The Outcast in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The vast majority of people try to fit into their surroundings; conformity is a huge part of society and, in a way, it is the basis of society. To conform is to adhere to widely held ideas in order to fit in, and everyone does it their own way. Novels, both old and new, often focus on characters who are outside of social norms and show how they interact with society in their own way. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, who was born in 1835 and died in 1910 as one of the most famous American authors. The novel is about a young boy by the name of Huckleberry Finn, also known as Huck, who helps a slave, Jim, escape to freedom along the Mississippi River during the 1830s-1840s. Throughout his book, Huckleberry Finn faces many challenges

     Life on the river was also good at first, but it also became tiresome for Huck. He liked the sense of freedom that he had while he was on the river with Jim, he didn't have to go to school nor did he have any rules that he had to live by. He didn't have to worry about what his father was going to do to him. However the river still set limits on their freedom, Jim and Huck were only able to travel at night because they were afraid of Jim being found and whenever they would stop for the day, they would have to cover up the raft with leaves and foliage. Huck did not like having to be the one that would have to go look for food and water for them, he never had to be responsible until this time and, he didn't like having to use such precautions so that Jim would not be found. Huck could have made life easier for himself and turned Jim in, but he looked at him as a friend not as a fugitive slave.

Diversity is a beautiful thing; from religion to physical looks, the differences among people is astounding. The world would be such a monotonous place if everyone were the same. However, many tend to note that diversity in a classroom can sometimes be an issue- especially among the students. From my own experiences within a diverse class, I realize that the contrast between students is a blessing and a curse

In Mark Twain 's satirical essay, “The Damned Human Race,” Twain critiques human beings by declaring that “The human race is a race of cowards; and I am not only marching in that procession but carrying a banner.” The motif of cowardice and the cruelty of humanity is also present in another one of Twain’s most famous works: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Throughout this novel, Twain passionately decries the immorality and corruption of society through the employment of rhetoric and themes. He utilizes irony to draw attention to the hypocrisy and self-righteousness of many Christians and the detrimental effects this hypocrisy can have on society. He implements pathos to highlight the greed and

Huck has only ever known his father as the uneducated drunk that he was in the book. Therefore, when he is out with Jim for such a long period of time, he begins to look up to Jim and his outlook on life. In Document E, in the letter Huck wants to write to Miss. Watson, we see him explain somewhat the adventure him and Jim went on. Specifically, when they were traveling down the river, “...and would always call me honey, and pet me, and do everything he could think of for me, and how good he always was;” (Document E). To me, this not only shows how Huck saw Jim as a father figure, but how Jim treated Huck as his own flesh and blood. Also in Document E, we see Huck decide to help Jim rather than telling Miss. Watson where he is. This exhibits how Huck is okay with the fact that this will always be on his conscience, “‘All right then, I’ll go to hell’--and tore it up,” (Document E). Huck deciding this on his own shows us how he didn’t want anyone to know where Jim was because he wanted him to stay in his life. He also wanted to save Jim so he would still have that father figure in his life. In spite of the fact that Jim has no rights, Huck is able to learn valuable things from this man on their adventure down the

Throughout the novel, Mark Twain uses satire to mock southern hospitality. When Huck is staying with the Grangerfords, he learns about the feud they have with another family called the Shepherdsons. No one in either family can remember why or how this feud started, but they continue killing each other nonetheless. When Huck asks the Grangerford’s boy, Buck, how long this has been going on, Buck replies, “ Well I should reckon! It started thirty year ago, or

In the beginning of the novel Huck is running away (from his mean "Pap" and from restrictions that his aunt was placing on him) but he is also running toward a maturity that has previously eluded him. Huck went through many life-changing episodes in the process of the novel, and they gave him a more mature understanding of how crazy and unpredictable the world can be, from the eyes of a young boy at least.

At the beginning of Huck and Jim’s adventure down the river, Huck states, “It was kind of solemn, drifting down the big still river, laying on our backs looking up at the stars…” (Twain 48). Huck is already experiencing relaxation and the calm setting around him. This journey is making Huck

Furthermore, the novel illustrates the unrestricted freedom the river provides through the connection with nature, independence from slavery, and the pair’s relationship. After escaping the clutches of the restrictive lifestyle of Miss Watson and the violent relationship with his father, Huck seeks refuge in the waters surrounding himself with nature, considering it as his home as he proclaims, “...there warn’t no home like the raft…Other places feel so cramped and smothery, but a raft don't. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft” (Twain 117). As Jim escapes from civilization towards life on the raft where open friendship and freedom that the river provides overcome prejudice against racism and slavery, he grows as an individual as he declares risking his life and freedom for Huck, “my heart wuz mos’' broke bekase you wuz los’, en I didn' k'yer no mo'

Huck and Jim travel on land and on water but when they are on land bad things always seem to follow. However on water their journey is much more relaxed and calm. In the beginning Huck is always in constant fights with his dad until he finally fakes his own death just to get out of the situation. “I fetched the pig in and took him back nearly to the table and hacked into his throat with the axe, and laid him down on the ground to bleed…” (Twain 39). This is when Huck killed a pig and dragged it through the woods to make it look like a murder scene to fake his own death.

Life on the river for Huck and Jim is very peaceful. Jim built a snug wigwam to keep their belongings dry, they could just lay looking up at the sky, and they good weather. Huck says, “We catched fish and talked, and we took a swim now and then to keep off sleepiness” (Twain, 64). The river provided Huck and Jim many things, not only food, but also a way to escape. For Huck, the river provided him an escape from his life with his father and the Widow. For Jim, the river provided an escape from being a slave. On the river they were both free from their past lives. Mark Twain, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, shows us how nature can offer an escape from society’s restrictions and evils. Even though nature has changed immensely since this book was written, it still provides an escape from society. In today’s world, nature can be utilized as a thinking place or as a place to recover from pain. There are many more themes that we can see in today’s society. Several themes of Huck Finn are still relevant today, including “Nature offers an escape from society’s restrictions and evils,” “People tend to act cruelly or irrationally in groups,” and “Discrimination causes pain and suffering for many people”.

Mark Twain also demonstrates how undesirable civilized society really is. Both Huck and Jim desire freedom, which greatly contrasts the existing civilization along the river. They both turn to nature to escape from the unprincipled ways of civilization. Huck wants to escape from both the proper, cultured behavior of Miss Watson and Widow Douglas and the tyranny of his father. Jim, on the other hand, hopes to escape from slavery and start a new life as a free man, hopefully with his own family eventually. Throughout the novel, the raft enables Huck and Jim to escape from the barbarism of their society to a place of serenity and peace, which is always on their raft, away from any other people. Through the duration of the story, Huck learns and does many things that would be contrary to the beliefs of society such as helping Jim

When reading this part of the novel, �The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,� I found that Huck and Jim were set in a period of society that was or can be labeled as somewhat hypocritical, judgmental, and hostile. However, the characters have one escape that being the Mississippi River. The river is a quiet and peaceful place where Huck and Jim can revert to any time to examine any predicament they might find themselves in. The natural flow of the river and its calmness causes deep thoughts, which shows how unnatural the collective thought of society can be. We actually see Huck grow up having the river as a

Huck’s views regarding black people come into question when Huck and Jim run away together. Their experiences together let them become closer to each other and let Huck recognize Jim as a human being with real feelings. Huck starts to view Jim as a caring individual when they are on the raft. This is a scene taken from when Jim and Huck were working together on the raft and Jim was trying to protect them both from the rain, “Jim took up some of the top planks of the raft and built a snug wigwam to get under in blazing weather and rainy, and to keep the things dry. Jim made a floor for the wigwam, and raised it a foot or more above the level of the raft, so now the blankets and all the traps was out of reach of steamboat waves” (Twain, pg 64). In this part of the novel, Huck seems to be all Jim has, and Jim is also all Huck seems to have, and they work together to build a place that the waves cannot reach them. Their feeling of friendship is born through working together and protecting each other. Even though Huck and Jim are having new experiences together, Huck’s conscience is still going back and forth about the idea of freeing a slave. This quote is taken from when Huck

Once Huck takes to the river, he has escaped from society and can view it with a new perspective.