Moral Compass Of Huckleberry Finn

Huckleberry Finn, “Huck”, over the course of the novel, was faced with many obstacles that went into creating his moral compass. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn begins with Huck, a 12 year old boy heavily swayed by society and by Tom Sawyer, a fellow orphan. His opinions and depiction of right and wrong were so swindled to fit into society’s mold. Throughout the story Huck Finn’s moral compass undergoes a complete transformation in search of a new purpose in life. Huck was raised with very little guidance from an alcoholic father, of no mentorship. He was forced to live with Widow Douglas and with Miss Watson’s hypocritical values. Upon learning of God and Heaven from Widow Douglas, he remarks that he is unable to see the benefits of going

The novel is written in episodic plot to allow for each episode, piece of the story, to have it’s own purpose. This allows for each part to individually represent a contribution to Huck’s character and journey. This writing style allows the reader to piece together the changes within his definition of right and wrong.
Growing up in civilization, Huck had recognized owning a slave as a societal norm. He slowly begins to realize the impact of society, on slaves and slaveholders. The more analyzation of the situation, the less comprehensible slavery became, and light was shown on the evils around it. Moral confusion ensues as those who seem to be kind and heaven bound, such as Miss. Watson and Sally Phelps, are oblivious to the inhumane injustice done to Jim and all of those enslaved. In this instance, Huck Finn has a more sound idea of morality than the adults in his life. During Huck’s impersonation of Tom, he is asked why he was delayed replying that a cylinder on a steamboat had blown up. When asked if anyone had been hurt, he comments that a “ni**er” has been killed. Sally then disregards this as a human life, and responds “Well

With prior friendships being mainly those of Tom Sawyer and misguided children of a “gang”, the concept of the nature of a friendship was misconstrued. Jim’s friendship taught him the importance of unconditional love, and having a friends back no matter what. Jim refers to Huck as the “best friend that old Jim ever had in the world” (214). This resonates with Huck and when tempted to write a letter to Miss Watson to expose Jim’s whereabouts, he recalls his relationship with Jim. He remembers the level of trust that has been created between the two of them, and how close their journey to freedom has brought them. Having come to this new realization of a moral compass, he is unable to do this to his new friend and states, “‘All right then, I’ll go to hell’ and tore it up” (214). He is suddenly able to better separate differences between what is truly right, and what is societally