The Child by Tiger
The idea Miss Watson has of Huck Finn being a dirty, nasty, vulgar little boy who smokes, swears, and stays away from Sunday school is not a justifiable description of him. Huck's character goes much deeper. Huck is a literal-minded, imaginative, trustworthy boy who is greatly impacted by the inhuman ways of society. His society driven conscience is in constant conflict with his free, loyal heart. A mind of the greatest literalness is represented by Huck and what he calls his "conscience". Huck's conscience is the belief in the inhuman rights of slave owners not to be deprived of their property. Huck's conscience is a portrayal of the moral values of society. The idea of slavery is drilled by society into every one of its members, including the otherwise free tramp like Huck- and the "natural", human rights of Jim. Huck's heart follows the opposite views of his conscience. Huck has been listening to Jim's excited talk about what he will do when he is free and it has disturbed what Huck calls his conscience. '"Conscience says to me, "What had poor Miss Watson don't to you that you could see her nigger go off right under your eyes and never say one single word? What did that poor women do to you that you could trea
"I knowed very well," he says, "that I had done wrong, and I see it warn't no use for me to try to learn to do right; a body that don't get started right when he's little ain't got no show- when the pinch comes there ain't nothing to back him up and keep him to his work, and so he gets beat. He decides that it is his moral duty to betray Jim. Huck does not realize this because of the views society has instilled in him. Unluckily, as he is leaving Jim says to him, "I'se a free man, en I couldn't ever been free ef it hadn't been for Huck. As a result, when on some men in a canoe who are actually looking for runaway slaves Huck finds he is not "man enough" to betray Jim. Instead he finds himself inventing and performing with great skill a complicated lie that persuades the men in the canoe not to go near the raft where Jim is hiding: he makes them believe- he never says so himself- that there are three people with small pox on the raft. Huck's heart wins as he battles the moral conflict of society. This explains Huck's loyalty and dedication to keeping his promise to Jim- his promise not to turn Jim in for escaping slavery. This decision is a great relief to him, and the minute they sight a town he sets off in the canoe to find somebody to capture Jim. His heart defies society's inhuman acts while his conscience pushes him towards the routine ways of society. Jim has the determination to work and save up his money and never spend a scent in order to buy his children out of slavery. So I reckoned I wouldn't bother no more about it, but after this always do whichever cam handiest at the time" (95).
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Acceptance Essays
