The book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain has held a controversial message since Twain published it in 1884. Even though the United States abolished slavery with the ratification of the thirteenth amendment nineteen years before this story was published, except for in one state (In Mississippi slavery was banned 129 years after the book’s publication), the theme still had a huge message that still sends shock waves into the modern era. Huckleberry Finn, known as ‘Huck’ for most of the narrative, runs away from the abuses brought on by his drunkard father. He fakes his own death to leave to Jackson’s Island and those in the town believe the murder was committed by Jim, a slave who was running for his freedom like Huck was. The
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The theme for this classic book is that we should not follow rules set in front of us blindly, we should think for ourselves. One of the clearest examples of a damaging system of rules was the family rivalry between the Shepherdsons and Grangerfords. Huck was able to learn the insides of the Grangerford family. He became friends with their son, Buck, when the reader is introduced to Buck you can see his motives are just to harm Shepherdsons. When asked if he wanted to kill a man (Harney Shepherdson) he answered yes. When pressed as to what motive he would have to murder Harney, his response was:“Why nothing-only account of the feud.” (120) This feud being something that most members of the family did not remember the exact root of (120). but, were still filled with such loathing for the other family that multiple people had perished from both sides. As Buck would say. the end of the feud would only be when both families were extinct. Buck had grown up in this feud and never questioned it once, even though he was very kind to …show more content…
These rules have Jim befriending snakes, writing on stone, and digging an escape hole instead of just opening the door (255-278) These rules made it so when they actually tried for Jim’s escape, Tom gets shot in the leg and Jim has to stand by him and is caught again when a doctor comes to check on Tom’s injury (290) Those rules that Tom set, along with all the rules that were presented to Huck and Jim throughout the book, did not matter and did not need to be followed by anyone. Miss Watson had been dead for the whole duration of Huck and Jim’s adventure, and Jim was freed in her will. Huck’s father was a dead man that Jim refused to let Huck see when they were leaving Jackson’s Island (307) They were free from the rules that had cursed them through the tail. This all shows systems of rules that have negative consequences when they are followed blindly. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn show that we should not base our morals off of rules and definitely should not follow any rules without analysis and investigation. Huck is an individual fighting all the rules that have been shoved down his throat since birth, so that he can figure out his own morals. Huck is clearly a prime example of an individual fighting society and shows us that we should all think for ourselves instead of letting the rules of society control
The theme for this classic book is that we should not follow rules set in front of us blindly, we should think for ourselves. One of the clearest examples of a damaging system of rules was the family rivalry between the Shepherdsons and Grangerfords. Huck was able to learn the insides of the Grangerford family. He became friends with their son, Buck, when the reader is introduced to Buck you can see his motives are just to harm Shepherdsons. When asked if he wanted to kill a man (Harney Shepherdson) he answered yes. When pressed as to what motive he would have to murder Harney, his response was:“Why nothing-only account of the feud.” (120) This feud being something that most members of the family did not remember the exact root of (120). but, were still filled with such loathing for the other family that multiple people had perished from both sides. As Buck would say. the end of the feud would only be when both families were extinct. Buck had grown up in this feud and never questioned it once, even though he was very kind to …show more content…
These rules have Jim befriending snakes, writing on stone, and digging an escape hole instead of just opening the door (255-278) These rules made it so when they actually tried for Jim’s escape, Tom gets shot in the leg and Jim has to stand by him and is caught again when a doctor comes to check on Tom’s injury (290) Those rules that Tom set, along with all the rules that were presented to Huck and Jim throughout the book, did not matter and did not need to be followed by anyone. Miss Watson had been dead for the whole duration of Huck and Jim’s adventure, and Jim was freed in her will. Huck’s father was a dead man that Jim refused to let Huck see when they were leaving Jackson’s Island (307) They were free from the rules that had cursed them through the tail. This all shows systems of rules that have negative consequences when they are followed blindly. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn show that we should not base our morals off of rules and definitely should not follow any rules without analysis and investigation. Huck is an individual fighting all the rules that have been shoved down his throat since birth, so that he can figure out his own morals. Huck is clearly a prime example of an individual fighting society and shows us that we should all think for ourselves instead of letting the rules of society control