Selfishness And Selfishness In The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain

I believe people are drawn to extremes. They are drawn to the idea of something being one or the other, this or that, black or white. They are drawn to this because it is simple. It makes life and their relationships with others easy and safe. They see people as either selfish or selfless and treasure their ignorance, refusing to acknowledge the truth. In reality though, the world is not as simple and clear cut as it may seem. Neither are people, they are neither good nor bad, they’re just people. They are people who may have always been by your side but may suddenly desert you and they are people who you may have never given a second chance but yet manage to surprise you. Throughout the novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain exposes to the reader a world, much like …show more content…
This can be applied to the characters of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in multiple regards but most notably to Huck himself. Support of this idea lies in the fact that while Huck lives with his father and must witness how his selfishness leads him to completely self-destruct his life and relationship he clearly decides for himself that he could never follow in his footsteps and instead hatches a plan that results in his false death so he is free to run away to remain ‘unsivilised’. Although Huck must bear witness to the terrible downfalls of his father’s selfishness at such a young age, he also observes the other end of the spectrum with Jim’s selflessness. Through observing Huck’s personal growth throughout the novel it seems as though the juxtaposition of two extremes, Pap’s selfishness and Jim’s selflessness, combine to assist in Huck’s evolution from a young, immature and conflicted boy into a independent, considerate and morally motivated young