Huckleberry Finn's Moral Transformation

Improved Essays
Huckleberry Finn undergoes a moral transformation that alters his life and his way of thinking. Throughout the book, Huck’s character/personality evolves immensely as he is forced to make decisions on his own when given a situation. “But it warn’t… die of miserableness” (Twain 91). In this passage, Huck and Jim are floating on a raft towards Cairo: the free state. As they approach, Huck battles with himself as he holds intentions of helping the runaway slave, nevertheless still wanting to do the right thing by denouncing Jim. His conscience pricks him as he thinks about Miss Watson and how she had never wronged him. After pondering for quite some time, Huck comes to a conclusion out of respect and appreciation towards Miss Watson. “I got to

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    “Everyone of us is a perfect human being, deformed by the family, the society, and the culture.” Quoted by Alejandro Jodorowsky. Huckleberry Finn, the main character of the book, demonstrates one part of an epic adventure between his own heart and the society he lives in. It evidently states that Huck 's heart is in the right place and he can tell that society 's heart isn 't. His own deformed conscience was because of his community 's backwards outlook on the world.…

    • 1243 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Huckleberry Finn Final Essay In the novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, freedom is an important theme. Although Jim, the runaway slave, may seem to be the only character seeking freedom, Twain portrayed the scarcity of freedom into the lives of other acknowledged characters throughout the story. One of the characters that were restricted to their freedom is Huck. Huckleberry was not trying to flee from slavery, but instead from civilization and society.…

    • 668 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    “Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest. “ This outstanding quote written by Mark Twain, is just like many other novels Mark Twain has written just like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In this novel Mark Twain writes about Huck helping out a slave named Jim. Jim and Huck form a special bond that is seen as wrong in the public eye.…

    • 136 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Huck’s final task is to rescue Jim from the Phelp’s farm where the fraudulent duke and king sold him to. Going against the southern ways in the 1800s, Huck risks his own life to save Jim. He has to go against the way he was raised to help Jim escape because he knows that Jim is equal to him even though that is not the way society views African Americans. “All right, then, I’ll go to hell,” (Twain 215). At this point, Huck is fed up with the selling of Jim and knows that he has to do something about it.…

    • 2127 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Huck’s Journey and Moral Development Outward influences can change one’s moral development. Moral development focuses on the emergence, change, and understanding of morality from infancy through adulthood. In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, a young boy named Huckleberry Finn travels on an immense journey away from his hometown.…

    • 804 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    13) and takes prayer lightheartedly until faced with another moral problem later into the book. His carefree and wild ways are expressed with his superstitions as well. This is shown with his throwing salt over his shoulder (Pg. 18) and his other superstitions such as burning the spider, about the snakeskin, and talking about the dead (Pg. 61). Another way Mark Twain expresses Huck's wildness and confused morals is that he never tells the truth.…

    • 1046 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Huck’s continuing journey, now undertaken with Jim, ultimately leads to Huck realize how twisted many elements of society are, and how he can choose his own path. As Huck and Jim are camping out on an island, Huck begins to wonder whether or not he is doing the right thing by helping Jim escape: “What had poor Miss Watson done to you, that you could see her nigger go off right under your eyes and never say one single word? What did that poor old women do to you, that you could see her nigger go off right under your eyes and never say one single word” (Twain 110). Huck’s thinking at this particular moment comes from what he was taught all his life; slavery is good. The fact that Huck does not follow this conventional wisdom and is struggling against it in listening to his conscience, shows how he is distancing himself from the conformity of the society he grew up in.…

    • 1963 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Huck Finn Morality Essay

    • 2206 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Morality plays an important role in Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Huck Finn is an uneducated, thirteen-year-old boy who does not necessarily know the difference between right and wrong, but he often makes the right choices throughout the novel. He helps Jim, a runaway slave, escape even though he knows it is “wrong.” However, there are many instances where Huck does not treat Jim with respect and there is some evidence that Huck would not help other runaway slaves in a similar situation.…

    • 2206 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Jim, is a man who ran away from his slavery home, in order to find his family, from which he was separated from many years before. Even though Jim is a fugitive, he is very wise and understands morals and teaches valuable lesson of decent morals to Huck as they are on the raft on the Mississippi River. However, Huck was an immature kid who didn 't have any rules and did as he wanted when he pleased. While on the raft, Huck played a trick on Jim, saying that it was just a dream when Jim was worried whether or not Huck was alright, but he thought it was hilarious to lie to Jim that it was just a dream. Huck learns how to apologize, and that a black man is just alike everyone around them and deserves respect.…

    • 1212 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In today’s society, many feel the pressure to conform to the norm, no matter the consequences. Though this issue presents itself in mundane life, it also reflects itself in Mark Twain’s novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” through Finn’s struggle to reconcile his feelings towards Jim and the unprincipled behavior of the townspeople. Finn questions why he should do the socially acceptable thing when it makes him feel as if he’s done the wrong thing; a question that people face regularly in their everyday life. People do not take pleasure from change, rather it a change in way of dressing or a change in morals. Consequently, when a pair of white men ask Huckleberry to identify the race of his traveling partner, Huck wrestles with…

    • 627 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Moral Growth in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Growth and moral change hold an essential part of an individual’s life, especially that of an adolescent. As people grow older, views, activities, and interactions with others change, thus an increase in maturity and consideration becomes especially prevalent. In the nineteenth century novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain reveals the process of moral and ethical changes within individuals, as people learn to understand the needs of others, thus revealing the importance of growth and change for an individual. Largely, the novel focuses around the growth and development of a young boy, as Huckleberry Finn experiences vast moral change and events throughout…

    • 2053 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This character also shows the readers why Huck faces such a conflicting moral dilemma when choosing whether or not to free a slave. Children in the south like Huck, were all raised on the opinion to hate anyone who is not white. Even though Huck and Jim were friends, our protagonist still had a hard time going against the ideals that he'd been raised on his whole…

    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Huck’s upbringing was not very satisfactory, therefore he does not not know how people in society act. Also, other characters, such as Tom and Miss Watson affect if Huck does the moral thing. Lastly, Huck’s own way of thinking determines the path he will take. Not only do Huck’s decisions affect the plot, but every one 's decisions affect their…

    • 1273 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Priyam Patel Period-2/3 Rough Draft Throughout the novel of "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain, racism in Huckleberry Finn's society greatly affected his perceptions of right and wrong. As Huck Finn and Jim traveled together, Huck learns more about Jim which changes his view on slavery and racism. So throughout Huck Finns adventures with Jim, he sees him as an equal rather than seeing him as a piece of property. Without Jim, Huckleberry Finn would have…

    • 669 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1. Society and morality almost always come in conflict, but societal views are almost always held with more importance than moral values. In The Adventures of Huck Finn, by Mark Twain, Huck develops two different consciences as he spends time with Jim. One conscience is the one he obtained throughout his life by being a part of society. The other is gained from being around Jim, on a raft, away from society.…

    • 2504 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Improved Essays