Why Is Huck Finn Morally Wrong

In Mark Twain’s, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck Finn is portrayed as an uneducated, rebellious kid. Although he may not have formal education, Huck is far from unintelligent. He survives an incredible journey and faces many challenges in which he has to make life changing decisions. Throughout this novel, Huck struggles with his sense of morality, but in the end, even though it may not be what society dictates is correct, he always manages to do right. Huck is a poor and uneducated boy. In the society in which he lives in, he regularly gets treated as an outcast that needs “sivilizing” (Twain 1). He often does not trust what society deems is morally correct and is considered rebellious for thinking so. Because of his apprehension …show more content…
They continually try to civilize Huck and teach him the Christian faith. All that they teach him goes against what he believes in, such as having many rules and not smoking. It is difficult for him to accept the values and ethics of the two. When the Widow Douglas tries to civilize Huck and teach him the morals of civilized people, she would not let him smoke because “it was a mean practice and wasn’t clean” (Twain 2). As she said this, she herself smoked, thus not helping Huck’s struggling sense of morality. As the two women endeavored to teach Huck about the Christian faith, eventually he says he would rather go to Hell than Heaven, “Then she told me all about the bad place, and I said I wished I was there” (Twain 2). Huck frequently struggles with the morals that are put in place around him. As the Widow Douglas and Miss Watson continue to teach him about the bible and faith, he sees that he does not have an interest in it. While learning about Moses, he makes the remark, “[…] so then I didn’t care no more about him; because I don’t take no stock in dead people” (Twain 2). Miss Watson always tells Huck that if he prays, he could get anything he asks. Huck would be confused and lost when his prayers were not answered (Twain 9). This causes him to further question the predominant moral teachings of his guardians. Miss Watson and Widow Douglas would often give …show more content…
In order to keep Jim safe, he must lie and cheat with the frauds. At the same time, Huck sees all of the wrong doing taking place and is ashamed by it. After listening to the king and the duke lie to the poor Wilks family and the whole town, he says, “Well, if ever I struck anything like it, I’m a n-----. It was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race” (Twain 129). As Huck continues to lie with the two frauds in order to keep Jim safe, he feels the need to make the situation right. When the two frauds are about to steal an enormous amount of money from the young Wilks girls, Huck thinks to himself, “I felt so ornery and low down and mean, that I says to myself, My mind’s made up; I’ll hive that money for them or bust” (Twain 139). Huck questions his involvement with the duke and the king, but he still has to lie with them in order to save Jim. He did this even though helping Jim was going against society’s ways. As Huck thinks of ways to help the Wilks girls, he says, “Them poor things was that glad and happy it made my heart ache to see them getting fooled and lied to so, but I didn’t see no safe way for me to chip in and change the general tune” (Twain 145). In the end, Huck makes the right decisions and the two frauds eventually receive their punishment of are eventually tarred and feathered. Instead of feeling gratification at this turn of events, Huck feels pity