Huck Finn Criticism

Everyone knows the stories that changed history. Uncle Tom’s Cabin and The Jungle both pioneered for social reform, Animal Farm provided a strong cultural criticism, The Great Gatsby showed the flaw in the American Dream, and To Kill a Mockingbird describes the trials and tribulations of growing up. Stories like this form an elite society of literature that spoke of the unspeakable and pushed forward a new mindset that many had overlooked. Among these ranks falls The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; a novel that follows the various picaresque adventures of Huck Finn and the runaway slave Jim. It is considered one of the most poignant racial critiques in modern history but one could argue that this novel takes a different path. Over the course of the story, Huck has many moral crises about the nature of his relationship with Jim. He is stuck in the void of the social norm torn between what is socially right and what is morally right, but, although the novel alludes to racism, it never addresses the concept directly. The novel is inherently racist and widely misinterpreted. So, while it is a brilliant work of literature, Twain emphasizes the story and the chaos rather …show more content…
Huck contemplates reporting Jim because he is property but then realizes he would have to go back to the town he had just escaped. He says, “People would call me a low-down Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum—but that don't make no difference. I ain't a-going to tell, and I ain't a-going back there, anyways. So, now, le's know all about it,” (twain). Huck is as dedicated to the adventure as he is to his freedom. Hooked on the story enough to look past Jim’s status as a runaway slave and scared of his father enough to keep running even though it’s against everything he stands for. He doesn’t decide to keep mum because it’s the right thing to do morally, he does it for