In the preface of his satire Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain warns his audience that “persons attempting to find a moral in [this narrative] will be banished.” However, this masterpiece of a novel recounting the journey of a young boy and a fugitive slave along the Mississippi River holds an undeniably resounding message. This message, which will surely ring true for countless generations, is not confined by the threat of punishment. In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain emphasizes the value of listening to one’s personal beliefs through Huck’s internal conflicts. These moral dilemmas in which the audience may find such a universal message involve Huck’s struggle to decide to help Jim escape slavery as well as to accept Jim as
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Huck overcomes such moral pressure by ultimately resolving to follow his internal beliefs. For example, by assisting Jim in his escape, he risks being called “a low down [abolitionist]” by his family and community (32). However, since Huck promised that he “ain’t agoing to tell” about Jim’s plan, such societal opinions “make no difference” to him (32). Clearly, Huck values keeping his word over preserving a public image. Later on in the boys’ journey down the Mississippi, Huck divulges Jim’s whereabouts in a note addressed to Miss Watson, Jim’s owner, in an attempt to feel “all washed clean of sin” (161). However, immediately after writing the message, Huck remembers when Jim claimed that “‘‘[Huck] was the best friend [he ever] had in the world’”—his “‘only friend,’” in fact (161). At the climax of this intense moral struggle in which Huck must decide if he should sacrifice the two boys’ friendship, he tears up the note, proclaiming that he is willing to “‘go to hell’” for choosing to assist Jim in his escape (162). Evidently, the boy would rather preserve a deep friendship with a mortal than seek favor in the eyes of a deity, a clear example of his commitment to his personal beliefs. In other words, by destroying the note, Huck commits an ultimate act of defiance against God in which he adheres to his own values at the price of his …show more content…
By repeatedly pointing out the triumphs of Huck’s personal beliefs over prevailing cultural attitudes with respect to slavery and racial inequality, the author implies the idea that one’s conscience proves to be more trustworthy and valuable than other sources of morals, such as religion and traditional culture. Jim, the primary focus of Huck’s internal predicaments, has decided to attempt to escape slavery, a venture that Huck must choose to support or not. Huck also must decide if he should treat Jim as an equal human being. In choosing the affirmative in both scenarios, he disregards social and religious expectations for the sake of his own conscience, a concept that Twain evidently endorses. Perhaps, by applying the principles Mark Twain expresses in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, this world can become a more understanding place for all those who seek to act of their own volition, free from the inhibitions of cultural boundaries and societal
Huck overcomes such moral pressure by ultimately resolving to follow his internal beliefs. For example, by assisting Jim in his escape, he risks being called “a low down [abolitionist]” by his family and community (32). However, since Huck promised that he “ain’t agoing to tell” about Jim’s plan, such societal opinions “make no difference” to him (32). Clearly, Huck values keeping his word over preserving a public image. Later on in the boys’ journey down the Mississippi, Huck divulges Jim’s whereabouts in a note addressed to Miss Watson, Jim’s owner, in an attempt to feel “all washed clean of sin” (161). However, immediately after writing the message, Huck remembers when Jim claimed that “‘‘[Huck] was the best friend [he ever] had in the world’”—his “‘only friend,’” in fact (161). At the climax of this intense moral struggle in which Huck must decide if he should sacrifice the two boys’ friendship, he tears up the note, proclaiming that he is willing to “‘go to hell’” for choosing to assist Jim in his escape (162). Evidently, the boy would rather preserve a deep friendship with a mortal than seek favor in the eyes of a deity, a clear example of his commitment to his personal beliefs. In other words, by destroying the note, Huck commits an ultimate act of defiance against God in which he adheres to his own values at the price of his …show more content…
By repeatedly pointing out the triumphs of Huck’s personal beliefs over prevailing cultural attitudes with respect to slavery and racial inequality, the author implies the idea that one’s conscience proves to be more trustworthy and valuable than other sources of morals, such as religion and traditional culture. Jim, the primary focus of Huck’s internal predicaments, has decided to attempt to escape slavery, a venture that Huck must choose to support or not. Huck also must decide if he should treat Jim as an equal human being. In choosing the affirmative in both scenarios, he disregards social and religious expectations for the sake of his own conscience, a concept that Twain evidently endorses. Perhaps, by applying the principles Mark Twain expresses in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, this world can become a more understanding place for all those who seek to act of their own volition, free from the inhibitions of cultural boundaries and societal