Why Is Huck Finn Inevitable

Improved Essays
The past happened; it is inevitable. Contemporary with the formation of the United States, slavery was both legally and socially accepted in the South. In his book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain implicitly embeds real world problems from within American history such as slavery and other societal characteristics at the time to affect the reader in reflecting a fictional story with reality. The protagonist within the book, Huckleberry Finn, goes on a journey on a raft along the Mississippi River alongside Jim, a runaway slave. The towns along on the Mississippi River that Huck had visited made his noncompliance with society begin to grow as he began to constantly revert back to social isolation with Jim upon the raft due to the …show more content…
While Buck gives his explanation about the feud between the Shepherdsons and Grangerfords to Huck, the utilization of dialogue suggests that senseless violence is inconsequential and meaningless. Huck is asking about how this family feud rose about. Buck explicates "there was trouble 'bout something, and then a lawsuit to settle it; and the suit went agin one of the men, and so he up and shot” (119). As Huck continues asking questions, Huck implicitly indicates that feuds are senseless and often times only caused by an unnecessary cycle of violence and destruction. When Huck asks what this feud was about, Buck insisted “[he] reckon maybe--[he] don’t know” (119). As Huck continued go along with living with the Grangersons, he witnessed their murder after they had gotten ambushed by the Shepherdsons as they were chasing after Sophia Grangerson who had run off to marry Harney Shepherdson. The feud between the Grangersons and the Shepherdsons embodies society’s foolish tendency to instigate contentious behavior and then blindly wonder as to why such tragedy has been committed. In the end, Huck searches for Jim and head back upon the raft down the Mississippi …show more content…
The duke and the king manifest the tenacious avarice within society and people within American society such as the Grangersons used as a depiction of senseless, unnecessary violence and the Phelps displaying the African American as subhumans. These morally-violating characteristics of Americans instilled within the novel by Twain are not meaningless. He has created this genre of moral fiction reflecting upon the reality within American society in which was contemporary with his writing of the book. Many of society’s attributes manifested within the novel continue today. In order to comprehend the gravity of these social injustices, one must realize the events and doctrines instilled within the past. It is imperative that one realizes the violation of human dignity through American

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In the 1830ś, slavery caused a mast corruption in society when freed slaves weren't so free. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn were established during this time period. However, many libraries and schools banned the book because of its harrowing language. Huckleberry Finn went on a spontaneous journey with Jim, a slave, to search for his freedom. As time passed throughout the journey, Huck started seeing Jim as a less-than-human slave, a father figure, and a friend.…

    • 292 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Slavery was a huge part of history many years ago, and even after it became illegal many people had a hard time changing their way of life and thought. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a cherished novel that clearly addresses the reality of slavery and it’s everlasting presence on society. Humans are no stranger to racism and inequality in both fiction and real life, with people still being affected today. Even though slavery is legally ended, through the book characters relationships, morals, and actions Mark Twain sets the novel before the abolition of slavery to show that racism never really ended, and he is trying to change it.…

    • 109 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The theme for this classic book is that we should not follow rules set in front of us blindly, we should think for ourselves. One of the clearest examples of a damaging system of rules was the family rivalry between the Shepherdsons and Grangerfords. Huck was able to learn the insides of the Grangerford family. He became friends with their son, Buck, when the reader is introduced to Buck you can see his motives are just to harm Shepherdsons. When asked if he wanted to kill a man (Harney Shepherdson) he answered yes.…

    • 1493 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the controversial novel, Adventures of Huckleberry, written by Mark Twain, portrays a unique relationship between a slave, Jim, and the narrator, Huck Finn. The novel takes place in the 1830’s in Missouri, Illinois. In the 1830’s era, slavery was legal at the time. Both Huck and Jim endeavor a long and treacherous journey to grasp their objective up north, Cairo. A place where Jim can be a free man.…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Huck Finn

    • 1024 Words
    • 5 Pages

    What is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’s true meaning? Is it simply a chronicle of a young boy’s adventures? Is it rather a critique of southern racism? Or is it neither? Many critics debate this popular novel by Mark Twain about a boy, Huck and a runaway slave, Jim’s, adventures on the Mississippi River trying to get Jim to freedom.…

    • 1024 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    "It had a picture of a runaway nigger, with a bundle on a stick, over his shoulder, and '$200 reward ' under it." (Twain 149 ) Twain develops a pair of characters called the Duke and the King. Twain utilizes these characters as a gateway to demonstrate the racial tensions between the acclaimed to be higher white versus a runaway slave especially throughout the last part of the book. Furthermore, the duke He takes ownership of his property like saying “ our nigger” and “ goodness knows we had trouble enough for [Jim].”…

    • 1911 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I disagree with your claim about how the book is predictable mostly for the reason that you stated, "Anyone with common knowledge could tell that Huck would adopt Jim from the start of the book" (Stein). That's completely invalid due to the fact that Jim is not even introduced until later on into the Novel. No one can make this assumption simply because the character is not even introduced. Even if you were to fast forward to the chapter in which Huck and Jim are actually in contact with each other on the island it still isn't predictable that the two would get along. In fact, at first, glance they seem to be utterly incompatible.…

    • 192 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Huck Finn Corrupts Society

    • 1851 Words
    • 8 Pages

    For example, similarly to the beginning in the scene with Tom, when Huck is among the Duke and King, he does not care about the Jim’s treatment. He informs us that the Duke says, “Ropes are the correct thing—we must preserve the unities, as we say on the boards. We all said the duke was pretty smart.” It is amazing that even after having such heartfelt scenes with Jim, Huck lauds the Duke’s decisions. The society that the Duke and King, whose names symbolize the backbone of society, is filled with deception and hierarchy, and Huck quietly follows them for a long time.…

    • 1851 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    First, during the journey down the river, Huck and Jim develop a friendship that wouldn’t be considered normal in the rest of the society. Jim, as a slave, and…

    • 934 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Inhumanity In Huck Finn

    • 1117 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The duke and king are tar and feathered by the townspeople for what can be assume to be some scandal. The townspeople reason that it was the most "sivilized" manner of dealing with them. Noting how "Human beings can be awful cruel to one another” (p. 254), Huck finds he cannot reconcile this barbaric act as one of a truly civilized society. Through various blatant and subtle incidents within the novel, such as these, the Duke and the King signified that man is fundamentally cruel to his fellow…

    • 1117 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved 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
  • Superior Essays

    The lack of knowledge or information, ignorance, will always be apparent as long as humans roam the Earth. When satirizing ignorance, it is not just making humor out of the absence of awareness but also to evoke change. Ignorance, although being a simple term, has several variations. Racial, religious, and violent ignorance are all presented and satirized in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain satirizes ignorance to produce change in society through the King’s religious ignorance in Pokeville, through Pap’s racial ignorance when talking about black freedom, and through the Grangerfords and Shepherdsons violent ignorance in their feud.…

    • 1081 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mark Twain’s most famous novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” has some reader concerned about the strong, racist language and think it is inappropriate for only children. Twain’s classic American novel made many people question its rough use of the word “nigger.” Twain was accused of being racist, and his novel was challenged by schools and libraries. “Twain’s purpose of his novel is exposed the problem of slavery and demonstrate how racism affects the people who support slavery as much as those who are enslaved.” It took him nearly seven years to complete this powerful inspirational message that will inspire people across the nation.…

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As Huck stated, “People would call me a low-down Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum—but that don’t make no difference. I ain’t a-going to tell, and I ain’t a going back there, anyways.” (Twain43). In chapter eight, Jim has ran away from Miss Watson and when Jim informed Huck about the situation, Huck had promised not to tell anyone so this represents the start of a new friendship and this foreshadows Huck’s values. Huck and Jim have been through many challenges from living on an island to surviving on a raft.…

    • 669 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Huck is reflecting upon his adventures with Jim and cannot find any things to “harden me against him”. Jim’s care and gratefulness towards Huck is something that Huck values in their friendship. Twain has been able to reveal the significance of Jim’s…

    • 1016 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays