brought from Africa to America” and “A Farewell to America” by Phillis Wheatley, three very iconic works, that at first glance do not seem to be connected at all; however if one digs deeper they will uncover that these intertwine very well. All come from extremely different time periods; but they deal with one central issue. That issue being an identity crisis or the works have a character working to find out who they really are. Seeing that the idea of identity crises spans over 400 years, it is clearly a pressing issue throughout history. It is an issue that continues to be a problem still today.

Themes to a book can be easy to spot. But going deeper into the pages really defines a novel. One will pick up on things like an author is leaving little breadcrumbs behind for the reader to pick up on. Now, when analyzing text to a book, you must chunk it, small pieces at a time, so one can really dig deep into the pages of the book. So deep one can pry the staples out of the book. Take Chapters 17 and 18 of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” for example.

“This shook me up considerable, because I didn't want to go back to the widow's any more and be so cramped up and sivilized, as they call it” (Twain 35). Individuality is typically hard to find given that society adjusts for the common people to be a part of. A representation of this can be found in the book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Twain portrays this with a young boy named Huckleberry Finn who breaks free from society. Huckleberry Finn, also referred to as Huck, did not understand the society of his time and to fight against this, attempts to become an individual. The development of Huck's

Abusive, derogatory, and malevolent, Pap Finn represents the epitome of an uneducated and underprivileged lower class. Pap’s crude dialect, disorderly conduct, and frequent rants demonstrate and convey the opinions of those in society who feel that their human rights remain obscure. Mark Twain, in his nineteenth century novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, exploits the character, through the use of dramatic, rhetoric-filled rants, of individuals in society who urge for a fairer representation and division of their innate, human rights. Thus, Twain promotes the fulfillment of a greater understanding of one’s civil liberties and their influence.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain follows juvenile Huckleberry Finn, the protagonist of the novel, and his companion, Jim, on their journey to seek refugee from society. Twain portrays Huckleberry as an astute and stalwart young man, whose personal sense of morality overrides society’s insular prejudices and focuses, instead, on his own integrity and values. Throughout the novel, Huck faces a number of situations that test his ability to decipher between right and wrong, despite the strong influences from societal conventions. Huck develops his own moral compass through experiences, such as suffering under an abusive father, helping a slave escape to freedom, and stealing money with swindlers.