Mark Twain Morality Essay

Morality has always been defined as having either a good or evil conscious. There is always a choice that a character makes that defines their moral integrity in a literary work and distinguishes them as the hero. In Mark Twain’s story, “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, not only does Huck encounters a number of moral circumstances where he or other characters displays situations in which moral ethics is called to questioned, but it proves that despite the religious influence and social expectation, it is through Huck that in order to do what is morally right, one must challenge the moral teaching of the world. Through observation of his world, Huck makes morally ambiguous choices that though may be against his moral teachings. Choice

Huck rushes back to the island and demands that Jim be ready to run with him, meaning that Huck has risked his own freedom to save Jim. “Git up and hump yourself, Jim. They’re after us,” Huck finds out they are looking for Jim on Jackson’s Island and he rushes back to let him know (Twain 63). Huck could’ve easily ran and left Jim, but he didn’t. This is the first time where Huck begins to change and value Jim as a companion and friend. Huck realizes the value of Jim, outside of being a slave, and risks his own freedom in order for Jim to remain free. Huck realizes that Jim is a good and true friend and that lying is what will keep them safe and together in the society that they are living in. “He’s sick--and so is Mam and Mary Ann,” Huck lies to the men who want to search the raft for slaves (Twain 90). He says his family has smallpox which is what drives the slave searchers away. Huck knows they must lie about their intentions and who they are in order to be successful. This also proves how awful society was, they would have taken away Jim, no questions asked, and it just simply becomes easier to hold their tongues. This is when Huck first begins to protect Jim and defy society once again. Huck later hurts Jim’s feelings by playing a cruel trick on Jim and feels bad. Huck knows white people aren't supposed to, but he apologizes to a slave

Mark Twain’s classic novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn took place during a tense period in U.S. history. Heated debate over the morality of slavery had sparked and deep divisions were emerging between the northern and southern states. Born in Missouri, a slave state, the novel’s protagonist Huckleberry Finn was raised on values of racism and prejudice. He adhered to these principles as they were all he knew. However, over the course of his journey, Huck’s formerly provincial morality was challenged by his real-world experiences, and he was forced to derive a new set of morals for himself. At the start of the novel, a blind acceptance of slavery was present in Huck’s mind. This was revealed when Huck thought, in reference to Jim’s plan to free his children, “Here was this nigger, which I had as good as helped to run away, coming right out flat-footed and saying he would steal his children – children that belonged to a man I didn’t even know; a man that hadn’t ever done me no harm” (137). Although grateful for Jim’s companionship and reluctant to report him to the authorities, Huck still believed slavery to be a moral practice. As evidenced by this thought process, Huck held on to the values of the slave-owning states in the south, believing that Jim’s children, as slaves, were property. He even felt remorseful at the thought of a man’s slaves being stolen. Regardless of his budding friendship with Jim, Huck was still concretely in favor of slavery. This static view on

In Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huckleberry’s changed morals are revealed when he decides to save Jim and free him from slavery. Huck’s revelation relates to the structure and meaning of the work through the growth of his personal views on society.

He constantly found himself battling on whether to help Jim or turn him in, which would be more sociably acceptable. But as Huck befriended him, he came to realize that Jim was more like him than he previously assumed. And after witnessing Jim's emotional outburst concerning his daughter, Huck thought that Jim "cared just as much for his people as white folks does for their’n. It don’t seem natural, but I reckon it’s so" (Twain 117). But this goes against everything he would have been taught to support slavery. One of the rationales behind slavery is that black people aren't humans, but "animals"/"savages". But by Twain showing Jim as having emotions that even a white person can identify with, he displays how the conception that blacks are emotionless animals is untrue. And later on, when he once again struggles with turning in Jim, Huck's actions sheds light on how cruel slavery is and the worth of a black persons life. He came to the decision that he would even risk going to hell to set Jim free, as he stated "All right, then, Ill go to hell" (Twain 162). After experiencing how Jim treated him and how much he acted like a normal "white person" would, Huck was able to realize that Jim's life was equally as valuable as his own and that forced labor would be injustice. Additionally, Twain used Jim's actions in contrast to characters such as the king, Duke, and Pap to further prove his

During this part in the novel, Huck’s conscience is oriented towards that of a white, middle-classed notion of morality whereas law and order is valued much more highly than a slave’s right to freedom. Later on, Huck reaches his turning point from the morality of the typical white individual to that of his own. Huck attains an epiphany when he realizes that white and black people are not much different. While conversing with Jim, Jim grieves at the fact that he will never be able to see his wife and child again. Huck then acknowledges that “he cared just as much for his people as white folks does for their'n” (Twain 155).

In Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the protagonist, Huck Finn, witnesses the flawed society of 1883. Huck meets Jim, an african-american slave, and they run away together to escape Huck’s abusive father and haunting past. Huck’s morals tend to be whatever is easiest for him, and how he could get around doing hard tasks. Huck may seem as though he is fixed on his own ideas but as the reader goes through Huck’s adventure they learn that his morals change. Although, at the beginning of the novel Huck’s morals tend to be self-centered, ultimately his morals have changed because he puts JIm before himself and realizes the wrongdoing of others.

Similarly, another display of faulty logic would be when the new judge rules that Huck should be in Paps custody, despite Pap’s history of alcoholism and abuse. These events and moral misjudgments serve to make up the society that Huck inhabits. The message that Twain is expressing with this kind of atmosphere is that, no matter how “civilized” a society might claim itself to be, it cannot be civilized or just so long as it enacts the practice of slavery. When terrible acts of injustice go unpunished but minor offenses result in execution, the society cannot be just.

Morality plays an important role in Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Huck Finn is an uneducated, thirteen-year-old boy who does not necessarily know the difference between right and wrong, yet often makes the right choices throughout the novel. While Huck often accidentally does good, some people do not see this as an indication that he is a morally good person. Jim, on the other hand, is a slave who almost always does the right thing, but we are not inclined to see Jim as a moral model because he is a slave. Therefore, those who focus too heavily on Huck’s morality misunderstand Twain as Jim, not Huck, is the moral model of the novel.

Mohandas Gandhi once said, “Morality is rooted in the purity of our hearts.” However, it may not hold true in Twain’s novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In the novel, the protagonist Huck Finn’s morality and perception of others is shaped by the society he lives in, demonstrating that an individual’s morality or the epistemological sense of right and wrong can be largely influenced by society and the living environment. Yet despite strong traditions of the 19th century south, Huck is able to live away from the “civilized” world, leaving behind his hometown and travelling down the Mississippi river with Jim, a runaway slave. Huck’s unusual experiences with Jim contrast with his predetermined notions of race and power in the midst of the Jim Crow Era, thrusting Huck into a great crisis of morality dictated by his consciousness instead of his intellect. Through Huck’s journey in the search of morality, Twain conveys the theme that that morality is dictated by society, despite the goodness of an individual’s consciousness, it is difficult for and individual to intellectually challenge societal paradigms.

Throughout the book, Twain uses various themes such as social ostracism to comment on human nature and its role in shaping society. Sometimes mainstream society is not as right and moral as it believes, and when individuals try to justify it they push away their own humanity. Twain demonstrates this through the various lifestyles, comparing the intellects and beliefs of different social classes, and Huck’s conforming

"It has always been a peculiarity of the human race that it keeps two sets of morals in stock-the private and the real, and the public and the artificial.” -Mark Twain, Eruption. This quote from Mark Twain states that it is an oddity that society often has two sets of morals, one of which is the real and true morals that they believe in, and the others are ones that have been formed because of the influence people have had on them. This is clearly shown in Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck begins to show his true values once he leaves his hometown. In the beginning of the book, Huck Finn lives according to many of the morals that he was taught by the people with whom he grew up. These included many attitudes about slavery and race. Once Huck leaves on the raft down the

According to the Merriam Webster dictionary the definition of moral is this, “of or relating to principles of right and wrong behavior.” By this definition, it can be shown that Huckleberry Finn became a moral person during the course of the story, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In the beginning of the story Huck had few morals, however, as the story unfolded readers were presented with evidence that serves to prove Huckleberry Finn did have morals.

Mark Twain, author of Huckleberry Finn, lived in the nineteenth century, an era ripe with slavery, tentative technological advancements and hypocrisy ingrained in religion. His attitude toward various moral dilemmas is manifested in the character Huck, who experiences a life-changing journey that seeks to segregate Huck's moral and religious thoughts. Twain's message in this novel is that morality does not originate from religion, and he uses various examples to illustrate his statement by contrasting the two with various symbols. Mainly, the author indicates the hypocrisy of certain characters, expresses symbolism through natural phenomena and brings his lesson to light via interactions between Jim and Huck.

The moral code of individuals shape their personality and contribute to the thoughts of people in society. Twain uses Jim to signify the journey Huck takes regarding his ethical values: “People would call me a low-down Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum—but that don't make no difference” (Twain 43). Twain shows how Jim’s relationship to Huck makes him question what society teaches him about the lower class. When individuals encounter issues that question their ethical values, the result reassures their moral code. The decisions that people make happen for a reason. Therefore, every decision that individuals make reflect their principles. Additionally, in “Huck, Jim, and American Racial Discourse,” David Smith examines the topic of Jim’s role through the effects he has on Huck. As a moral figure, Jim allows Huck to develop his ethical values while using his own