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Huck Finn American Dream Analysis

Decent Essays

During the late 19th century everything was changing. African Americans had recently gained rights as well as the new notion of a common goal that all Americans shared. They all shared a dream, the American Dream. Mark Twain, in his American Realistic novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, utilizes The American Dream in order to portray its influence on 19th century life. Throughout the end of the 19th century, people were demanding rights; among these people were African Americans with the dream of freedom. After Pap takes Huck to the cabin in the woods, he locks him in, and leaves for a few days. When Pap returns he brings with him a story of an learned African American man. The man was a professor from Ohio, and wore nicer clothes …show more content…

While there are other characters who are also looking for a better life, not all of them choose to take the low road that the King likes to drive. Huck, the King, and the Duke travel into a town to perform their show. Huck observes the situation saying, “we struck it mighty lucky; there was going to be a circus there that afternoon, and the country people was already beginning to come in, in all kinds of old shackly wagons, and on horses. The circus would leave before night, so our show would have a pretty good chance. The duke he hired the courthouse, and we went around and stuck up our bills,”(Twain 153). According to John Izaguirre, the American Dream is not understood by not giving it a definite shape, or attributing it to a specific heritage. But that it is far more beneficial to look at it from a different perspective. The perspective that contains the premonition that the “American dream, unlike any other form of national identity in the world, is shaped and defined by collective values.” Both the Duke and the King are fraudulent, lying, and thieving men. They give little regard to how their actions will impact others, but much regard to how it will impact themselves. The main concern of these two ghastly men is to achieve riches, which by all means they do not deserve. These men are prime examples of Americans who are not afraid to pursue their American Dream. Although their pursuit is for people of low morals, they still have the moral right to pursue this dream, even if they have no legal

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