Often in satire, writers will use the internal conflict of a character to symbolically criticize the values and morality of society. In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain uses the main character of Huckleberry Finn and the conflict between his personality and social conscience to criticize society. In this clash between his deformed conscience and sound heart, his heart is victorious. This conflict reflects the major themes within this work of slavery, racism, and "civilized" society.
             First of all, it is clear that throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; Huck is a character bearing a deformed conscious. Huck's distorted sense of morals is a direct result of his dysfunctional upbringing. For example, "The Widow Douglas she took me for her son" (1). An insightful reader can see from this that Huck is not receiving a mainstream childhood. Huck's father is a drunk, his mother is dead, and he is forced to live with a widowed woman and her self-righteous sister. Given such conditions it easy to see why Huck rejects the morals of a society that has rejected him in the sense that he is not protected from his father. In a humorous passage, Huck describes his feelings towards religion. "Then she [Miss Watson] told me all about the bad place [hell], and I said I wished I was there...all I wanted was a change" (2). Huck misunderstands the tenants of Christianity yet his motives were not malicious. Huck was merely expressing his desire to free himself from his current situation. He sees beyond the values of a hypocritical society and chooses to follow his path. These misunderstandings of and weak feelings of responsibility toward his faith have a distorted impact on his conscience.
             It is also clear that throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck is a character bearing a sound heart. Huck's solid sense of what is truly good is a product of his cleverness, his desire to think through situations, and his...