Huck Finn
In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain presents the idea that society can greatly influence an individual, and sometimes the individual must break from the accepted values of society to determine the ultimate truth for himself. In Huckleberry's world, society has corrupted justice and morality to fit the needs of the people surrounding him. Huck however looks to his own morals to question the validity of a practice that has been inscribed into his daily life, slavery. Huckleberry decides to ignore society's thoughts and puts his own life in jeopardy to aid a runaway slave. In Huck's moral reconciliation, he is able to disregard the ideas of society and depends on his own choice of right and wrong. Twain urges his audience to understand that society can never decide what is morally right but the individual who must come to a decision on his own. Huck's non-conformist attitude creates a conflict between him and society. With a highly abusive drunkard for a father, Huckleberry relies solely on himself from his childhood. Because of this, he effectively alienates himself from the rest of society. Society continues to try to "reform" him, but Huck shows his lack of appreciation in the effort from the very beginni
Specifically, Huck says, "All right, then I'll go to hell," right as he tore up the letter. Huck feels terrible because he cannot please both voices of his conscience. At the same time, however, his experiences with Jim, and his own personal instincts about the situation tell him that he is doing the right thing. Huck is willing to risk his own life to help a black and a human being. Huckleberry feels as though society is right, and he is wrong. Huckleberry recognizes Jim as a human being, but fights the beliefs bestowed upon him by a society that believes slaves should not be free. Tom Sawyer, an individual who as well thinks like society, influences Huck's young mind on slaves. From the beginning of the novel, we see how his instincts come into play and how it affects his decisions throughout the story. " His actions are based on instinct and his own experience, rather than conventional conscience. His decision to help free Jim, a slave, is an example of one such instance. Up until this point in the novel, Huckleberry has been experiencing internal conflicts concerning society's treatment of Jim and his own. He says that the Widow Douglas took him for her son and would "sivilize" him, but Huck gets back into his "old rags and his sugar hogshead again, and is free and satisfied. However, Huck's moral reconciliation leads Twain's audience to believe that society leads individuals in the wrong path and that to become wholesome we must follow ourselves. The climax comes in the end of the novel, when Huckleberry's moral reconciliation reaches its peak.
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