How Does Huck Use Lies In Huckleberry Finn

Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, has many similarities to Stephanie Ericsson’s essay, “The Ways We Lie.” Ericsson’s essay condemns humanity’s ability to lie without remorse and gives examples of the ways people deceive each other. Huckleberry Finn, a young boy who doesn’t follow many rules, lies constantly and consistently uses many of Ericsson’s examples of lies. Because Huckleberry Finn takes place in the 1830’s, it is easy to identify many stereotypes and cliches in this novel, Ericsson’s essay portrays this as a form of lying. When Jim and Huckleberry were on the raft floating away from their town, Huckleberry came to a conclusion that Jim was “uncharacteristically” smart. Huckleberry stated, “He had an uncommon level head for a nigger”

They make this point because of the way Huck tells stories, lies, plays tricks and even steals huge amounts of money. For instance at one point in the book Huck and Jim get separated the river. Huck then tells Jim that it was all a dream. This is an example of lying and playing tricks.

An early indication of Huck maturing is when he feels guilty about playing a joke on Jim. This acceptance of knowing he did something mean shows that he has gained a sense of responsibility. Another major step in Huck's maturity is when he decides to give Mary Jane back her stolen money. Huck footnotes, “I felt so ornery and low down and mean that I says to myself, my mind’s made up; I’ll hive the money for them or bust”(177). By saying this, it shows guilt in Huck's heart for the King and Duke’s criminal activity, and it shows a sense of morality that is developing inside of Huck. This morality developing in Huck blossoms when he decides to go after Jim. Huck then and there concludes, “All right, then, I’ll go to hell” (215). This display of a moral compass is one of the novel's most important representations of Huck's growing maturity. A continuation of Huck's moral compass is his empathetic reaction when he sees the Duke and King tarred and feathered running from an angry mob. Huck remarks, “Well, it made me sick to see it; and I was sorry for them poor pitiful rascals, it seemed like I couldn’t ever feel any hardness against them any more in the world. It was a dreadful thing to see. Human beings can be awful cruel to one another” (232). Even though the Duke and King were criminals and liars, because of Huck's now established maturity, he feels sorrow for the

Throughout Huckleberry Finn, Huck sees countless people get taken for a fool and believe foolish things. Most obvious are the people that get taken in by the King and Duke, but even earlier in the book, Huck sees people believing untrue things. For instance, when Huck tells the watchman that he has a family that

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.

Huckleberry Finn was a very caring character to me. He used his lying for the good things in life. Everybody in their lifetime lies at some point, and hopefully most of the time it's for the better. For example, Huck was often lying to protect or help his friend Jim.

Huck decides to fight for Jim and their friendship even when he knows the possible consequences. “You’ll say it’s dirty low-down business; but what if it is,” Huck insists to Tom that he will save Jim no matter what he said (Twain 227). Huck knows that saving Jim could easily be considered low-down, but Huck says that he is dirty and low-down as well, and that helping Jim is what he must do. He knows what he will be labelled as, but to him it is irrelevant. Their friendship and the bond they created travelling down the river is worth more to Huckleberry. Huck knows how society feels, but he decides to follow his heart anyways. Huck later sees how awful the lynching done to the duke and the king is, yet he still feels bad after knowing how awful they are. “Human beings can be awful cruel to each other,” Huck feels awful even though he didn’t really do anything (Twain 233). Huck’s conscience has come back to bite him about these men even though he had nothing to do with it. Huck knows that this lynching, tarred and feathered, is a painful and brutal punishment. He feels that even though they weren’t the best people they didn’t deserve this cruelty even though it’s what society is prone to do. Society sees these mean as ‘bad,’ and therefore think it is okay to basically torture the conmen. Huck knows that isn’t okay, even with knowledge of the men’s nature, freeing

Huck hadn’t told the truth since he knew that if he did Pap would surely try and hurt him out of anger. He might have not told the true intentions that he had with Pap’s gun but he did protect himself from great danger. Huck doesn’t just protect himself, he also protects others as well. While Jim and Huck are both traveling down the river they come across two slave catchers. Huck knows that they will surely take Jim away without having the paperwork to prove that Jim is Huck’s instead he decides to lie about who is on the raft.

Another one of Huck's lies is one that he tells to the watchman on the steam ship. He knows that this man is the only person who can help the group of

They often profit off of others' misfortunes. They are what Huck could become if he was to continue his habit of lying which he had in the beginning of the novel. In fact, with them being professional liars, their whole purpose is to reveal to Huck the terribleness that comes with lying in order to exploit others. This is emphasized through the event of the Wilks brothers con. In this con, Duke and King pretend to be the brothers of the recently deceased Peter Wilks, in an effort to acquire the large inheritance that would have been given to the real brothers. All the while, Huck knows the truth as to what is happening, and feels terrible about it. Huck's opinion on the matter was that, "It was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race (Twain 165). Huck recognizes the terribleness of the situation he is in, but still doesn't do anything about it. He seems to have reached a setback here, which is most evident when he tells another lie, which indirectly helps Duke and King with their scene. This is the lie he tells to Joanna, a member of the Wilks family, while eating dinner. Joanna Questions Huck about the validity of his story, and Huck swears that everything he has said has been true: "Not a lie in it (Twain 177)". However, after this moment, Huck immediately realizes his mistake, "I felt so ornery and low down and mean", and vows that, "[he'll] hive that money for them or bust (Twain 178)." Huck then steals the money away from Duke and King, so that they would not get

Huck shows his growth through his ability to understand that their religious beliefs are in conflict with their own actions. Huck learns even more about his own morals during his encounter with the King and the Duke. The King and the Duke lie about being the Wilks brothers in order to get money. For Huck, they cross the line when they lie to Mary Jane. Huck watches them cry for

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.

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.

Huck's observation and reaction to the feud of the two families has reinforced his conscience about the chaos of white society in comparison to Negroes. Huck's reaction in regards to the King and the Duke is also an important point in Huck's development as a person. Huck, having been exposed and shown the immoral and corrupt products of society has grown strong enough to work against society in the end. This development has allowed huck go approach society in a more skeptical manner and to confront and accept that society and the world is not Widow Douglas' delusional mirage. This resulted in Huck to have more confidence in his relationship with Jim and loosened his bond with society's immoral

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