Essay about Finn Chap 1-5

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

Throughout the incident on pages 66-69 in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck fights with two distinct voices. One is siding with society, saying Huck should turn Jim in, and the other is seeing the wrong in turning his friend in, not viewing Jim as a slave. Twain wants the reader to see the moral dilemmas Huck is going through, and what slavery ideology can do to an innocent like Huck.

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

“The story is told from Huck’s point of view, and his narrative voice is a remarkable mixture of bad grammar, slang, homespun wisdom, and lyrical attentiveness to nature” (Bloom 22). In the novel, Twain uses southern dialect to reflect the time period and location in which it was written (James).

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn begins with the boy, Huckleberry (Huck for short), telling a story in a very conversational tone. The story is a recap of Twain’s previous novel, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, in which Huck and Tom find a robber’s treasure of 12 thousand dollars, and invest it in the bank. Tom had apparently reached out to Huck again, asking him to join Tom’s very own band of robbers. Huck, of course, agreed, and moved back in with Widow Douglas, who cares for him, and makes sure he remains clean. Huck, however, is selfish, and dislikes being “civilized.” He accepts religious and social views the widow enforces upon him, yet decides for himself if he wants to follow them, and doesn’t tell her so as to not cause any unnecessary

Mark Twain attempts to convey the corruption within society through the adventures that Jim and Huck are confronted with. Twain embodies a set view of conduct that differs from the rest of society within Huck’s character, although he does not fully accept his beliefs to be just. This sets Huck up for difficulties to conform to the standards of society, being that his initial instincts are frowned upon. Twain takes advantage of Huck’s situation and subtly incorporates his own views on society in his present day. It is difficult to alter one’s opinion, let alone the opinion of a whole society, so Twain aims to work in his own beliefs without losing attention of his reader. The moral of the story is obscured in order to communicate these beliefs

The particular motifs he uses are the abilities to be unashamed and courageous. The concept of being unabashed shows in the quote, “It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble to a [African-American]; but I done it, and I warn’t ever sorry for it afterward, neither” (Twain 86). Huck’s realization that he is not sorry for apologizing to someone who society perceives as beneath him, becomes a major breakthrough in the story. A second quote that further portrays the motif of being unapologetic also helps support the theme that society’s views must be conquered: “All right, then, I’ll go to hell”-- and tore it up. It was awful thoughts, and awful words, but they was said. And I let them stay said; and never thought no more about reforming. I shoved the whole thing out of my head; and said I would take up wickedness again, which was in my line, being brung up to it, and the other warn't.” (Twain 214). To provide context, Huck had written a letter to send to Miss Watson telling her that he had Jim. After having a moment to comprehend his actions, he reflects on the memories and moments he shared with Jim. Tearing up the letter and acknowledging that he would remain loyal to Jim, even though there is an immense pressure for him to abide by a “civilized” form of rules, displays his strength. Twain writes a final quote, symbolizing his courage, on the same page: “And for a starter, I

9. What does Huck’s father criticize about the government? What does Twain want the reader to feel about these issues?

One of the most noteworthy aspects of Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the skillful way in which Twain relates Huck’s thoughts. By telling the story from the first person point of view, Twain not only lets the reader into Huck’s mind, but he also allows Huck to characterize himself in terms of dialect—his manner of speaking, as we hear his thoughts in his own uneducated and thoroughly “countrified” voice.

In Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a variety of people influence Huck’s ideology. From the Widow Douglas and Miss Watson’s religious rhetoric to Pap’s brutal, uncivilized manner, many contrasting ideas shape Huck’s belief system. However, among these people, Tom Sawyer holds the greatest impact over Huck’s actions and mentality because of Huck’s immense admiration for him. Huck’s initial encounters with Tom Sawyer establish Tom as a major component of the ideology Huck maintains throughout his journey. Despite Huck’s skepticism and confusion about Tom’s imaginative schemes, Huck regards Tom’s judgements as the truth and follows all of Tom’s plans.

Compared to any other single paragraph in Chapters 28 through 30, this passage reveals the most about Huck’s character. In particular, this passage demonstrates his attitudes towards lying, highlights the internal process by which he reasons out whether or not he should tell the truth, and reveals some uncharacteristically romantic elements within his character, all of which are critical to understanding Huck as a person.

As Mawelle writes, " Twain's realism is critically acclaimed" (120) and he portrays that in Huck. Conversely Morris says that Twain is "the fabricator of tales" which is portrayed in Tom (232) . The boys' friendship is the union of the two sides of Twain's writing style and views of the world. In the first few chapters of the novel there is spontaneity and adventure similar to some Romantic novels. Huck meets up with Tom and his other friends and the boys go on raids and excursions together. Tom is the leader and makes up the adventures and Huck goes along with them, but not without some confrontation. For instance, when Tom tries to help Huck slip away from Miss Watson's house to meet up with their crew, the boys get into their first argument. As they are sneaking away, they accidentally wake up Jim, by and by he falls back asleep. The boys have different ideas on how to move on. Tom "whispered to me [Huck] and wanted to tie Jim to the tree for fun" (Twain 14). In response Huck made the point "he might wake and make a disturbance, and then they'd find out I warn't in" (Twain 14). Tom then left the matter alone but not after moving Jim's hat to hang on a tree branch over his head. Though the boys' conflict is not direct, it is in their ideas. Serious Huck was "in a sweat to get away," while "nothing would do Tom..." he had to do something to leave his mark

In order for Huck to challenge any of the values and assumptions of the time he must first be acquainted with them.  And he is not only intimately acquainted with the values of his society but he holds many of its beliefs himself.  But Huck longs for freedom away

He like the majority of the Deep South’s population was forced to submit to popular religion in the form of Christianity, being racist and not being able to criticize the institution of slavery, as well as acting like a “proper” boy and being civilized with manors, rules, and restrictions. However, he is the polar opposite of the ideals expressed by his society. Huck is forced to reside with Widow Douglas, he describes the experience in the first chapter, “She took me… allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time … I wanted to smoke, and asked the widow to let me. But she wouldn't. She said… I must try to not do it any more.” (Twain, 2). In this particular environment, Huck is forcefully civilized by the Widow Douglas as well as Miss Watson. This essentially shows an indirect form of slavery in which Huck is forced to do as society and his elders dictate regardless of what he believes in which many of us are also subject to. This enslaves him and leads him to decide that he needs to relocate himself as far away from society as possible. Therefore, he forges his death and runs away meeting Jim on the way. This idea of Huck being controlled by society influences him through the novel, for instance he thinks about turning Jim in because it is wrong to steal since Jim is

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is a novel full of racism and hypocrisy of the society that we know. Huck continually faces the many challenges of what to do in tough situations dealing with racism and what the society wants him to do. With the novel being written in the first person point of view gives us insightful information into the challenges the Huck is facing and gives us a look into Huck’s head. Huck uses many different techniques to deal with his problems and he gets through them with the end result always being what Huck believes is right. Through Huck’s perspective we see how he deals with all of the racism and hypocrisy of society to form him into the character that he is and to serve the themes of the