Examples Of Sivilized In Huckleberry Finn

Anna Edgren Sophomore English Period 3 Mrs Burdette 28 April, 2017 Quote Journal #1 Revision Project Throughout the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, the readers are able to see the protagonist Huck change his views on society and being able to distinguish right and wrong. The end of chapter fifteen reveals a great deal about Huck and Jim’s relationship. In the chapter, Huck and Jim are on the river on a raft trying to get to Cairo. During this journey, Huck and Jim get separated by the fog when Huck goes ahead to pull the raft.

Suddenly, Huck’s eyes are opened to the shortcomings of people he was previously blind to. Huck reaches the pinnacle of his moral development when he decides that Jim is worth going to hell for, no matter what society may think about a slave’s worth. After much internal turmoil, he decides, “All right, then, I’ll go to hell” (Twain 215). This is a significant point in his changing perception of what is “sivilized”, as he finally decides that the ideals he has been taught are truly not worth it.

In 1884, Mark Twain published the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which takes place the 1840’s, beginning in St. Petersburg, Missouri, and then expanding to the Mississippi River. The novel’s protagonist is Huckleberry Finn, and for a majority of the novel, he is accompanied by Jim, a runaway slave. Together, the two flee Missouri, and travel North on the Mississippi. While traveling, Huck and Jim invite two men who seem to be fleeing from the police onto their raft. That evening, the men say why they had become wanted criminals, and more importantly, their royal heritage; one confessing to be a duke, and the other, a king.

Imagine a character whose morals grow throughout the novel as well as develops into a mature and sophisticated man. This is what a bildungsroman novel is all about, however this is not Huck Finn. Throughout the entirety of the novel not once does Huck show any means of growth or change in maturity. Huck doesn’t know where he belongs in the world and never finds out in the end. He runs away to the west to avoid the convention of society and expectations of him in society.

In summary, the controversial issue of racial equality and racism, in effect, makes Huck’s relationship with slaves (like Jim) slowly grow stronger throughout the novel. Moreover, racial equality and racism also affect the way Huck chooses to reject the societal norms of the late nineteenth century in order to bring two races together. In addition, everyone should understand the importance of racial equality and racism because of the stain they have left on American history and society as well as the affect these controversial issues have on people today. That’s why people in the twenty-first century should discuss racial equality and racism, in order to prevent any future occurrences of one race enslaving another race. To continue, While some

Through Huck’s fluctuating beliefs he shows how often humanity exhibits hypocrisy without even realizing it. When Miss Watson had taken Huck in she had wanted him to become more respectable, she wanted to make sure he knew what was right and

Huck decides to act on his morals rather than be held captive by society; Huck believes that he has to act in the best interest of Jim and does not consider what society believes is acceptable behavior. By stating that he will “go to hell,” Huck reiterates what he promises Jim in the beginning- that he rather be a “low down abolitionist”; these statements combined supports his feelings to protect Jim from society. When Huck and Tom get back to the house, Huck states, “...it don’t make no difference whether you do right or wrong, a person’s conscience ain’t got no

When Huck hears this from Jim, it tares at Huck. He decides not to turn in Jim (which he could have done easily.) Huck’s conscience basically ate him alive. Huck was on the verge of turning in Jim, and seemed that was what he should do. However after thinking about it, Huck decided he would feel worse if he turned Jim in as opposed to keeping him free.

Huck and Jim’s adventures down the Mississippi make the theme of conflict between society and individual more apparent. During their journey Huck mentions, “Nothing could be better”(Twain 115). Huck is very content with Jim and Huck’s new life on the river, at least at the start. Being a runaway slave like Jim and Huck helping him, Huck questions at many points in the book whether he should continue to help Jim or turn him in and follow society’s rules about slaves. This could possibly be Huck’s most important individual conflict throughout the book, considering he questions his choice many times.

Hucks encounter many struggles throughout the novel, knowing if he should turn Jim in, to take money from the Duke and the King, and to listen to Tom sawyer when they are trying to help Jim escape. One of Huck's major moral struggles is either to turn Jim in or not to. Society is telling Huck that turning Jim in is the

Throughout the rest of Huck 's journey he continues to meet people along the way that believe themselves to be good civilized people but they all contradict that in some way. The Grangerford 's are in a murdering feud with another family, the Phelps own slaves and are trying to get a reward for Jim, the townspeople that feather and tar the Duke and King without a trial, the execution of Boggs, even the Widow tells Huck not to smoke but takes snuff herself. Huck spends a large amount of time in the book pondering over how to be good and do the right things, and at the end of the book when he decides to go West and leave it all behind he has finally realized that he 's not the one that 's bad, society is. Huck heads back out into the world not for more adventure, but to get away from

Huck has been burned with the idea that he is to blame for Jim’s escape. Huck ultimately feels guilty because he knows he has not done wrong but he has no reason not to believe what society thinks because he was only taught one way. Huck imagines an alternate scenario, thinking “s’pose [he]’d’ a’ done right and give Jim up, would [he] felt better... No…[he'd] feel bad” (91). Huck is aware that the right decision based on society is to give up Jim.

Naturally, as his bond with Jim cultivates, Huck unknowingly treats him as a human. Through Huck’s sensibility, he states, “It didn’t take me long to make up my mind that these liars warn’t no kings nor dukes at all … I hadn’t no objections, ‘long as it would keep peace in the family; and it warn’t no use to tell Jim, so I didn’t tell him” (Twain 125). Correspondingly, Huck gains a consideration for Jim and his personal feelings, which he expresses nonchalantly through motley aspects of their journey.

Huck grew up without a mother, and later on at the end of the novel he finds out that his father is dead as well. This helps him establish his own set of beliefs, not what society wanted him to believe (or at least tried to). Bloom (2003) even considers Huck as “a miracle of self-emancipation” due to his non-conformist attitude toward prevailing practices and principles in the nineteenth-century America. There are many individuals who want to change him, and he eventually changes as the story

Huck moves towards being a conscientious and moral member of society as he progresses through the novel even though the odds are stacked against him; raised in a situation where he had no positive influences and faced with countless situations where acting out of self interest was the easier option, Huck became a righteous character who we should all wish to emulate. Though Huck’s father served as his main, and first, influence, he lacked a moral compass. He was against Huck attending school and often robbed other people and just called it ‘borrowing’. Huck’s dad was depicted “[laying] drunk with the hogs in yard” (8).