As certain characters use language as a source of power, others use it to help others. It is these different motivations that sharpen the image for who has good and bad intentions, allowing differing consequences to occur. As a result of lying, this leads to conflicting morals and inevitable consequences that have an impact on everyone else. In the novel Huck Finn Mark Twain argues that lying is wrong and is a source of power that certain characters use to either help others or themselves; however, the consequences are different due to these different motivations with characters such as the King, Duke and Huck who end up having a greater impact on the rest of the community.
Although Huck lies to help others most of the time, his conflicting morals hold him back which results in a stronger impact than intended. In the beginning of the novel, Huck states, “You don’t know about me, without you have read a book by the name of ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,’ but that ain’t no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth(Twain 11). Huck is defensive and makes it clear that he is trustworthy and does not lie, which is not true. Huck questions his morals later on in the novel when he lies to his father when he says, “‘I hain't got no money.’ ‘It's a lie. Judge Thatcher's got it. You git it. I want it.’ ‘I hain't got no money, I tell you. You ask Judge Thatcher; he'll tell you the
In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain follows protagonist, Huck Finn throughout his endeavors. This coming of age story displays Huck’s actions that lead to him running away from home. From a young age, Huck is forced to become emotionally and physically autonomous due to his father’s alcoholism. Huck runs away and begins his adventure with fugitive slave, Jim. Together they meet a diverse range of individuals and families. Mark Twain illustrates Huck Finn’s character development by exposing him to different moral systems.
Huckleberry Finn is a liar throughout the whole novel but unlike other characters, his lies seem justified and moral to the reader because they are meant to protect himself and Jim and are not meant to hurt anybody.
Many risks have happened throughout the novel and Huck grows to make the right decisions. In the beginning, Huck is a child and is always looking for the easy way out by lying or cheating. "…No ma'am, I wasn't doin' nuthin'." P.233. At this situation, Huck is caught being mischievous and instead of telling the truth, he lies inorder to get out of trouble. Eventually, Huck grows up and sees that he should take responsibility for his actions. "...I told Tom I was going for a doctor." P.276. Huck does the responsible thing, and by doing this, he may have saved his best friends life.
Huck Finn's relationship with slavery is very complex and often contradictory. He has been brought up to accept slavery. He can think of no worse crime than helping to free a slave. Despite this, he finds himself on the run with Jim, a runaway slave, and doing everything in his power to protect him. Huck Finn grew up around slavery. His father is a violent racist, who launches into tirades at the idea of free blacks roaming around the countryside. Miss Watson owns slaves, including Jim, so that no matter where he goes, the idea of blacks as slaves is reinforced. The story takes place during the 1840's, at a time when racial tensions were on the rise, as northern abolitionists tried to stir up trouble in the South. This prompted a
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the greatest, most daring novels in the world. Mark Twain’s style helps to realistically portray early America. Mark Twain tells the story through the voice of Huck, the very kindhearted main character. Everything that Huck says reflects the racism and black stereotypes typical of the era. This has lead to many conflicts from readers since the novel was first printed. However, the story has inspired some. James W. Tuttleton says in an article he wrote that “Huck Finn is regularly denounced as racist trash” (The San Francisco Chronicle [1885] 6) . Yet, again to oppose that is a quote by a reader, “Anyone who is
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
“Huck Finn” story can be a debatable when it comes to history, and what the story is about. Some argue that Mark Twain’s abuse of using the “N” word triggers racism especially that this book was written when slavery became illegal. As one student said, "It is estimated that the word nigger is used 392 times which reinforces a negative stereotype of African Americans represented by the use of this derogatory word" (Jackson). Some can still argue that this book can be a bad influence to the youth as they might be using the “N” word as a racist rant. For some, it is very disturbing, upsetting, and bringing back the past.
The novel ‘The Adventures of Huck Finn’ by Mark Twain is a coming of age novel. Huck’s maturity grows throughout the story. He first starts to show emotions toward a runaway slave, and by the end of the novel, has grown up to the point where, when Jim, the slave, is captured, Huck decides not to play games but to take it serious and rescue him the safest and most logical way. He also decides it give up playing games after his friend is shot to ensure that he would get the medical attention that he needed
Huck Finn is naive and accepting of society's views at the beginning of the novel. He treats Jim as he is a lesser person than him because of his background. “When we was 10 foot off Tom whispered to me and wanted to jim to a tree.” This show how racist they were and what they were going to do to Jim. (Twain 7). Also he lies to his father because of what he has done to him in the past. “I haint got no money.” Huck. “Its a lie. Judge Thatcher got it. You git it. I want it.” Hucks Dad(Twain 21). This is when he lied to his dad about the money. He doesn't want his dad to get any of the money because he knows he will blow it all on alcohol. At this point in the book he is a very naive person.
Mark Twain once said, "Lie--an abomination before the Lord and an ever present help in time of trouble." Twain's description of deceit gives it a type of double meaning. This idea of lying being used for good as well as evil is not unheard of. Many time people find it necessary to lie to maintain a greater good or save a life. However, all too often, people lie for self-serving, immoral purposes. In this quote, Twain elegantly shows the delicate balance between good and evil in the performance of the same act. Furthermore, Twain also shows this complex thought in his portrayal of characters in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Twains novel emulates his quote, juxtaposing the good and bad aspects of stretching the truth. Throughout
Children see the world as beautiful and wondrous and live without care. Little voices shriek with joy at falling leaves without worrying about the coming cold winter months, and babble delightedly to any stranger without stopping to think about skin color or worry about criminal records. Carefree days do not last forever; however, when childhood ends, the young adult faces the inevitable hardships of life. Some people choose to return to a life of innocence, while others soldier on and brave the turmoil ahead. Even so, a greater reward awaits those who overcome life’s numerous quandaries. Each adversity carves out more depth to a person’s character, and like a potter shapes his clay, so too do adversities shape people into more compassionate,
Huck Finn, a narcissistic and unreliable young boy, slowly morphs into a courteous figure of respect and selflessness. After Pap abducts the young and civilized Huck, Huck descends into his old habits of lies and half-truths. However, upon helping a runaway slave escape, Huck regains morality and a sense of purpose. Throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Huck lies to characters, casting the authenticity of the story into doubt but illustrating Huck’s gradual rejection of lying for himself and a shift towards lying for others.
Lying can be used for good, as well as it can be used for bad. Huck is able to save both himself and his friends by lying, even though society tells him it is wrong. Huck instead separates himself and creates a new identity for himself through lying. But not everyone has other people’s well being in mind. In the King and the Duke’s reign of tricks upon their unsuspecting victims they instead use lying and deceit as a way to get drinking money. Lying and deception play a large role throughout Mark Twain’s, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as it is both a reason and an escape from conflict. Both lying and deception are also used as a way to show the stark difference between appearances and reality because lying is what hides the reality from Huck and the rest of the characters within the
One component of these chapters that I felt was extremely prevalent was the character development of Huck. There were multiple instances when Huck had to make certain decisions that would effect him in the long run, and with most of those decisions came a moral struggle. It seemed as if within these chapters, Huck is trying to find out who he truly is as a person. One example of these moments is in chapter 16 when he is having an internal battle, trying to convince himself that helping Jim gain his freedom is in fact the right thing to do. The quote reads, “I couldn't get that out of my conscience, no how nor no way. It got to troubling me so I couldn't rest; I couldn't stay still in one place…I tried to make out to myself that I warn't to blame, because I didn't run Jim off from his rightful owner” (Pg. 87). In the quote stated above you can clearly see the internal struggle that Huck goes through, trying to find himself along the way. He looks at the situation with 2 different perspectives, one of them being that taking Jim to gain his freedom is immoral and the wrong thing to do, the other being taking Jim to gain his freedom is the right thing to do. Although Jim knows that either way he will feel guilty but he ends up choosing to take Jim's side because of his loyalty. Jim shows his appreciation to Huck by saying things like, "Dah you goes, de ole true Huck; de on'y white genlman dat ever kep' his promise to ole Jim”(Pg. 92), causing Huck
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is a novel full of racism and hypocrisy of the society that we know. Huck continually faces the many challenges of what to do in tough situations dealing with racism and what the society wants him to do. With the novel being written in the first person point of view gives us insightful information into the challenges the Huck is facing and gives us a look into Huck’s head. Huck uses many different techniques to deal with his problems and he gets through them with the end result always being what Huck believes is right. Through Huck’s perspective we see how he deals with all of the racism and hypocrisy of society to form him into the character that he is and to serve the themes of the