The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is based on a young boys coming of age inMissouri of the mid-1800s. This story depicts many serious issues that occur onthe “dry land of civilization” better known as society. As these somberevents following the Civil War are told through the young eyes of HuckleberryFinn, he unknowingly develops morally from both the conforming andnon-conforming influences surrounding him on his journey to freedom. Hucksmoral evolution begins before he ever sets foot on the raft down theMississippi. His mother has died, and his father is constantly in a drunkenstate. Huck grows up following his own rules until he moves in with the WidowDouglas and her sister, Miss Watson. Together, the women attempt to civilizeHuck by making him attend school, study religion, and act in a way the womenfind socially acceptable. However, Hucks free-spirited soul keeps him fromjoining the constraining and lonely life the two women have in store for him.
The freedom Huck seeks in Tom Sawyers gang is nothing more than romanticchilds-play. Raiding a caravan of Arabs really means terrorizing youngchildren on a Sunday school picnic, and the stolen “joolry” is nothing morethan turnips or rocks. Huck is disappointed that the adventures Tom promises arenot real and so, along with the other members, he resigns from the gang. Still,he ignorantly assumes that Tom is superior to him because of his more suitablefamily background and fascination with Romantic literature (Twain). Pap and”the kidnapping” play another big role in Hucks moral development. Pap iscompletely antisocial and wishes to undo all of the civilizing effects that theWidow and Miss Watson have attempted to instill in him. However, Pap does notsymbolize freedom; he promotes drunkenness, prejudice, and abuse. Huck escapesthe cabin to search for the freedom he yearns for. It is after he escapes toJackson Island that he meets the most influential character of the novel, Jim.
After conversing, Huck learns things about the runaway slave that he had neverbeen aware of. Jim has a family, dreams, and talents such as knowing “allkinds of signs about the future,” peoples personalities, and weatherforecasting (Twain 69). However, Huck sees Jim as a gullible slave. He playstricks on him like the “rattlesnake event” that nearly gets Jim killed. Atthis point in the novel, Huck still holds the belief that blacks are essentiallydifferent from whites. In addition, his conscience reminds him that hes a”low-down and dirty abolitionist” for helping Jim run away from his owner.
Huck does not see that Jim is looking for freedom just as he is (Master Plots).
The first adventure Huck and Jim take part in while searching for freedom is thesteamboat situation. Huck shows development of character in tricking thewatchman into going back to the boat to save the criminals. Even though they arethieves, and plan to murder another man, Huck still feels that the forfeit oftheir lives would be too great a punishment. Some may see Hucks reaction tothe event as crooked but, unlike most of society, Huck Finn sees the good inpeople and attempts to help them with sincerity and compassion. Getting lost inthe fog while floating down the Mississippi River leads to a major turning pointin the development of Huck Finns character. Up to this event, he has seen Jimas a lesser person than himself. After trying to deny the fog event to Jim, hesays, “It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humblemyself to a slave; but I done it, and I warnt ever sorry for it afterward,neither (Twain 92).” He continues by explaining how he could never do such athing again. Huck has clearly gained respect for Jim here, which explains therisks he is willing to take for Jim later in the book. A short yet significantscene is when the men on shore want to check Hucks raft for runaway slaves.
He escapes by tricking them into thinking that his dad is onboard with smallpox.
This scene shows a negative view of human nature. The men had helped Huck untilthey realized that they were in danger themselves. They put their own safetyabove that of others, and while this is sometimes acceptable, it is by no meansa noble trait (Gerber). On the other hand, Huck risks his own freedom to seethat Jim finds his. The feud between the Grangerfords and the Shepardsons addsto Hucks distaste for society and its teachings. In this adventure, Hucklearns what a feud is and also witnesses the horrid aftermath the hostilitybrought upon the two families. Another part of Hucks moral metamorphosis inthis event is that he has come to miss the one man that has given him fatherlylove throughout the excursion. The Duke and the King join Huck and Jim in themiddle of the novel. The two con men use Huck and Jim to fulfill their greed anddesires. Like the two men from the steamboat occurrence, Huck knows that theirschemes are wrong. The con mens attempt to masquerade as the brothers of thelate Peter Wilks is an important part of Hucks development. Later on the Dukeand King try to take Peters estate, however, Huck decides to return the moneyto Peters three daughters. This action demonstrates further moral growth, asdoes his choice to abandon the two con men. Huck also learns how connivingpeople can be while attending the funeral of Peter Wilks. Women would walk up toPeters daughters and “kiss their foreheads, and then put their hand ontheir head, look up towards the sky with the tears running down, and bust outsobbing just to give the next woman a show” Huck has never seen anything “sodisgusting.” When he sees one of the daughters crying beside the coffin, itmakes a deep impact on him (Twain 213). Not only did he experience his firstbout with puppy love, he also feels compassion for an innocent victim. “Allright then, Ill go to hell!” represents the highest point in Hucks moraldevelopment. He has decided to go against his conscience by freeing Jim, and indoing so, reject society. While the society he has grown up in teaches thatfreeing slaves is wrong, Huck has evolved to a point where he can realize thatwhat he feels is right, and that his own beliefs are superior to those ofSouthern civilization (Englewood 47). Jim has taught him what it is like to feelfree while gliding down the Mississippi. When Huck would need safety from thedry land, Jim has always been his haven. However, the next situation Jim andHuck go through will bring another turning point–for the worst. When TomSawyers relatives catch Jim, Huck decides he will get his friend back. Hesees Uncle Silas as such a good man, but fails to see that he owns slaves likeall the rest. Also, just as Jim looks up to Huck, Huck looks up to Tom Sawyer,and lets his useless rescue attempts jeopardize Jims freedom. Jim doesshow compassion yet again when he attempts to save the Duke and King from beingtarred and feathered, but there is an apparent stagnant period in Hucksdevelopment during the “rescue attempt.” Huck lets Tom Sawyer take thecontrols and sits quietly while Tom puts Jim through ordeal after ordeal (Twain296). When it is made certain that Jim is a free man, Huck learns the truthabout his fathers death and who was in the floating house at the beginning ofthe journey. It is made evident to the reader that Huck thanks Jim forprotecting him from the gruesome nature, and does not regret the adventures heand Jim had together. Huckleberry Finn was able to rise above the rest ofsociety. As a young boy, he learned many things about the cruel world, and whatfreedom really means. Huck will never accept “civilization” and he willalways go back to the safety net of the Mississippi River. Though there weretimes when he made the wrong decision, the reader must realize that growing upis a trial-and-error. Society has come a long way since the Civil War, and it isimportant to realize that people like the characters, Jim and Huckleberry Finn,have made freedom accessible to all that need a harbor from the dry limits ofsociety soil (Englewood 53). Although Huckleberry Finn seems to get into a lotof trouble, as he is dishonest at many times throughout the novel, his characterseems to melt in the readers hand once his fine moral nature begins tounfold. The game Huck plays drifts him into an occasion of rare moral crisis,where he must choose between violating the entire code of social, religious,conventional behavior which the world has taught him, and betraying the personwho needs and loves him most and whom he loves most. He writes a letter whichtells Miss Watson that her slave, Jim, is in Mr. Phelps possession. Afterwriting the letter he says: “I felt good and all washed clean of sin for thefirst time I had ever so in my life, and I knowed I could pray now. But Ididnt do it straight off but laid the paper down and set there thinking howgood it was all this happened so, and how near I come to being lost and going tohell.” After studying the letter he then said, “All right, then, Ill goto hell” and tore it up (Twain 216). Another thing that affected Huck and mayhave contributed to his unhappiness that brought him over the edge to run awaywas lack of money. Early on Huck and his father sold his fortune to JudgeThatched for a dollar. This lack of money may have put an even bigger strain onthe father, causing him drink his sorrows away and act irrationally towardsHuck. This brought on the constant beatings that Huck was forced to endure untilhe gained the courage to fake his death, and leave his pitiful life back at themouth of the river. Money also played a part concerning those two swindlingcrooks, the King and Duke. The king and Duke tried to pass themselves off asbeing distant relatives. Their new identity would put them at hand with a largeamount of cash. Ultimately their cover was revealed. Huck is able to escapeunscathed, but the King and Duke werent as fortunate as tar and feathersawaited them (Twain 318). Drinking also plays a part in Hucks dilemmas as thestory unravels drinking led Hucks father to beat him. Living in an unhappysituation such as this gave Huck reason to start out on his own adventure.
Drinking also led to the Dukes easy admittance of hiding the money. In thissituation, the drunkenness exhibited by both characters helped to put a hole intheir cover up. While they were questioned and served a heavy punishment, it wasreally Huck who stole the money before all of their eyes (Master Plots).
Throughout the novel Huck overcomes numerous obstacles and endures variousnegative repercussions to attain both emotional and physical freedom. Twainsimplied lessons were expressed within Huckleberrys moral dilemmas. The novelends with a frustrated Huck stating; ” Aunt Sally shes gonna adopt me andcivilize me and I cant stand it. I been there before.” Although the novelends leaving the reader with a sense that Huck is truly free, he will forever befollowed by his moral dilemmas.
