Huck Finn Rhetorical Analysis

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer appears in St Petersburg and at the Phelps’ farm as Huck Finn’s companion. Though Tom serves as Huck’s partner-in-crime of sorts, the two boys contrast in crucial perceptual and behavioral aspects: where Tom possesses a love for romanticism and a strict policy of adherence to societal conventions and codes, Huck possesses a skeptical sort of personality in which he tends to perceive society’s infatuations as frivolous. Tom’s presence represents an overlying trend in behavior for Mark Twain’s era wherein individuals adhere to an idealistic social code that justifies the subjugation of others for the entertainment of the privileged populus. In this regionalist critical novel, Mark Twain uses Tom Sawyer as a vehicle to reveal the dangers of an idealistic society and how idealism leads to society rationalizing its day-to-day standards; thereby, its idealism serves to hide the questionable moral behaviors prevalent in Twain’s era.

Huck, who is a child in a book, has a lot of room for development. In the beginning, he was taught to follow the rules of society like practicing Catholicism and refusing to associate with slaves. However, during Huck’s journey with Jim, he learns a valuable lesson about respecting people based on their character, despite what he was taught by Widow Douglas, Miss Watson, and Tom Sawyer. During the first few days of his journey, he pulls pranks on Jim, like attempting to trick him into thinking that getting lost in the fog was all a dream. However, later on in his journey, he refuses to follow the rules of society in order to save Jim. He even says “All right, then, I’ll go to hell” when he chooses not to tell Miss Watson Jim’s whereabouts (Twain 214). Jim in turn sees Huck as a great friend as well, thus showing how Huck is now seen as a

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 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.

He also sees how hypocritical they truly are, and, it can be inferred that, Twain wanted them to represent society in the novel. Huck thinks their way of living was ineffective, and that is why he used to sneak out in the middle if the night, skip school, and smoke his pipe. It was difficult for Huck to adjust from an unstructured home, with no training, raised by an alcoholic and abusive father, to two strict, cookie-cutter women in a house with plenty of rules and regulations. After earning a large amount of money as a reward, with his best friend, Tom Sawyer, Huck's abusive alcoholic father, who he calls Pap, comes back to steal his money by kidnapping him, and while Huck is with his father he says, "I didn't see how I ever got to like it so well at the Widow's, where you had to wash, and eat in a plate, and comb up, and go to bed and get up regular, and be forever bothering over a book and have old Miss Watson peeking at you all the time" (Twain p. 37). Huck's view on society is one of dissatisfaction and rebellion, as his opinions reveal how imperfect, and unjust society's rules actually are. Especially after hearing that his behavior will determine whether or not he will go to Heaven or Hell scares him a little bit, because he wasn’t taught right from wrong his entire life up until this point. After this Huck's thoughts are, how can a man not be punished by law (his father), for abusing him, but Huck can be reprimanded for harmless things like

The dissection of the immorality of society is further explored in Tom Sawyer’s scheme to free Jim from the Phelpses’ captivity. Tom, seemingly eager to help Jim escape, creates a plan that seems to exist more for his own amusement than for Jim’s emancipation, a plan that eventually ends in Jim’s recapture and Tom’s injury. Thus, Tom’s plan to free Jim takes on a dark irony as Huck says that Tom is “not mean, but kind”; this is subverted when we discover that Tom has used Jim as a plaything in his game of escape (Evans). Tom and Huck, both boys of about the same age and with similar backgrounds, are a good example of the difference that “sivilized” society makes on the development of the individual. As Tom and Huck plan Jim’s escape, the two represent very different places in their development as individuals; Huck having discovered a new morality through his journey down the Mississippi, and Tom having remained more or less the same as his introduction at the beginning of the novel. While Huck has demonstrated his ability to more fully realize individuals, notably Jim, Tom has been conditioned by society to see slaves as subhuman, and thus has no problem with using Jim as a plaything in his game of adventure. This trivialization of human life, presented by the “civilized” and “kind” Tom, demonstrates the immorality and toxicity of Southern society. Twain also comments on the hypocrisy

Again, Huck describes feeling “wicked” and “ornery,” though this time he tries to justify his emotions with plausible insights into his upbringing; however, this is to no avail as Huck finds himself back in his perpetual state of self-deprecation. A key difference between Huck’s previous moral conundrum and this one is consistent religious reference, which is similarly reminiscent of Huck’s early morality. For example, Huck’s early rejection that Providence could love him is realized in this later scene. This example is what was previously referred to as the “religious enforcement of Huck’s emotions” and evidently does not subside; however, Huck, with his newfound empathy, now allows those emotions to lead his decision making. In doing this, Huck allows himself to surpass the status that religion attempts to fix him in. In this manner, the parallels between Huck’s early and late morals are necessary to show the extent of his shift in ideals and, moreover, Huck’s willful dislodging of his place in society, the thought of which had previously plagued him. Because of his connection with Jim, that relationship is the stable place that Huck needed and therefore his relationship to the greater society is unimportant, allowing Huck to make a definite and permanent decision of eternal hell (this idea reverts the seemingly immoral status of hell to a semblance of higher

That is to say it is an educated, religious, good mannered, and a society boy. Everything about Huck says anti-society, except for the way he treats blacks, on and off. His future is set out for him, and it seems quite perfect, but because he despises society and its people he can not trust Sally or her perspectives. Thus he can not be civilized like we saw prior in the book. Again history is repeating itself, making the argument the Huck has made no progress in the book: but that is like saying WW1 and WW2 were fought for different reasons. Because he can’t really “stand” being any of these things , nor the idea or right or wrong his life becomes a war between him and Society. In change for this fight he wants to move out west with Indians, which is possibly the perfect people for him to strive and find himself. They are white, uncultured people whom roam free and survive off the land; does this not sound like Huck himself? But why does he want to leave his loving family and his dear friend

Huck's dismissal of the dogmas and codes of civilization and his decision to follow the impulses of his heart develop into the two key themes of the book. At the opening of the book, Huck is a young boy who has lived his entire life on the outskirts of civilization, so he makes more deliberate decisions to join or not join society than others born into civilization. Huck tolerates school; however, he rejects the religious code. Miss Watson says that it's the authority for living a civilized life and not going to a "bad place." The extremity of Huck's rejection of society should be measured by what he does, not what he thinks. Huck's decisions are tremendously challenging and dangerous, and he only commits to it after ripples of

Huck grew up in the lower class and was taught the wrong morals. He followed these morals so he could be more accepted in his society. Sacvan Bercovitch describes the novel as a “Tall [tale] humor was a form of initiation and survival in response to radical physical and social uncertainties on the edge of settler-colonial expansion” (Berconvitch). Berconvitch

Nilon states, “Twain shows clearly that Huck must follow Tom’s leadership and that Jim suffers by Tom’s concern for style and throwing “bulliness” into his plans” (Nilon 23). Throughout the novel, Tom Sawyer symbolizes society to show Huck’s lack of low self-esteem as a white boy in reality. Regardless of being the same race, Huck does not represent a boy that meets the standards of a white boy in society. Some strive to be like Tom Sawyer in society when in reality we are like him but we try to be like Huck. Tom as the society does not sincerely want to free Jim and he finds pleasure in trying to make Jim like a real prisoner.

“I would go to work and steal Jim out of slavery,” Huck shares, showing that he would be willing to risk his life and reputation to free his friend, Jim (Twain 195). Instead of this institution creating kind, caring, compassionate learners and leaders, the educational institution instills primitive, old world values into its students in the South. However, because Huck escaped this formal Southern education, he has good morals. Southern society considers Huck an uneducated, ignorant boy, but it is he who possesses far more knowledge and compassion than any educated person of the South, showing the hypocrisy of the society in which he lives. Huck relates, "It was kind of lazy and jolly, laying off comfortable all day, smoking and fishing, and no books nor study,” while he is living out in nature with his Pap (Twain 25). He does not enjoy a formal education of books and work, but can still appreciate the beauty and curiosities of the world, in nature and its people. Huck is able to see past the barriers society puts up, as he did not receive a Southern education, which creates people who support slavery and do not think for themselves. The educational institution is like a factory, pumping out identical children all believing in old world Southern values. Huck escapes from this ‘prison’ and only then does he become a better

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 molds Huck into a character who realizes what his personal morals are through Tom’s interference as the id. Tom’s id sways Huck’s morals, but also enables him to overcome his indecisiveness towards the concept of morality. His molded superego demonstrates the perfected understanding of morality towards the issue of racism, but it’s repressed as he reencounters his id. The constant cycle in Huck’s understanding of morality describes the transition of how the south reacts towards racial equality. Since slavery is a basic need for the South, it represents the basic id. As movements arise and awareness is brought forth, equality becomes the achievable reality or superego for the south. If awareness is suddenly halted, society regresses back to the id phase. Twain attempts to bring attention in order to raise more awareness about the issue of equality and to never halt the process. Equality can be perfectible through societal

Illustrated in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain reveals Huck’s character as honest and transparent; Widow Douglas wants to civilize Huck because he has no manners and she wants to save his soul. Huck portrays to the audience that he is truthful and honest. In Widow Douglas view Huck should be respected by white society which means having to wear new clothes and having to come to supper when called. Huck tries to defy the norms of society by running away from it. As a result of leaving society Huck feels free (para. 2). Huck feels free from society because he feels like society was changing him into someone he is not (para. 2). Society to Huck is condoning slavery and racism. Huck acts “uncivilized” according to Ms. Watson because Huck can’t spell nor behave properly and she is concerned that he will not go to the good place (para. 6). Huck doesn’t want to go to the good place because its is full of white society. Ms. Watson’s interpretation of the good place reveals the ignorance of her society because she believes that in heaven would be a great place with people playing harps and singing all the time (para. 7). Huck doesn’t want to go to heaven because if his best friend wasn’t going he wasn’t going either and he wanted to be with him.