Humanity Exposed in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
People are the picture of contrast, sometimes strong and heroic and other times weak and lamentable. In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain illustrates both the good and the disagreeable portions of human nature. The good side of humanity is shown through his depiction of peoples' courage. The irrationality of mankind is exposed through the actions of characters in the novel. The unproductive self-serving attitude of many people is also shown in Huck Finn. The benign and malevolent faces of humankind are shown through people's courageousness, senselessness, and selfishness.
Mark Twain displays good in humanity through depictions of courage in the characters of Huck Finn and Jim. Huck Finn was certainly one of the bravest characters in the book to have faced all of his adventures. When he and Jim happened upon a crashed steamboat, "The Walter Scott", and discovered a ruthless band of cutthroats, Huck had the courage to try and stop them. Huck said, "But if we [Huck and Jim] find their boat we can put all of 'em [the cutthroats] in a bad fix-for the Sheriff 'll get 'em" (Twain 90). Huck had the fearlessness to risk his own life to bring several murderous criminals to justice. The character Huckleberry Finn displayed the human virtue of heroism when he decided to free Jim from the clutches of the Phelps family. Although he thought it would cost him his soul, Huck had the courage to follow his heart in freeing Jim as summed up by his thought, "All right, then, I'll go to hell"(Twain 273). Twains other main character besides Huck Finn is a runaway slave. This slave, Jim, exemplified true courage. When Jim decided t...
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..., I reckon we'd come to consider him our [King and Duke's] nigger; yes, we did consider him so-goodness knows we had trouble enough for him"(Twain 275), shows that they will not help any one without getting something in return, and that they did not view Jim as a person to respect.
In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain illustrates several traits that are common in mankind. Among these traits are those that are listed in this essay. Through characters in the story Twain shows humanity's innate courageousness. He demonstrates that individuals many times lack the ability to reason well. Also, Twain displays the selfishness pervasive in society. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, many aspects of the human race are depicted, and it is for this reason that this story has been, and will remain, a classic for the ages.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain is about the great adventures that Huck finn has with his slave Jim on the Missouri River. The story tells not only about the adventures Huck has, but more of a deeper understanding of the society he lives in. Twain had Huck born into a low class society of white people; his father was a drunken bum and his mother was dead. He was adopted by the widow Douglas who tried to teach him morals, ethics, and manners that she thought fit in a civilized society. Huck never cared for these values and ran away to be free of them. During Huck’s adventure with Jim he unknowingly realized that he didn't agree with society’s values and could have his own assumptions and moral values. Twain uses this realization to show how the civilized and morally correct social values that was introduced to Huck was now the civilized and morally contradicting values.
Scene 2 act 2 is one of the most important scenes in the play. This is
Mark Twain’s masterpiece The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn through much criticism and denunciation has become a well-respected novel. Through the eyes of a thirteen-year-old boy, Huckleberry Finn, Twain illustrates the controversy of racism and slavery during the aftermath of the Civil War. Since Huck is an adolescent, he is vulnerable and greatly influenced by the adults he meets during his coming of age. His expedition down the Mississippi steers him into the lives of a diverse group of inhabitants who have conflicting morals. Though he lacks valid morals, Huck demonstrates the potential of humanity as a pensive, sensitive individual rather than conforming to a repressive society. In these modes, the novel places Jim and Huck on pedestals where their views on morality, learning, and society are compared.
Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the world’s most acclaimed books. Twain accomplishes this with his extraordinary power of humor, his use of dialect, and by creating complex and unique characters. Developing his characters is one of the greatest assets he has in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. A character that exemplifies this most is Huck Finn, first appearing as rouge, but later transforming into a character with high moral values.
During times of slavery, every African American in the south was either a slave or a free African American. “She treated me with respect” (Twain 5). Jim said when he was asked about how the Widow Douglass treats him. This shows that the life of Jim was not that bad, he had everything a slave at that time could want, and his owner did not disrespect him. Also most slaves were abused and almost beaten to death. Twain tries to represent the hardships of slaves on a daily basis when he doesn’t portray Jim’s life to be much difficult “Even though Jim was a slave, he was treated like a family member” (Ralph 6). Jim was a house slave and did not have to do hard work in the fields for long hours. In page 3 in Ralph’s Article, he says “Jim had to no motive to leave, he wanted freedom but it would be harder for him because he wouldn’t have all the amenities he had when he was a slave” (Ralph 4).
Twain's stereotypical depiction of Jim originates from traditions of his time: “Writing at a time when the blackfaced minstrel was still popular, and shortly after a war which left even the abolitionists weary of those problems associated with the Negro, Twain fitted Jim into the outlines of the minstrel tradition . . . ” (Ellison 421-22). Minstrel shows, first appearing in the 1840s, were theatrical productions typically performed by white actors who blackened their faces with greasepaint and wore white gloves “to render comic burlesques of African American speech and manners” (Carey-Webb 24). The function of the minstrel mask, the “black-faced figure of white fun,” was “to veil the humanity of Negroes thus reduced to a si...
Mark Twain once described his novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, as “a struggle between a sound mind and a deformed conscience”. Throughout the novel, Huck wrestles with the disparity between his own developing morality and the twisted conscience of his society. In doing so, he becomes further distanced from society, both physically and mentally, eventually abandoning it in order to journey to the western frontier. By presenting the disgust of Huck, an outsider, at the state of society, Mark Twain is effectively able to critique the intolerance and hypocrisy of the Southern South. In doing so, Twain asserts that in order to exist as a truly moral being, one must escape from the chains of a diseased society.
Jim is an excellent example of how Twain demonstrates human nature. Jim is a black slave from the fictional town of St. Petersburg Missouri, who decides to run away from his owner, Miss Watson, for fear of being sold down south to New Orleans. Jim encounters Huckleberry Finn, who is also running away, and the two quickly develop a bond as they were able to relate to each other. Jim is a black slave, someone’s property, and Huck comes from the lowest level of white society. Jim and Huck’s friendship demonstrates the human nature of companionship.
“One is obliged to concede that in true loftiness of character, Man cannot claim to approach even the meanest of the Higher Animals.” Mark Twain makes it clear to his audience that he has pessimistic views towards the human race. After seeing several works influenced or directly written by this talented author, one can gather that Twain’s negative take on humanity is warranted. “The Damned Human Race” teaches the reader that man is war-like and greedy, the film and novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn prove that society’s idea of what is right is not always moral, and current events and real life experiences solidify the ideas that man is evil. Mark Twain allows the reader to hear his views through the voices of others, such as Jim in the novel and a scientist in the essay. These mediums, that reveal Twain’s attitude towards humanity, prove that his negative take on the human race is justified.
Throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain tells the story of Huck Finn who constantly finds himself surrounded by morally strong people and others who go without morals.After Living with widow Douglas and then leaving with Jim, he feels that superstition provides proof where as christianity does not. Living on the river with Jim influences him. He looks up to Jim and feels that he is his true friend. Cohen Ralph said, “… in their relationship, a love and respect for persons regardless of color or knowledge or beliefs.” In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain illuminates the shortcomings of organized religion.
Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn compares and contrasts the benefits and consequences of living in civilization versus living in the natural world, in the absence of a structured society (Gaither par.9). Twain portrays his preference for the natural world through its beneficial effects on the main character, Huckleberry Finn. Twain uses his story Huckleberry Finn to portray the simplicity of a life led without the constraining rules, regulations, and customs of modern society. He does this by allowing Huck’s life to face less difficulty, and gain moral and practical understanding when he is free from the strains of society and its backward ideals. Twain allows the natural world to foster Huck’s moral and ethical development by allowing him to learn his own code of ethics and ideals by his own experience and not by the influence of others.
with a sense of his punishment, an idea that is in essence of the rest
According to Laurence Sterne, “Nobody, but he who has felt it, can conceive what a plaguing thing it is to have a man’s mind torn asunder by two projects of equal strength, but obstinately pulling in a contrary direction at the same time”. In Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the character Huckleberry Finn, also known as Huck, is one who can conceive this plague. Huck Finn’s ‘two projects of equal strength’ was the difficult decision whether to turn Jim, a black slave, over to his rightful “property” owner or to continue helping Jim escape to freedom. This inner conflict took place in Jim’s conscience of trying to decide what the right thing to do was. These two conflicting forces were the basis of how the story was told. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is told from Huck’s viewpoint, and it illuminated the quandary that Huck faces as he befriends Jim and helps him to freedom, as well as convincing himself talkimg himself into believing feeling . A part of Huck thought helping Jim was wrong because helping a black man escape to freedom was against society’s rules and went against everything that he had been taught and raised to believe. The other part of Huck saw Jim as a good person, a friend, and believed Jim should be free from slavery. It was a war between Huck’s conscience of not following society’s conventional laws and following his heart in what seemed right.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, is an immensely realistic novel, revealing how a child's morals and actions clash with those of the society around him. Twain shows realism in almost every aspect of his writing; the description of the setting, that of the characters, and even the way characters speak. Twain also satirizes many of the foundations of that society. Showing the hypocrisy of people involved in education, religion, and romanticism through absurd, yet very real examples. Most importantly, Twain shows the way Huckleberry's moral beliefs form amidst a time of uncertainty in his life.
In the book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the protagonist is faced with many moral dilemmas. Huckleberry Finn is barely an adolescent who is used to skipping school and horsing around with his friends. Regardless, he is forced to make decisions that no person should have to make, even though he is only a child. Huckleberry is an outstanding role model and a model of what a human being should represent. Even though Huck is surrounded by corruption and is led by examples that do not recognize right from wrong, he is still able to address nonconformity. He makes the most morally upstanding decisions while under stress and the disapproval of society. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is about a young boy who grows up without the leadership of a father to guide him as he struggles with decisions that heavily impact those around him. Huckleberry makes the conscious decision to help a runaway slave escape to his freedom. He struggles with this decision for an extremely l...