Throughout Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, there is a strong attempt on the part of those who are important in white society to get Huck to conform to certain standards or to attain traits of a civilized person. The society Huckleberry Finn lives in has a tremendous effect on him, including the attitudes and beliefs of Miss Watson and Widow Douglass, and their attempt to give Huck a clean and correct upbringing, the affect Tom Sawyer’s behavior has on Huck, along with Huck’s father, Pap Finn, even though Pap is unfit to take care of him. The white characters who seek to “improve” Huck are not necessarily the best people. Huck is given contradictory ideas about what kind of boy he should be and this causes his conscience to be
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Although prayer does not work for Huck, he does not completely throw away the idea altogether. “I set down, one time, back in the woods, and had a long think about it” (112). Even though Huck does not fully grasp Christianity as his own faith, he is still a moral human being; he is able to recognize good and bad: “I must help other people, and do everything I could for other people, and look out for them all the time, and never think about myself” (112). This is what Widow Douglass teaches Huck. Unable to see any real benefits to religion as a whole, Huck cannot help but dismiss it altogether (he will carry this ideology with him and will unknowingly use it later, when he is faced with the ultimate decision to set Jim free). He sees Miss Watson’s rules as pointless and empty and decides that he would rather go to Hell than to stay where he is because Hell sounds better than living with Miss Watson and being “civilized.” This also foreshadows Huck’s decision later on when he sets Jim free. When Miss Watson’s seemingly benevolent attempt to ingrain religion in Huckleberry Finn does not work, she uses scare tactics to try to get Huck to accept religion. “Sometimes the widow would take me one side and talk about Providence in a way to make a boy’s mouth water; but maybe the next day Miss Watson would take hold and knock it all down again” …show more content…
He blurs the lines between good and bad for Huck throughout the story. This is because Tom comes from a more privileged background than Huck does. He shows his cruelty from the beginning of the story when he steals the candles from the Widow’s kitchen, regardless of Huck’s disapproval. To prove his immorality even further, Tom tricks Jim while he is sleeping, by stealing his hat and hanging it from a tree. In chapter two, Tom and Huck meet up with some of Tom’s friends. Tom makes an announcement that all the boys who are present can be a part of his gang of robbers. He proposes that every member must keep the secrets of the gang, and if they did not, their entire family would be killed. Since Huck hardly has any family, the boys are reluctant to allow him to be in the group. Huck does not offer his father up for sacrifice because he is just a drunk and is of no great importance to Huck. He finally decides to give Miss Watson up, which the boys
Although prayer does not work for Huck, he does not completely throw away the idea altogether. “I set down, one time, back in the woods, and had a long think about it” (112). Even though Huck does not fully grasp Christianity as his own faith, he is still a moral human being; he is able to recognize good and bad: “I must help other people, and do everything I could for other people, and look out for them all the time, and never think about myself” (112). This is what Widow Douglass teaches Huck. Unable to see any real benefits to religion as a whole, Huck cannot help but dismiss it altogether (he will carry this ideology with him and will unknowingly use it later, when he is faced with the ultimate decision to set Jim free). He sees Miss Watson’s rules as pointless and empty and decides that he would rather go to Hell than to stay where he is because Hell sounds better than living with Miss Watson and being “civilized.” This also foreshadows Huck’s decision later on when he sets Jim free. When Miss Watson’s seemingly benevolent attempt to ingrain religion in Huckleberry Finn does not work, she uses scare tactics to try to get Huck to accept religion. “Sometimes the widow would take me one side and talk about Providence in a way to make a boy’s mouth water; but maybe the next day Miss Watson would take hold and knock it all down again” …show more content…
He blurs the lines between good and bad for Huck throughout the story. This is because Tom comes from a more privileged background than Huck does. He shows his cruelty from the beginning of the story when he steals the candles from the Widow’s kitchen, regardless of Huck’s disapproval. To prove his immorality even further, Tom tricks Jim while he is sleeping, by stealing his hat and hanging it from a tree. In chapter two, Tom and Huck meet up with some of Tom’s friends. Tom makes an announcement that all the boys who are present can be a part of his gang of robbers. He proposes that every member must keep the secrets of the gang, and if they did not, their entire family would be killed. Since Huck hardly has any family, the boys are reluctant to allow him to be in the group. Huck does not offer his father up for sacrifice because he is just a drunk and is of no great importance to Huck. He finally decides to give Miss Watson up, which the boys