Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “In order to acquire intellect one must need it. One loses it when it is no longer necessary.” In a world filled with life-or-death decisions that occur within the splash of an oar, Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn illustrates how Huck uses his intelligence, or lack thereof, as his current situation and familial circumstances sometimes lead him to abandon his judgement when it may not be “necessary”. Although Huck can be situationally acute in familiar situations, his lack of experience in the world and his immaturity show that his mind is a tabula rasa, or a blank slate, that leads him to to use a laissez-faire judgement towards people he has never dealt before.
To be successful in the
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So why the sudden laissez-faire attitude? His new attitude may be attributed to laziness, as he escapes from a potential sticky situation by doing what was easiest. Another example of Huck’s laziness is when he realizes that the self-proclaimed king and duke were lying, but he “never said nothing, never let on” (1365). Although he could have spoke out, he thought it “warn’t no use to tell Jim” (1365), so he just kept it to himself. Huck is also comfortable with laziness, as he says that “it was kind of lazy and jolly, laying off comfortable all day” (1304). Since Huck is “peck[ed]...all the time” (1304) by Miss Watson, he may be using his new power of laziness since it is comfortable for him.
Another possible reason for Huck’s passive judgement is his limited experience with people other than Pap. Huck’s mind embodies English philosopher John Locke’s theory of tabula rasa, which refers to “a state where in which a child is as formless as a blank slate” (Duschinsky 1). Life experiences are what eventually fills up their blank slates, and Huck’s ‘blank slate’ is only filled with his unstable home life with his drunk father. Thus, Huck is at a loss when confronted with different people such as the slave hunters, and prefers to do “whichever come handiest at the time” (Twain 344), and filling up his ‘blank slate’ with the experience.
But this brings up the question- does Huck actually learn
Huck has a grim attitude toward people he disagrees with or doesn't get along with. Huck tends to alienate himself from those people. He doesn't let it bother him. Unlike most people Huck doesn't try to make his point. When Huck has a certain outlook on things he keep his view. He will not change it for anyone. For instance in Chapter Three when Miss Watson tells Huck that if he prayed he would get everything he wished for. “Huck just shook his head yes and walked away telling Tom that it doesn't work because he has tried it before with fishing line and fishing hooks.” This tells us that Huck is an independent person who doesn't need to rely on
In Mark Twain’s book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the protagonist, Huck Finn, struggles in-between the Southern values of slavery and his own conscience, letter revealing situational irony. Situational irony is an occasion in which the outcome is significantly different from what was expected or considered appropriate. Slavery was commonplace in Huck’s time. No one has told him differently, but somehow the isolation on the raft, away from the laws of civilization changed that misguided outlook.as a port uneducated boy, Huck questions the precepts that society takes for granted. This self questioning is heighten by the difference of social orders: Huck and Jim’s microcosmic community where everyone wants everyone else to be satisfied
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
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
Along the path of self-discovery, challenges constantly present themselves as opportunities to grow intellectually and as a chance to succeed. Often times, the use of personal judgment and self-understanding is necessary in order to overcome these challenges. In Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck experiences difficulties which compel him to use his moral judgment. Huck, a young boy in search of freedom, is accompanied by a runaway slave named Jim as he embarks on a treacherous journey down the Mississippi River. During his adventure, Huck must determine the fate of the runaway slave. However, as his relationship with the slave deepens, he comes to realize this task is far from simple. Huck faces this life-defining yet
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.
The main character of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, Huck Finn, undergoes a complete moral change while having to make life changing and moral questioning decisions throughout his journey on the river. Huck appears first as a morally inferior character caused by living with a self absorbed and abusive father, because of his alcoholic habits. Throughout the whole book Huck is guided by Jim, a runaway slave who goes with him and helps Huck gain his sense of morality. During these encounters, he is in many situations where he must look within and use his judgement to make decisions that will affect Huck’s morals.
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
In Jim, he sees kindness, compassion, and integrity. Ultimately, this is what dissuades him from turning Jim in - Huck remembers Jim 's company, "Jim would always call me honey and do everything he could think of for me, and how good he always was" (Twain 95). Jim treats Huck with kindness and respect. Huck slowly realizes that even Jim, a slave, is a human-being. He questions the beliefs that had been inculcated in him from an early age. He goes on to help Jim evade imprisonment by lying to men who are trying to capture runaway slaves. Huck tells the men that his father has smallpox and deceives them into letting him, and Jim, leave. Huck’s action goes against everything he knows. He feels guilty for tricking the men (not turning in Jim), but conclusively states, “So I reckoned I wouldn’t bother no more about [right and wrong], but after this always do whichever comes handiest at the time”(Twain 120). Huck begins to realize that he should not feel shame for something that he feels is right. He learns that as an individual, he has the right to a set of beliefs - molded from his experiences - and that he does not have to do what is “socially acceptable”.
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.
In Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the young protagonist Huckleberry Finn runs away from his abusive father with Jim, a black slave. Throughout the novel, Huck encounters people that fail to understand the injustice of slavery and violence, despite their education. Although Huck lacks any substantial education, his moral values and judgment are highly developed. In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain uses uneducated, colloquial diction and deliberate syntax to provide ironic contrast between Huck’s rudimentary level of education and profound use of moral judgment.
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
Set in the Antebellum South, Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn documents a landscape that differs greatly from the poised and picturesque scene associated with the contemporary South. Today’s South is synonymous with with ice cold pitchers of tea, ceaseless etiquette exuded on wraparound porches, and seemingly romantic drawls. However, the South that Huck resides in, tells a different story. Specifically, his South is a place where suitable behavior is associated with the acceptance of slavery, and racist slurs pepper every sentence. As a result, any deviation from these behaviors leaves an individual ironically branded with a connotation of being uncivilized. Due to this distorted view of ethics, any character with even a shred
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
Child abuse had a great on effect Huck’s whether if it had to do with where he is living or a decision he has made. Huck has been abused for most if not all of his life by his father, Pap. Huck stated, “I used to be scared of him all the time, he tanned me so much” (17). This quote shows how Huck had to deal with Pap’s abuse before and could not help himself. It shows that Pap has poor ethics shown by beating his child simply because he can. This is an immoral act on Pap’s part because he believes he can control Huck’s life including his life choices and his possessions. Pap says, “I’ll take you down a peg, before I'm done with you” (17). Pap continues to torment and threaten Huck even though he has not been around of the most recent parts of Huck’s life. Pap’s ideologies have not changed since Huck was younger. Pap’s ideals consist of being able to do what he wants when he wants. This was apparent when he tries to threaten Huck and put himself above Huck. In the 1800s community leaders felt responsible for helping orphaned or abandoned