Moral Development in Huckleberry Finn and The Great Gatsby

Moral Development in Huckleberry Finn and The Great Gatsby

Moral Development, according to the Webster's dictionary means an

improvement or progressive procedure taken to be a more ethical person, and

to distinctly differentiate between right and wrong. The Adventures of

Huckleberry Finn and The Great Gatsby, both pose as pieces of literature

that vividly portray moral development through the narrator's point of view.

Mark Twain, the author of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, wants the

reader to see and focus on the search for freedom. As on the other hand,

Francis Scott Fitzgerald, author of Great Gatsby, wants you to see the

American Dream, which is a freedom as well, a socio-economic freedom. These

authors have chosen their narrators well, as we see a significant number of

action that have brought them to be ethically developed. Narration in a

story is important, and is usually told by a main character. These

narrators face a world of confusion, a world of fear, a world of adventure,

and most of all, a world of opportunity. By these things I mean that Nick

Caraway, and Huckleberry Finn have a chance to mature as time progresses

though the novel, and then make a remarkable move to end up as a hero.

The narrators of The Great Gatsby and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

develop morally as the relate the story that reflects each one's position

in society.

The Great Gatsby, by Fitzgerald, is narrated by Nick Caraway. Nick

is a sophisticated observer of character, who starts out as an amoral

person. His character is a very peculiar one, because he is somewhat

neutral though this whole st...

... middle of paper ...

... The Great Gatsby. Ed. Ernest Lockridge. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968. 37-53.

Crowley, Donald J., ed. One Hundred Years of Huckleberry Finn: The Boy, His Book, and American Culture. Columbia: U of Missouri, 1985.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. London: Penguin Books, 1990.

Harris, Susan K. "Huck Finn." Huck Finn. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers. 1990.

Johnson, Claudia Durst. Understanding Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Westport, CT: Greenwood P, 1996.

Poirier, Richard, Huck Finn and the Metaphors of Society. Twentieth Century Interpretations of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Simpson, Claude M., ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1968.

Twain, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. (1884) Secaucus: Castle, 1987.