Deception In Huck Finn

Grangerfords are engaged in an age old blood feud against another family, the Shepherdsons. When Buck's older sister elopes with a member of the Shepherdson clan, the vendetta finally comes to a head. In the resulting conflict, Huck witnesses the horrific murder of all the Grangerford males from this branch of the family being shot and killed, including Buck. He is immensely relieved to be reunited with Jim, who has recovered and repaired the raft that got damaged earlier.

Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, has many similarities to Stephanie Ericsson’s essay, “The Ways We Lie.” Ericsson’s essay condemns humanity’s ability to lie without remorse and gives examples of the ways people deceive each other. Huckleberry Finn, a young boy who doesn’t follow many rules, lies constantly and consistently uses many of Ericsson’s examples of lies. Because Huckleberry Finn takes place in the 1830’s, it is easy to identify many stereotypes and cliches in this novel, Ericsson’s essay portrays this as a form of lying. When Jim and Huckleberry were on the raft floating away from their town, Huckleberry came to a conclusion that Jim was “uncharacteristically” smart. Huckleberry stated, “He had an uncommon level head for a nigger”

There are many different ways Huck shows morality throughout, but only a few of them are significant. For example when Huck gives the money to judge Thatcher so Huck can spend quality time with his dad and not have anything to do with money. When Huck tells Mary Jane the truth about who the Duke and the king actually are is a way Huck shows morality. When Huck was going to send a letter to Miss watson telling her about what happened to Jim and his whereabouts, but he tore up the note instead. If Huck would not have done any of these things than many things throughout his lifetime would have been different.

Throughout Huckleberry Finn, Huck sees countless people get taken for a fool and believe foolish things. Most obvious are the people that get taken in by the King and Duke, but even earlier in the book, Huck sees people believing untrue things. For instance, when Huck tells the watchman that he has a family that

Huckleberry Finn was a very caring character to me. He used his lying for the good things in life. Everybody in their lifetime lies at some point, and hopefully most of the time it's for the better. For example, Huck was often lying to protect or help his friend Jim.

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.

Huckleberry’s father was a major example of this type of man in the south. A father is supposed to lead us in the right way to go, but Huck’s father was not a good influence. He learned from his father that stealing was borrowing, so he thought it was okay. His father came and beat Huck for money so that he could buy liquor. When he was out of his right mind from the alcohol, he treated him worse.

In Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the protagonist, Huck Finn, witnesses the flawed society of 1883. Huck meets Jim, an african-american slave, and they run away together to escape Huck’s abusive father and haunting past. Huck’s morals tend to be whatever is easiest for him, and how he could get around doing hard tasks. Huck may seem as though he is fixed on his own ideas but as the reader goes through Huck’s adventure they learn that his morals change. Although, at the beginning of the novel Huck’s morals tend to be self-centered, ultimately his morals have changed because he puts JIm before himself and realizes the wrongdoing of others.

Growing up before the civil war in the midst of slavery, Huck felt forced to be dishonest about his identity many times in order to protect himself and Jim, a runaway slave. The author, Mark Twain, used his interactions with characters in order to show that when he was dishonest, it led him to do the right thing, even though he had to lie to do so. There were many instances where Huck was challenged to do what society thought

Huckleberry Finn is a liar throughout the whole novel but unlike other characters, his lies seem justified and moral to the reader because they are meant to protect himself and Jim and are not meant to hurt anybody.

Clearly, Huck’s society portrays what is morally okay and yet Huck starts to question the uncertainty of the community. For instance, as Huck starts to progress and notice the wrongs of his society and his father is also challenged to progress based on the town and their goals. Twain describes this kind rehab by saying that “The new judge brought Huck’s father to his own home, cleaned him up, fed him and even got him to admit his faults and yet he reverts back to his old habits” (144). Huck’s father obviously is showing signs of uncertainty despite the revelation of his life, he is constantly trending back towards his old habits. The Judge even says that “he felt kind of sore. He said he reckoned a body could reform the old man with a shot-gun, maybe, but he didn’t

Huck feels that Mary Jane is very nice and so he should not let the two frauds, the King and Duke, take all of their money. “I say to myself, this is a girl that i'm letting that old reptle rob her of her money”(132). Hucks believe it not right to let the two fraud take all the money from the girls and so he was deciding rather to go tell the truth to Mary and her sisters. Hucks feels bad for not saying anything and letting the King and the Duke take their money. “And when she got through, they all jest laid themselves out to make me feel at home and know I was amongst friends”(132). Huck made his mind up to get the money for the girls. Here, Twain thinks it is not right to not tell the truth and let someone go into trouble. Huck’s decision in telling Mary Jane the truth and to lie to the King and the Duke shows how Twain is saying it is not right to watch a person take advantage of someone. It showing that telling the truth is better than lying because not telling the truth can put a person in danger. Huck is thinking about whether he should tell Mary Jane because the truth because the truth is always better and safer than

Huckleberry Finn is a liar throughout the whole novel but unlike other characters, his lies seem justified and moral to the reader because they are meant to protect himself and Jim and are not meant to hurt anybody.

Sometimes making a stand for what is right, especially when it is totally against the customary beliefs of your society, is not an easy accomplishment. In the novel Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, the main character Huck encounters many situations where there is a question of morality. Considering the traditional protocol of his society, Huck has to choose either what his conscience feels is right versus what the customary public views are. In many cases Huck goes with what his conscience feels is right, which always is the proper selection. Ironically, what Huck believes in, unapproved of in the 19th century, is the basis of accepted beliefs in our modern world. Huck lives with the

Lying can be used for good, as well as it can be used for bad. Huck is able to save both himself and his friends by lying, even though society tells him it is wrong. Huck instead separates himself and creates a new identity for himself through lying. But not everyone has other people’s well being in mind. In the King and the Duke’s reign of tricks upon their unsuspecting victims they instead use lying and deceit as a way to get drinking money. Lying and deception play a large role throughout Mark Twain’s, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as it is both a reason and an escape from conflict. Both lying and deception are also used as a way to show the stark difference between appearances and reality because lying is what hides the reality from Huck and the rest of the characters within the