Huck Finn
Throughout the great American novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, there is a great controversy about "natural goodness" and the definition society provides for us. Many feel that Huck helping Jim escape is the "right" thing to do. Yet, at this time, what he did was very wrong and unaccepted. Although society tells him he is wrong, Huck's natural goodness wins the battle against "conscience" every time. Jocelyn Chadwick-Joshua stated "that Huckleberry Finn has a great transformation into self-esteem" (Chadwick-Joshua 62). "Twain's work was significant in that it brought the ideas of African Americans to a wide audience they could not hope to reach" (62). "As Huck could not, neither can we jump arbitrarily from his discovery of Jim as a regular, visible human being in the novel's first section to his truly profound assertion at the conclusion of the midsection when he decides to continue to protect Jim. 'All right, then, I'll go to hell' (Twain 272). How does Huck come to consciously yield up his soul for his changed belief? To grow with Huck, we must understand his affection and his nineteenth-century sense of loyalty and moral rightness and, more importantly, his unwavering, consistent, indomitable
Jim treats Huck with respect, but Huck treats Jim as an equal. Throughout this novel, we can see that Huck treats Jim fairly. For a real transformation to take place, Huck's allegiance to Jim must develop to the degree that he feels compelled to act" (66). Yates writes, "Huck's struggle with his decision 'to go to hell' rather than to assist in returning Jim to servitude. He thought about how kindly Miss Watson had always treated him and about how hurtful his actions could be. At times Huck did doubt his actions. But there are the few strong ones, like Huck, who do what they believe in. It leads naturally to the next chapter in which Mark Twain causes Huck to face up for the first time to the fact that he is helping a slave to escape"(Devoto 77). "Oh, yes, this is a wonderful govment, wonderful.
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Acceptance Essays
