Strangeness In Huck Finn

Lester is offended by the parallel that Twain draws between Huck’s imprisonment at the hands of an abusive father and the actual institution of slavery that binds Jim.  By drawing this comparison, he argues that Twain is applying a veneer to obscure the horrors of slavery and therefore evading responsibility and remorse for the crime.  The legal ownership of human beings is not in the same ballpark as child abuse and by placing them side-by-side, Twain shows that he doesn’t take slavery or black people seriously.

People often hesitate to accept what they do not understand. In the absence of love and compassion, it is no question that fear, ignorance, and hatred, all contribute to a melting pot of negativity in the world. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, is about the love and friendship cultivated by a young boy and a black slave on the Mississippi River. Despite the pair’s differences, they are able to endure the struggles and difficulties that the toilsome journey brings. Mark Twain, in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, emphasizes the shift in Huck’s view towards slavery by contrasting Huck’s initial tone of reflectiveness to his assertive tone, both collectively addressing the issue of racism in society.

One of Huck’s first encounters of a moral system was his father who is naturally racist, does not value education, and resents the government while justifying his crimes.

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

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

These examples are necessary for historical accuracy. So Mark Twain had to display Jim’s treatment in this manner even if it was not the way he felt. Huck however does not treat Jim as most whites do. Huck see Jim as a friend and by the end of their journey disagrees with society’s notion that blacks are inferior. There are two main example of this in the story.

Although standing out as an individual may seem as a reliable option for some, in most cases conforming may also be the best as well. As examples, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, “Shooting an Elephant”, and “Little Boxes” demonstrate acts characters face in order to choose when it is right to conform or when it is right to become an individual. In the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Huck is faced with a dilemma of trying to find himself as a person in a world that does not really understand him. In addition to trying to fit in with society, he is caught between deciding whether to conform into what everyone's thoughts are against Blacks or becoming an individual and standing up as to what he thinks should be done.

Since the beginning, Huck was not allowed to express his own beliefs because that would be going against Southern norm, which is seen as inexcusable and disgraceful. As the novel progresses with Huck going on a strenuous journey with Jim, a runaway slave, Huck learns incredible life lessons and eventually changes his viewpoints about slaves. This sudden change in his beliefs and values of slaves is due to the environmental change Huck experiences. This new environment conditions Huck and makes him realize that slaves possess human traits and qualities like every other white person do. In particular, Huck’s journey with Jim on the Mississippi River teaches him not to judge other people based on their outer appearances, but to treat everyone with compassion and love. Huck becomes more inclined to disregard social norms that he learned to accept in the past. Huck is essentially influenced by his environment throughout the novel.

Jim’s sentiment that Huck was the “‘on’y white genlman dat ever kep’ his promise to ole Jim’” underscores the idea that whites often turned in runaway slaves and did not care for them or see them as humans; this led to distrust of whites by the blacks (page 125). The latter knew not whether to trust whites because of their easy inclination to hand in runaways for the reward money, objectifying the slaves to nothing more than a means to better the whites’ own socioeconomic status. This manifests itself in Jim and his previous experience with whites, and his surprise towards Huck’s

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.

Twain uses Huck to make decisions based on this hypocritical slave-owning, Christian lifestyle. Huck must choose to either aid a runaway slave named Jim or return him to Miss Watson, while the white society of the South would expect Huck to return Jim to Miss Watson. Huck and Jim 's friendship makes this a significant decision because Huck is morally conflicted. Jim is his friend, but he is also the property of Miss Watson. An excerpt from Magill 's Survey of American Literature puts the situation in a right perspective exclaiming “Jim is property before he is man, and Huck is deeply troubled, surprisingly, by the thought that he is going to help Jim, not only because he sees it, in part, as a robbery, but more interestingly, because he sees his cooperation as a betrayal of his obligation to the

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

In the 1840 census, it says that there were over 58,000 slaves living in the state of Missouri. Set in the 1840s, the 1884 satirical novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain it addresses that the protagonist, Huck Finn must make a well informed critical decision that would define his character and go against the views of society. When faced with the climactic dilemma of supporting freedom or bondage for Jim, Huck concludes, "All right, then I'll go to Hell." (Twain, 214) What kind of person would sacrifice themselves to hell in order to help free 1 slave out of 58,000?

In Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain presents the problem of slavery in America in the 19th Century. Twain poses this problem in the form of a character named Huckleberry Finn, a white boy raised in the antebellum South. Huck starts to question his view regarding slavery when he acquaints himself more intimately with a runaway slave while he himself tries to run away. Huck’s development as a character is affected by society’s influence on his experiences while growing up in the South, running away with Jim, and trying to save Jim. Although Huck decides to free Jim, Huck’s deformed conscience convinces him that he is doing the wrong thing.

Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn is widely considered a classic - an embodiment of American literature. It rightfully tackles the issue of slavery through the illustration and vernacular of the young protagonist, Huck Finn and his adventures with a runaway slave, Jim. However, beneath a linear challenge towards slavery, Twain’s depiction of Huck’s changing views of Jim reveal Huck’s unique attitude and philosophy towards slavery, and in particular - his partner-in-“crime” - Jim. Although Huck never abandons societal opinions of slavery and never opposes the bondage, his exception for Jim unveils the follies of his society and flawed upbringing.