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Huckleberry Finn's Moral Compass

Decent Essays

A person’s moral compass is a direct reflection of the society in which they live. In order for a person to find faults in their morals, they first must isolate themselves from society. In Mark twain’s book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a thirteen year-old Huckleberry Finn fakes his death and goes on an adventure down the Mississippi river after he is kidnapped by his drunken father. He goes on this journey with a runaway slave named Jim. As Huck and Jim travel down the river, they go on many adventures where they meet new people and learn important life lessons. At the end of the book, Huck risks his life to save Jim from going back into slavery. In Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck embarks on a physical …show more content…

Throughout the book, a recurring theme is the poor treatment of black people. By living with Jim on the raft, he begins to disagree with what society tells him about black people, but a lot of his old ways are still evident. One night, there is a large storm that separates Jim and Huck. When Huck finds Jim again, he tricks him into thinking that he was just dreaming about a storm and everything was fine. When Jim found out that Huck was lying, he got very upset and was mad at Huck. Huck feels bad about tricking Jim and apologizes to him. This was difficult for Huck to do and he spent a long time thinking about it. “It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger; but I done it, and I warn't ever sorry for it afterwards, neither. I didn't do him no more mean tricks, and I wouldn't done that one if I'd a knowed it would make him feel that way” (Twain,89). By apologizing to Jim, he takes a huge step towards developing his own moral compass. In the society that Huck lives in, it would have been very strange for a white person to apologize to a slave. Huck’s apology shows that Huck has grown and developed his own sense of morality that is separate from what

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