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How Does Huck Finn Change Society

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In the fictional novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, the readers see how society can change people but also how society shapes people. People learn morals and and learn right from wrong from society. Huck is shaped by society and people tried to force him to believe things and do things that were accepted in society. Over time Huck changes his representation of right and wrong. Huck grew up in the lower class and was taught the wrong morals. He followed these morals so he could be more accepted in his society. Sacvan Bercovitch describes the novel as a “Tall [tale] humor was a form of initiation and survival in response to radical physical and social uncertainties on the edge of settler-colonial expansion” (Berconvitch). Berconvitch …show more content…

Huck is spending more time with Jim and he is forming a close relationship with him. Huck is forming feelings for a slave he says, “Well, I warn't long making him understand I warn't dead. I was ever so glad to see Jim. I warn't lonesome now. I told him I warn't afraid of him telling the people where I was. I talked along, but he only set there and looked at me; never said nothing” (8.25). Huck is realizing all colors are the same they have the same emotions and the same blood. Talking or being friends with an african - american is wrong in Huck’s society. He is forming a relationship with Jim because he is a human just like him. Cassander Smith points out that “The character Jim, to whom racial epithets are most often attached, remains a ni***r at the end of the novel but not a slave” (Smith). He is pointing out that people gave Jim no respect through the entire book. He was always looked down upon even when he did something good. Twain is trying to make the point that the environment a person is in is the way the person will become. On this journey Huck encounters many challenges. Huck came across his first gang and realized over time how wrong gangs were. This gang tricked him into thinking they were there for a play but then they stole money. They convinced Huck to be friends, “Make the best o' things the way you find 'em, says I—that's my motto. This ain't no bad thing that we've struck here—plenty grub and an easy life—come, give us your hand, duke, and le's all be friends” (19.47). They conned him into helping them. Later he saw they stole money and other things. When he stole money and hid it in the coffin he felt terrible and wanted to return the money to the family. Huck is also pulling more away from believing in God and believes more in superstitions and has a real faith in the outdoors. Huck describes church as, “When I got there it was all still and Sunday-like, and

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