Huckleberry Finn Moral Analysis

Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn tells the story of a wild child changing against the morals of his society. This well-known story is told in Huck Finn’s perspective, showing his inner thoughts and views. Mark Twain demonstrates the ethics of the society through the character of Huck Finn. The society that Mark Twain illustrates in the book is very typical of the south in the past. His ideas of morality and society in this book are strongly illustrated, though it is not directly said. Through Huck Finn’s character, Twain suggests that the morality of the society in the novel are stern, unjust, and disapproving. Morality and society are very stern in the story. The teachings of Miss Watson to Huck Finn are harsh. “Miss Watson would say, ‘Don’t put your feet up there, Huckleberry;’ and ‘don’t scrunch up like that, Huckleberry – set up straight;’” (2). She …show more content…
The logic of the morals in Huck Finn’s society is questionable. Though rules and values are very strict, they have gray areas. For example, the ownership of slaves shows the terrible southern morality that is described in this novel. The morality of the south is wrong because owning slaves is still unjust. Owning slaves dehumanizes all blacks in the south. The ownership of slaves questions the logic of southern morals. Huck Finn is the primary character who questions and rethinks the teachings of his society as the book progresses. “I was trying to make my mouth say I would do the right thing and the clean thing, and go write to that nigger’s owner and tell where he was; but deep down in me I knowed it was a lie – and He knowed it” (161). When one needs to question his or her morals like Huck Finn, it concludes that his society’s morals are likely to be unjust. Mark Twain’s ideas shine through Huck Finn’s character. Huck’s evolving thinking questions his own society and shows how Twain suggests that morality in the novel is