A Complex Crisis of Compassion and Commitment Essay Huck’s decisions at the Phelps’ plantation are directly influenced by Huck’s learning process from the beginning. His decisions, however, are not effortless and don’t always concede to the moral beliefs of the time. Huck’s personal commitment toward friendship and doing what he believes is morally right create a push and pull effect on Huck; which creates his overall conscience. Huck’s personal conscience plays a major role in the evolution of the story and shows his moral development through his mental decisions, actions, and thoughts. Initially, Twain strikes the reader with powerful pain in Huck’s life from his family experience and puts Huck’s young life into perspective for the reader. …show more content…
This event is a huge turning point in Huck’s journey and creates an opportunity for Huck to make a decision that doesn’t only affect him. Huck has been brought up in a world where he has a deformed conscience because of his status in society and cultural upbringing. When Huck is asked if he there is anyone aboard his ship he responds with a stark, “Only one, sir”(page 110 ch 16) and is then presented with the quick decision to follow his moral upbringing as a white male or continue his new friendship. He explains when asked if the person on board is white or black that he was left dumbfounded. Huck believed that his response of, “He’s white”(page 110 ch 16) was not only hard for him to say, but was not what he truly wanted to exclaim. Huck’s decision to protect Jim came from what he thought was an act of cowardliness and giving up on trying to push himself to do the moral action. This would have been an easy out for Huck on this journey that he put himself in, however as nonchalantly as Twain presents Huck’s feelings on giving up on turning Jim in, it’s clear that Huck wants to continue this
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
The book introduces Huck as the first person narrator which is important because it establishes clearly that this book is written from the point of view of a young, less than civilized character. His character emerges as a very literal and logical thinker who only believes what he can see with his own eyes. In this section Huck’s life with the Widow Douglas and her attempts to raise him as a civilized child sets up the main theme of this book which is the struggle or quest for freedom. Huck’s struggle for freedom from civilized society is paralleled by Jim’s struggle to escape from slavery. Irony as a key literary
Throughout all of his adventures Jim shows compassion as his most prominent trait. He makes the reader aware of his many superstitions and Jim exhibits gullibility in the sense that he Jim always assumes the other characters in the book will not take advantage of him. One incident proving that Jim acts naive occurs halfway through the novel, when the Duke first comes into the scene "By right I am a duke! Jim's eyes bugged out when he heard that..." In the novel, Huck Finn, one can legitimately prove that compassion, superstitious and gullibility illustrate Jim's character perfectly.
Most people often assume that the aim of civilizations is for humanity to function together, jointly and cooperatively, so that humans produce and experience the benefits of moral people who live and act together. However, in Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the reverse is true. The swap in societal stereotypes is apparent in the king and the duke’s production of the Royal Nonesuch as well as Huck and Jim’s pleasant journey down the Mississippi after escaping the family feud between the Grangerfords and the Shepardsons. Leading up to the performance of the Royal Nonesuch, the king and the duke
Through the theme of rebellion against society, Huck demonstrates the importance of thinking for oneself and embodies the idea that adults are not always right. This is highlighted in his noncompliance when it comes to learning the Bible and in the decisions he makes when it comes to Jim, decisions that prove to be both illegal and dangerous. By refusing to conform to standards he does not agree with, Huck relies on his own experiences and inner conscience when it comes to making decisions. As a result, Huck is a powerful vehicle for Mark Twain’s commentary on southern society and
In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, author Mark Twain uses Huck to demonstrate how one’s conscience is an aspect of everyday life. The decisions we make are based on what our conscience tells us which can lead us the right way or the wrong way. Huck’s deformed conscience leads him the wrong way early on in the chapters, but eventually in later chapters his sound mind sets in to guild him the rest of the way until his friend Tom Sawyer shows up. Society believes that slaves should be treated as property; Huck’s sound mind tells him that Jim is a person, a friend, and not property. Society does not agree with that thought, which also tampers with Huck’s mind telling him that he is wrong. Though Huck does not
Along the path of self-discovery, challenges constantly present themselves as opportunities to grow intellectually and as a chance to succeed. Often times, the use of personal judgment and self-understanding is necessary in order to overcome these challenges. In Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck experiences difficulties which compel him to use his moral judgment. Huck, a young boy in search of freedom, is accompanied by a runaway slave named Jim as he embarks on a treacherous journey down the Mississippi River. During his adventure, Huck must determine the fate of the runaway slave. However, as his relationship with the slave deepens, he comes to realize this task is far from simple. Huck faces this life-defining yet
Living in the 1800's wasn't an easy task. There were many hardships that a person had to endure. In the novel, The Adventures of Huck Finn, the author Mark Twain portrays the adventure of a young boy. Huck, the young boy, goes on a journey with various dilemmas. The novel starts off in Missouri on the Mississippi River. Huck is taken from his guardians by his father and then decides to runaway from him. On his journey, he meets up with his former slave, Jim. While Huck and Jim are traveling down the Mississippi River, they meet a variety of people. Throughout the novel he takes on many different tasks which help shape his moral conscience. Taking on a new friend which society
Because blacks are uneducated, he sees them as stupid and stubborn. He frequently tells stories to Jim, mainly about foreign kings and history. When Jim disagrees with Huck, Jim becomes very stubborn and refuses to listen to explanations. Huck eventually concludes, "You can't learn a nigger to argue". Jim also seems to accept that whites are naturally superior to blacks. He knows that Huck is far smarter than he is. When Tom Sawyer and Huck are planning an elaborate breakout for Jim, he allows their outrageous plan to continue because they "was white folks and knowed better than him". This mutual acceptance of whites as superior to blacks shows how deeply rooted slavery was in Southern culture. This made it very difficult for Huck to help Jim. When Tom Sawyer says he will help free Jim, Huck is very disappointed. He had never thought that Tom Sawyer, of all people, would be a "nigger stealer". Huck had always considered Tom respectable and educated, and yet Tom was prepared to condemn himself to damnation by freeing a runaway slave. This confuses Huck greatly, who no longer knows what to think about his situation with Jim. When Huck is forced to make a decision regarding slavery, he invariably sides with his emotions. Huck does not turn Jim in, despite having several chances. His best chance to do what he believes is right comes as they are rafting towards Cairo, Illinois. Huck finally
On Huck and Jim’s journey to Cairo, Jim begins to speak about when he is free he will go and find his children and take them from the slave owner. This rubbed Huck the wrong way; his standards of Jim had been lowered because, from Huck’s point of view, why would Jim steal his children away from a man who has done nothing to him? Huck’s conscience began to come into play and he had made up his mind: He was going to turn Jim in when they reach shore. He was sure of it until Jim began to sweet talk Huck, telling him that Huck was the only white man that had ever kept a promise to him. This comment went directly to Huck’s heart; he could not possibly
At this point in the novel, Huck still holds the belief that blacks are essentially different from whites. Also, Huck's conscience constantly reminds him that he is an abolitionist for helping Jim run away from his owner. Huck does not see that Jim is looking for freedom just as he is.
After reading your famous novel, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” I don’t feel that the ending you have created is suitable for the book. Throughout the entire novel, Huck is going to all extremes to help out a friend in need, Jim. As a slave, Jim is grateful for having such an honest and open friend like Huck, but it seems as if when he finds out he was free all along, things change. When Jim and Huck found themselves at the end of their journey, neither had anything left to run from because Huck’s dad was dead and Jim found out that Mrs. Watson freed him when she passed away a few months ago and hoped he would soon be with his family. Because of this ending of your choice, we never
Heading south down the Mississippi River, Huck exposes himself to the hegemonic confinements of late-nineteenth century American society. Although Huck actively rejects the institutionalized lifestyle Widow Douglas raises him in throughout the text, he recognizes the societal backlash of acting against the hegemony around him. By choosing separating himself from the institutionalized society around him, Huck gains the ability to turn inwards, allowing him to think for himself and ultimately act against racial hegemony by saving Jim.
With Huck being the narrator it is important that readers fully understand and connect with his character early, and Twain made sure of that with every effect of
Huck says to himself “s’pose you’d a’ done right and give Jim up? Would you felt better than what you do now? No, I’d feel bad-I’d feel just the same way I do now” (94). With that decision by Huck, that shows two people the same thing. This shows both Jim and the reader that Jim is too good of a friend to be back stabbed. With that decision, Huck proves his loyalty to Jim, no matter if he is black or white.