preview

Moralism In Huckleberry Finn

Better Essays

Although Twain wrote Huckleberry Finn two decades after the Emancipation Proclamation and the end of the Civil War, the Southern part of America was then struggling with racism and the consequences of slavery. By the early 1880s, Reconstruction, the preparation to place the United States rear together after the war and incorporate freed slaves into society, had hit shaky ground, although it had not yet failed outright. Mark Twain intends to write the novel to speak for the suppressed sector to indicate that the Civil War has not introduced any healthy change. The laws were then designed to curb the influence of blacks in the South. Their aim is to suppress and limit the black without any concern or mercy for their sufferings.
Although Mark …show more content…

He develops a strong personality of his own without minding the ideas of the fellow being in the society which entrusts in him a strong will power and his humanitarian outlook is his own and it is neither taught nor inculcated by anyone. The society is yet to learn how to behave with concern only from Huckleberry Finn and Jim. Mark Twain makes these two characters as two strong individuals with exceptional qualities. They stand as role models for the entire society to follow in their care for others. On the raft, away from civilization, Huck is particularly liberated from society’s convention, able to create his own choice without any constraint. Through profound introspection, he reaches his personal conclusions, untouched by the conventional, established patterns which are always hypocritical rules and values of Southern culture. At the end of the novel Huckleberry Finn is able to read the world around him though not knows to read or …show more content…

I bet I was glad to see him. I says:
“Hello, Jim!” and skipped out. He bounced up and stared at me wild. Then he drops down on his knees, and puts his hands together and says: “Doan’ hurt me—don’t! I hain’t ever done no harm to a ghos’. (44)
Jim has told a number of superstitious folk tales from their meeting at Jackson’s Island until the end of the novel. The tales of Jim appears to be irrational to accept as true. He speaks about different kinds of signs and omens which Huckleberry Finn is not familiar with. At first Huckleberry Finn neglects most of Jim’s superstitious tales and ignores them. But later he realizes the real power and his in-depth knowledge of Jim and starts appreciating him. His learning process again is widened by his companion Jim. Tom Sawyer.
“What does the child mean?”
“I mean every word I say, Aunt Sally, and if somebody don’t go, I’LL go. I’ve knowed him all his life, and so has Tom, there. Old Miss Watson died two months ago, and she was ashamed she ever was going to sell him down the river, and said so; and she set him free in her will.”

Get Access