How Does Huck Finn Tell The Truth

Twain feels that by making Huck do this Twain is poking fun at Huck's intelligence. Not his nature intelligence but his book intelligence. In other words Twain is making fun of Huck.

Throughout the book Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Huck breaks multiple laws of society to uphold many personal morals. Many of these laws deal with heavy subjects such as slavery. Huck shows both compassion and lawlessness through Jim, and his decision to join a gang of “robbers”, but in the end is his decision to stick to his moral code simply just disrespect of the law or a feat of moral courage?

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

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

He also does not doubt tom?s judgment when he says ?But go ahead, I ain?t got nothing to say? because he does not know any better. On the other hand, Huck gains knowledge while experiencing the journey to free Jim and suddenly Huck encounters a decision that requires much more consideration than anything he has ever thought about. As Huck decides whether or not to turn Jim in to Miss Watson, he says, ?I studied a minute, a sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: ?All right, then, I?ll go to hell?? (Twain 228). Huck now has the ability to think for himself. This important decision goes against what he has always been taught. He thinks his decision thoroughly, unlike before. With his new standards of morality, Huck decides not to turn Jim in. It is apparent that he improves in his aptitude of making choices. Huck?s capability of making decisions alone shows that he is maturing into an independent young man.

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.

While Huck does not revert to his arbitrary way of making decisions, he does decide to move West, which is uncomfortably reminiscent of his early tendency to run from his problems in order to evade dealing with them. The commonalities between Huck’s early actions and later ones could be interpreted two ways. One interpretation is that Huck knew what was moral all along, he simply let society take hold of his emotions and divert him from a moral path. The second interpretation is that by having such stark similarities between Huck’s early and late mortality, Twain is implying that humans, at their core, are not as superbly moral as they are portrayed in religion, for example. Independent of these interpretations; however, is another idea worth noting: Huck only made “good” decisions when he experienced just the right amount of empathy. For example, Huck witnesses the Duke and King being tarred and feathered and feels bad for them, so bad for them; in fact, that Huck begins to feel guilty despite obviously having no role in what happened to them. Similarly, Huck’s chronic feelings of lonesomeness and displacement have dual effects. Huck’s empathy does not begin to develop until he is displaced from society as he knows it. Prior to Huck’s physically leaving his

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.

Is it wrong to tell a child that Santa exists? Huck Finn would say that it isn't. When is necessary to lie? At what point would would a lie become hurtful? Should one ever lie? These are questions that Mark Twain addresses in his novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In the novel, Huck Finn is a child who is gifted with a great skill of lying. However, throughout the novel, he begins to question when exactly he should use this skill. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck eventually learns that his skill of lying should only be used for one reason: to retaliate against the ideas of convention.

This is shown when he is getting bored going to school all day long and having the same daily routine that he doesn’t enjoy, he states, “Living in a house and sleeping in a bed pulled on me pretty tight mostly, but before the cold weather I used to slide out and in the woods sometimes, and so that was a rest to me.” This passage shows the fact that once Huck has too much expected or thrust upon him he needs to escape and clear his mind and he can do this because he has “freedom” that allows him to leave the house and do as he

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

Mark Twain seems to be more forgiving towards characters who have used necessary deception than the ones who have acted, in some way, hypocritical. Though hypocrisy and deception are both looked at as pessimistic actions in our society, Twain points out that sometimes lying or bending the truth is necessary in some cases. In a perfect world there would be no need for anyone to bend the truth, but this isn't a perfect world and Twain knows it. There is greed, selfishness, and no telling who can be trusted. Since there are such people in the world, Twain seems to find that deception, or the process of misleading others, is necessary at times for people have the potential of doing selfish and greed driven things, like Huck's father.

He refers to such a situation as “...so kind of strange and unregular” (141). What this highlights is one of the essential elements of the book, what Twain called a battle between “A good heart and a deformed conscience.” The “good heart” side of the argument is Huck’s desire to alleviate Mary Jane’s misery, and protect her and her family from the machinations of the duke and the king. The “deformed conscience,” or the way his experiences and upbringing have affected his character, is the side of him that wants to lie just to avoid any trouble that telling her the truth might cause him. Recognizing and exploring the interaction between these two sides of Huck, both of which are demonstrated in this passage, is essential in understanding his character. Finally, Huck comes to the conclusion that he will tell Mary Jane the truth, “...though it does seem most like setting down on a kag of powder and touching it off just to see where you’ll go”

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

Often times Huck found himself in a moral dilemma on whether to do what society instilled in him or to do what he thinks should be done. Huck betrayed those feelings of “what society would want” him to do in order to be a good friend to Jim, putting his own self up at risk again for Jim. Jim was being held captive by Huck’s current host and Huck, abandoning his duties of his superior race and being a good Christian, as the Widow called it Huck suddenly has an epiphany “All right then, I'll go to hell!” as he goes to “steal Jim out of slavery” (212). Seeing the situation through Huck’s perspective it gives the reader every little detail that goes into his thought process in his decision making. These types of actions were considered wrong by society at that time and place but Huck sets that all aside and does what he feels is the right thing. Most of the time Huck has to think on his feet making the decision making process even more difficult, like the time when Huck was going to give Jim up as a runaway slave. “Then I thought a minute, and says to myself, hold on, s’pose you’d ‘a’ done right and give Jim up, would you feel better than what you do now? No, says I, I’d feel bad---I’d feel just the same way I do now” (91). Even through Huck’s dialect you can see him argue with himself on what the right thing to is, but he throws out what society would do and does what his heart tells him. Through Huck arguing