The Contradiction between Beliefs and Actions in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain provided social commentary on southern society and beliefs. Twain addressed a number of significant issues throughout the novel, including religion and slavery. There are a number of instances where Huck, the 14 year-old protagonist, pushes back against the idea of organized religion. Similarly, Huck encounters a personal and moral dilemma when it comes to the practice of slavery. This idea of rebellion against society is a major concept explored in the book. Small instances of Huck’s rebellion culminate with him eventually freeing a runaway slave. The main examples include Huck’s refusal to learn the Bible, Huck’s decision against not to turn Jim in, and Tom and Huck’s choice to set Jim free at the end of the story. Huck’s refusal to conform to and demonstrate the social norms of the South illustrate the theme of rebellion against society.

The Grangerfords, who allow Huck to stay with them for as long as he would like, have been involved in a murderous feud with the Shepherdson family for decades, only halting their incessant fighting to attend church with one another on Sundays. Page 109 describes this, stating, “Next Sunday we all went to church...The men took their guns along and kept them between their knees or stood them handy against the wall. The Shepherdsons done the same. It was pretty ornery preaching-all about brotherly love...everybody said it was a good sermon.” Once more, Twain uses irony to highlight the hypocrisy of human beings, specifically of Christians, by describing how the rival families put their differences aside long enough to listen to a sermon on brotherly love, only to attempt to kill each other the very next day, undermining the message of the sermon. Through the implementation of irony, Twain succeeds at criticizing the hypocritical nature of many Christians and of the societies in which they live.

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.

During the era in which Mark Twain wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, society was seemingly divided into two separate belief systems. These systems included the racial and religious systems. The religious system promoted equality and fellowship among people while the other encouraged the complete opposite. Due to these two varying systems, many people were divided into two separate groups: the “civilized” and the “other.” These two discriminatory and hypocritical belief systems were something that Mark Twain highly opposed and this was evident in his most popular tale. The main theme in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the social hypocrisy between society and religion. It is through Huck’s experiences with Jim and his own upbringing

In HuckleBerry Finn there are two systems of belief, there is religion and superstition. The uneducated characters in this book, like Huck and Jim are skeptical about religion. Widow Douglas and Miss Watson are very educated about religion. Huck looks at the uselessness of Christianity, because prayers are never answered according to Huck. Many characters in Huck Finn have different interpretations of religion.

In To Kill a Mockingbird, many characters hold on to righteous, “moral” beliefs while acting in the contrary. In chapter 26, Aunt Alexandra holds a house party for all the ladies in the town. Scout joins in, invited by her aunt, who sees a chance to teach Scout to be more ladylike. Her next-chair tablemate, Mrs. Merriwea`ther, talks about the poor, uneducated, savage “darkies” in Africa, and tells about how she is devoted to helping them as a good Christian lady. However, once the conversation turns to their black servants, Mrs. Farrow says “we can try ‘till we drop to make Christians out of ‘em, but there isn’t a lady safe in her bed these nights” (311). The stark contrast between wanting to help the Africans in the jungles to feeling minorly disgusted with the ones in Maycomb makes Scout become aware of the racial hypocrisy. Mrs. Maudie also points out a different type of hypocrisy with the ladies, who

Huckleberry Finn is trying to say that telling lies can be hurtful and that the truth must be always be told. After Huck had faked his death and being able to escape. He met Jim in the wood and they become friends. Jim asked Huck how he faked his death and Huck decides to tell Jim the truth. “Then I told him the whole thing, and he said I was smart”(32). Jim also told Huck the truth about why he runoff and it was because Miss Watson was trying to sell him off. Jim did not think about how risky it can be telling Huck the truth because Huck can turn him in: “I hear ole missus tell de widder she gwyne to sell me down to Orlean”(33). Also Huck was deciding rather to tell Jim the truth about the snake he place on Jim’s blanket. Huck is upholding information which shows how he is lying.

Though it is at times referred to as a classic, youth novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry

To begin, one of the main outcasts in this book was Huck himself. His mother passed away and his Pap was an alcoholic, "Yes, he 's got a father, but you can 't never find him these days. He used to lay drunk with the hogs in the tanyard"(pg 7). Miss Douglas, a widowed woman, took Huck in as her son and he lived with her, "The Widow Douglas she took me for her son"(pg 2). He was the only one in his group of friends that didn 't really have a well structured family life, "Here 's Huck Finn, he hain 't got no family; what you going to do 'bout him?"(pg 7). Widow Douglas tried to teach him to be a civilized human being and make him dress nice, but he preferred his ragged up clothes over something dressy any day. "She put me in them new clothes again, and I couldn 't do nothing but sweat and sweat, and feel all cramped up"(pg 1). Miss Watson teached him things about The Bible, or tried to anyways, but he had no interest in it, he didn 't care to go to Heaven, "She was going to live so as to go to the good place. Well, I couldn 't see no advantage of going where

In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn written by Mark Twain, the reader takes a journey down the Mississippi river with a young white boy, Huck, and a runaway slave, Jim. A main theme throughout the book is the moral development of young Huck Finn as he chooses to help Jim gain his freedom. This is morally wrong in that time period. However, Huck’s evolving view of Jim is also significant. The novel introduces Jim through Huck’s eyes, seeing him as nothing more that property. As the two travel down the river, Huck has an obligation to see Jim for what he is; a human being.

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.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is set in a point in time before the Civil War; roughly 1835–1845. The story is told in the first person by Huckleberry Finn himself, otherwise known as Huck Finn. Huckleberry Finn was a poor kid with a dad who was abusive and almost always drunk. He runs away from home, only to come across another problem. He has to help his friend, Jim, escape slavery once again when The Duke and The King sell him.

Famous writer Oscar Wilde has said, “Society exists as a mental concept; in the real world there are only individuals.” Throughout Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the protagonist has to deal with pressures of society in pre-Civil War America. Through adventures with a runaway slave named Jim, Huck battles between society and his own conscience. Due to Huck’s lack of proper upbringing, he is not as easily conformed to society as his best mate, Tom Sawyer.

In the Southern gothic novel To Kill A Mockingbird, the author Harper Lee utilizes many characters to display the overall theme of the novel. The overall theme of To Kill A Mockingbird is to take risks and not get cozy in something so predictable. A character that comes to mind to help relay this theme is Uncle Jack with his need to be the life of the party, leads others on the right path, and has a humble outlook. Uncle Jack was “The life of the party” he always was taking Jem and Scout on some sort of ludicrous adventure. Uncle Jack, a doctor that enjoys having fun, is stuck in this run down town called Maycomb.

How someone interprets any literary work is subject to their personal interest in the story line and then progresses to personal agendas; often times trying to prove or justify theories in the academic world. Discussions centered on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain are no different, and perhaps this book has been more thoroughly discussed, with more heated discussions than other works of fiction. Oftentimes, discussions around race and morality can do this. Readers must draw conclusions based on their own beliefs and connections as well as the reader’s ability to completely comprehend the author’s purpose and views for writing a particular story. One way to dig deeper into The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is to examine the necessity of Jim as he relates to the story.