Huck Finn A Change Of Heart Analysis

A Change of Heart “It has always been a peculiarity of the human race that it keeps two sets of morals in stock-the private and the real, and the public and the artificial.” -Mark Twain. In Mark Twain’s novel Huckleberry Finn, Huck’s views start to change once he leaves his hometown. In the beginning of the book Huck Finn contains many of the morals that he was taught by the people with whom he grew up around. These included many attitudes about slavery and racism. Once Huck leaves on the raft down the river he begins to shift his ideology and his character. Huck grows from a childish boy who plays robbers and believes that slavery is an acceptable way of life into a more mature, abolitionist version of himself. As Huck travels further from …show more content…
One of these instances is when Huck meets all of the members of the feud. At this part of the book Huck realizes how much violence can affect someone. This changes Huck into a more mature person. In chapter 18 Twain states, “When I got down out of the tree, I crept along the river bank a piece, and found the two bodies laying in the edge of the water, and tugged at them till I got them ashore; then I covered up their faces and got away as quick as I could. I cried a little when I was covering up Buck’s face, for he was mighty good to me.” (180) This quote shows that Huck is experiencing more and more things that will make him a more mature and different person then he was before. Before this scene Huck had never experienced something this traumatic. Now that he has, Huck gains more of a respect for life. Another instance in the book that shows that Huck has changed throughout his journey on the river is when he and Tom are planning to help Jim escape. At this point in the story Tom is coming up with unrealistic plans to help Jim escape. In this section of the story Tom tells Huck that they need to saw the bed leg off Jim’s bed in order to help Jim escape. Huck explains that they can justlift the bed leg up to get the chain off. Tom tells Huck that it’s not like him to not be up for danger and adventure. (369) This shows that Huck has become more mature since he left Tom …show more content…
Huck can now speak with whom he wants to about what he wants to without being reprimanded for it. He also has the liberty to think freely about society and the world without being told he is wrong. Overall Huck has no more influence from the people he left at home which lets him make his own independent decisions and assumptions. One example of the this in the book is when Huck is able to speak to Jim freely about subject that he couldn’t otherwise such as his plan for freedom and to save his family. In chapter 16 Twain states, “He was saying how the first thing he would do when he got to a free State he would go to saving up money and never spend a single cent, and when he got enough he would buy his wife, which was owned on a farm close to where Miss Watson lived…”(139) This quote from the book shows that Huck was now able to discuss and hear about things he had never been able to experience before. Now that Huck had the freedom of being on the river he could make his own interpretation on what Jim had said. Another event similar to this one is when Huck learns about Jim’s life before their adventure. Huck realizes that although Jim is a slave, he still cares about the same things that white people do such as family and liberty. (239) This realization would not have been possible in Huck’s hometown because of all the influence he would get from other people. The freedom