Huck Finn Argumentative Essay

Most people often assume that the aim of civilizations is for humanity to function together, jointly and cooperatively, so that humans produce and experience the benefits of moral people who live and act together. However, in Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the reverse is true. The swap in societal stereotypes is apparent in the king and the duke’s production of the Royal Nonesuch as well as Huck and Jim’s pleasant journey down the Mississippi after escaping the family feud between the Grangerfords and the Shepardsons. Leading up to the performance of the Royal Nonesuch, the king and the duke

While Huck does not revert to his arbitrary way of making decisions, he does decide to move West, which is uncomfortably reminiscent of his early tendency to run from his problems in order to evade dealing with them. The commonalities between Huck’s early actions and later ones could be interpreted two ways. One interpretation is that Huck knew what was moral all along, he simply let society take hold of his emotions and divert him from a moral path. The second interpretation is that by having such stark similarities between Huck’s early and late mortality, Twain is implying that humans, at their core, are not as superbly moral as they are portrayed in religion, for example. Independent of these interpretations; however, is another idea worth noting: Huck only made “good” decisions when he experienced just the right amount of empathy. For example, Huck witnesses the Duke and King being tarred and feathered and feels bad for them, so bad for them; in fact, that Huck begins to feel guilty despite obviously having no role in what happened to them. Similarly, Huck’s chronic feelings of lonesomeness and displacement have dual effects. Huck’s empathy does not begin to develop until he is displaced from society as he knows it. Prior to Huck’s physically leaving his

Huck emphasizes that he wants a “change” from society’s stereotypical beliefs, such as those in religion. According to Huck, hell is more favorable than heaven if he is not bound by the rules of society. Although Huck pursues individuality over conformity, he does not confront society’s stereotypes. At this point, Huck has a vision to pursue freedom, but not to yet challenge society as he “first hated school, but by and-by could stand it” (Twain 11). As Twain emphasizes Huck’s position as the “ego,” he highlights Huck’s indecisiveness towards the concept of morality, but also molds Huck into a rebel against society’s

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, author Mark Twain uses Huck to demonstrate how one’s conscience is an aspect of everyday life. The decisions we make are based on what our conscience tells us which can lead us the right way or the wrong way. Huck’s deformed conscience leads him the wrong way early on in the chapters, but eventually in later chapters his sound mind sets in to guild him the rest of the way until his friend Tom Sawyer shows up. Society believes that slaves should be treated as property; Huck’s sound mind tells him that Jim is a person, a friend, and not property. Society does not agree with that thought, which also tampers with Huck’s mind telling him that he is wrong. Though Huck does not

Huck's dismissal of the dogmas and codes of civilization and his decision to follow the impulses of his heart develop into the two key themes of the book. At the opening of the book, Huck is a young boy who has lived his entire life on the outskirts of civilization, so he makes more deliberate decisions to join or not join society than others born into civilization. Huck tolerates school; however, he rejects the religious code. Miss Watson says that it's the authority for living a civilized life and not going to a "bad place." The extremity of Huck's rejection of society should be measured by what he does, not what he thinks. Huck's decisions are tremendously challenging and dangerous, and he only commits to it after ripples of

Huck Finn's relationship with slavery is very complex and often contradictory. He has been brought up to accept slavery. He can think of no worse crime than helping to free a slave. Despite this, he finds himself on the run with Jim, a runaway slave, and doing everything in his power to protect him. Huck Finn grew up around slavery. His father is a violent racist, who launches into tirades at the idea of free blacks roaming around the countryside. Miss Watson owns slaves, including Jim, so that no matter where he goes, the idea of blacks as slaves is reinforced. The story takes place during the 1840's, at a time when racial tensions were on the rise, as northern abolitionists tried to stir up trouble in the South. This prompted a

“The difference between the almost-right word and the right word is really a large matter- ‘tis the difference between the lightning bug and lightning.”(Mark Twain). Mark Twain, the author of an extraordinary yet controversial novel; The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn had a great way of capturing moments in time and bringing them to life through the use of meaningful and direct diction. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been a vexed novel for it 's a use of the “N-word”. However, many scholars and associations have devised a “solution” for this problem such as, completely banning the book, creating sanitized versions, or even replacing the book for another American literature novel. “What is so wrong

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel based on the journey Huck, a young boy with an abusive father, and Jim, a runaway slave, have down the Mississippi River to Free states for an end goal of freedom. Freedom means different things to both of them, to Huck freedom means to be able to do what he wants and not be “sivilized”, while Jim’s definition of freedom is being able to live in peace with his wife and children. While on their journey to freedom they develop a caring unusual friendship. There is a great deal of controversy over whether or not The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be taught in

Huck absolutely hated how they are forcing him to follow a bunch of rules. The Widow Douglas teaches Huck the Bible, which he doesn 't mind but he doesn 't like how she 's forcing it on him. One of the rules was Huck was not aloud to smoke. Miss Watson told Huck that he had to get an education. She tried to teach him how to spell but he had no interest. She also gave him lectures on good behavior because she said that 's how he would go to heaven. He told her he didn 't believe that, he thought hell sounded more fun than heaven, so he 'd rather go to hell instead. Even though he doesn 't like either one of the women, he does like Widow Douglas more than Miss Watson. She gave him encouragement even though she had strict rules. And she took care of him, like buying him clothes even though he didn’t want them. Huck respects Widow Douglas because she gives him good advice and is not so harsh on him about certain things. Huck ran away, and they sent Tom to search for him. Tom convinced him to come home, but he still complained about having to wear new clothes and eat only when the bell rang for dinner. He didn 't like their rules because he wasn 't used to it growing up with his Pap. One of the examples is that his Pap forbid him from going to school, yet they want him to be

In order for Huck to challenge any of the values and assumptions of the time he must first be acquainted with them.  And he is not only intimately acquainted with the values of his society but he holds many of its beliefs himself.  But Huck longs for freedom away

The fact that Huck gives a valid attempt at conformity signifies that he has somewhat of an interest in becoming what is considered "normal", and thereby pleasing the Widow Douglas. There is a sense that Huck has a genuine gratitude towards the Widow Douglas for taking an interest in his well being, especially since she appears to be the only one that does so. However, given that his attempts are short-lived, it can be assumed that Huck's desire to adhere to his personal virtues overpowers his desire to become civilized or to please the Widow Douglas.

Sometimes making a stand for what is right, especially when it is totally against the customary beliefs of your society, is not an easy accomplishment. In the novel Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, the main character Huck encounters many situations where there is a question of morality. Considering the traditional protocol of his society, Huck has to choose either what his conscience feels is right versus what the customary public views are. In many cases Huck goes with what his conscience feels is right, which always is the proper selection. Ironically, what Huck believes in, unapproved of in the 19th century, is the basis of accepted beliefs in our modern world. Huck lives with the

He like the majority of the Deep South’s population was forced to submit to popular religion in the form of Christianity, being racist and not being able to criticize the institution of slavery, as well as acting like a “proper” boy and being civilized with manors, rules, and restrictions. However, he is the polar opposite of the ideals expressed by his society. Huck is forced to reside with Widow Douglas, he describes the experience in the first chapter, “She took me… allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time … I wanted to smoke, and asked the widow to let me. But she wouldn't. She said… I must try to not do it any more.” (Twain, 2). In this particular environment, Huck is forcefully civilized by the Widow Douglas as well as Miss Watson. This essentially shows an indirect form of slavery in which Huck is forced to do as society and his elders dictate regardless of what he believes in which many of us are also subject to. This enslaves him and leads him to decide that he needs to relocate himself as far away from society as possible. Therefore, he forges his death and runs away meeting Jim on the way. This idea of Huck being controlled by society influences him through the novel, for instance he thinks about turning Jim in because it is wrong to steal since Jim is

As portrayed in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain reveals Huck’s character to be uneducated; as a result, Widow Douglas wants to civilize Huck because she cares for him, but he wants to be an individual. In the end what is to be learned is that people if they want, should be let to do their own thing and not be forced to be someone that they are not. The author describes that “...regular and decent the Widow was in all her ways; so I could not stand it no longer I lit out”. This example proves that Huck was not taught to have manners and

Since slavery is thought to be right and an acceptable part of life, Huck struggles when he is faced with the option of helping Jim, a runaway slave and friend of his, or turning him in to the authorities. Throughout Huck’s experiences with civilization, he is constantly told to be well mannered and respectful. At some times, he finds this hard to comply with. Huck regularly smoked and cussed when he was away from society and its customs.