Huck Finn Conflict

724 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Norms and values in society

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.

Throughout the novel, Huck questioned whether he was doing the right thing. Even though he felt he was doing the right thing, he kept thinking about how he was going against society’s values and ideals. Huck also felt that he was betraying Miss Watson by taking Jim, her “property”, away from her. Miss Watson was always good to Huc...

... middle of paper ...

... I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: “All right, then, I’ll go to hell”—and tore it up” (Twain 317). At this point in the novel, Huck realizes that he would rather go to Hell for doing what he believed to be right even if it is wrong in others’ eyes, including God’s. Although Huck knew it was wrong to help a runaway slave, he also knew it was what he had to do, it felt right to him. The inner turmoil that Huck experienced within his conscience was a constant battle, but Huck made the decision to follow his heart. Huck learns, from his own life experiences of befriending Jim and his own moral conscience and intuition, that standing up for what seems “right” isn’t always easy to do, but it’s the right thing to do. Huck made the moral decision to go against what he had been taught was “right” and do what he knew was “right”.

Show More
Related

  • moralhf Comparing Moral Strength in Huckleberry Finn and On The Rainy River

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    Together, Huckleberry Finn and a runaway slave named Jim head south along the Mississippi during one summer.  During their adventures, Huck has trouble with his conscience—he knows Jim is a runaway, and that the socially correct thing to do would be to turn him in and get him sent back to his owner.  However, whenever the opportunity to do so arises, Huck finds it impossible to do.  Near the end of the book, when Huck is out meandering and Jim is still on the raft in the river, Jim is captured by an old man as a runaway and gets sold for $40.  It is here, at this point, that Huck has his largest moral dilemma.  Should he let Jim remain captured, as he is legally the property of Miss Watson, or should he rescue the true friend who has stayed steadfastly and unwaveringly by his side?  Huck does not want to remain “wicked,” as he himself calls it, so he writes a letter to Miss Watson informing her that her slave is being held by a Mr. Phelps down south of Pikesville.  He cannot, though, bring himself to send the letter.  He winds up ripping the letter to shreds, with the comment, “All right, then, I’ll go to hell” (p. 207).  He is willing to sacrifice his soul, and do a deed he believes he will be damned for, to save Jim, the runaway slave.  It takes a character of great moral strength to do what he did.

    Read More

  • Turning Points In Huck Finn

    1285 Words  | 3 Pages

    He gets into all sorts of conflicts that force him to battle and work his way out of them, and in turn, they propel his moral position’s evolvement. It is especially hard on Huck when it comes time to resolving moral dilemmas. He is always stuck between making his own moral decisions, be it conventional or not, or allowing influencers, his father, the widow, and society, to make the decisions for him. He can never let go of the guilt associated with taking the unconventional path and rejecting what society upholds because that is all he has ever been taught in his life. That is why it is hard to apologize to Jim at first, but given time Huck is able to muster the courage to do so because that is the right thing to do even when society says so otherwise. The same goes for helping a slave, such as Jim, escape to a free state where he can find the opportunity to reunite with his family. Ultimately, he violates the demands of society to do what is right and not contribute to the enslavement of another human being. And it is not until the end of the novel that Huck no longer views his decisions as moral failings, but instead as moral triumph because he stayed true to himself and not once did he allow society to dictate his

    Read More

  • How Does Society Influence Huck Finn

    1486 Words  | 3 Pages

    Upon arriving at Cairo, Huck must decide if he should go along with society and turn Jim in as a runaway slave, or keep his promise to his friend, and see him through to freedom. Huck feels guilty not turning Jim in when he hears him talking about hiring an abolitionist to steal his family. He does not think it is right to help take away slaves from people that he doesn 't even know. To turn Jim in for these reasons would be the influence of society on Huck. Huck 's decision on this matter marks another major step in Huck 's moral progression, because he decides not to turn in Jim on his own. This is the first time he makes a decision all on his own based on his own morality. They stop at Grangerford’s Farm, in Tennessee, after the raft is temporality destroyed. With Huck busy with the Grangerford family, Jim was able to rebuild the raft. Huck just met the Grangerfords, but fits right in immediately. He later feels that someone should take the time to write poetry about Emmeline Grangerford, recently deceased, since she always took the time to write about other people who died. He even tries to write the poetry himself, but it doesn 't turn out right. Then he also sees people shooting at each other makes him sick to his stomach. He sees it as an act against humanity and he simply cannot relate or understand how humans can treat each other in such an uncivil

    Read More

  • The Integrity and Strength of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

    1379 Words  | 3 Pages

    Huck has been raised in a high-class society where rules and morals are taught and enforced. He lives a very strict and proper life where honesty and adequacy is imposed. Huck being young minded and immature, often goes against these standards set for him, but are still very much a part of his decision-making ability and conscience. When faced to make a decision, Hucks head constantly runs through the morals he was taught. One of the major decisions Huck is faced with is keeping his word to Jim and accepting that Jim is a runaway. The society part of Hucks head automatically looks down upon it. Because Huck is shocked and surprised that Jim is a runaway and he is in his presence, reveals Hucks prejudice attitude that society has imposed on him. Huck is worried about what people will think of him and how society would react if they heard that Huck helped save a runaway slave. The unspoken rules th...

    Read More

  • Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

    965 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the greatest American novels ever written. The story is about Huck, a young boy who is coming of age and is escaping from his drunken father. Along the way he stumbles across Miss Watson's slave, Jim, who has run away because he overhead that he would be sold. Throughout the story, Huck is faced with the moral dilemma of whether or not to turn Jim in. Mark Twain has purposely placed these two polar opposites together in order to make a satire of the society's institution of slavery. Along the journey, Twain implies his values through Huck on slavery, the two-facedness of society, and represents ideas with the Mississippi River.

    Read More

  • Alienation of Huckleberry Finn in the Advertures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

    1178 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Morality In Huck Finn's The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

    1240 Words  | 3 Pages

    The book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn tell the tale of a young boy who embarks on an adventure, one that leads him to find himself. Throughout the novel Huck develops a sense of morality that was always there to begin with, but not nearly as developed as it is by the end of the novel. Through living on his own, independent of societal and peer pressures, Huck is able to identify his own morals in defining what is 'right ' or 'wrong '.

    Read More

  • Huck Finn Morality

    942 Words  | 2 Pages

    In chapter 16, Huck goes through a moral conflict of whether he should turn Jim in or not. “I was paddling off, all in a sweat to tell on him; but when he says this, it seemed to kind of take the tuck all out of me (89).'; Right off from the beginning, Huck wanted to turn Jim in because it was against society’s rules to help a slave escape and Huck knew it. But when Jim said that “Huck; you’s de bes’ fren’ Jim’s ever had; en you’s de only fren’ ole Jim’s got now (89),'; made helped Huck to grasp the concept that there is a friendship in the making. Even though Huck didn’t turn Jim in, he is till troubled by his conscience when the slave catchers were leaving because he knows it is wrong to help a slave. Still Huck cannot bring himself forward to tell on Jim, thus showing that his innate sense of right exceeds that of society.

    Read More

  • Huck Finn

    1211 Words  | 3 Pages

    In lieu of his escape, Jim emphasized his feelings of becoming a free man. Jim said it made him all over trembly and feverish to be so close to freedom (p. 238). Huck came to the realization that Jim was escaping for a far different reason than he, and began to see this “nigger’s” freedom as his own fault; he was an accomplice. Huck’s conscience became plagued by the fact that Jim was escaping the custody of his rightful owner, and he was doing nothing to stop this. In Huck’s eyes, Jim was essentially the property of poor old Ms. Watson, who didn’t do anything less than teach Jim his manners and his books. Altogether, Huck felt that he was doing wrong by concealing this, and felt miserable to say the least.

    Read More

  • Huck Finn Argumentative Essay

    1212 Words  | 3 Pages

    He started to feel guilty for keeping Jim hidden all that time and even attempted to write Mrs. Watson. He wrote a letter to her telling of Jim’s location but ripped it up immediately after. Huck came to a conclusion when he says, “I was letting on to give up sin, but away inside of me I was holding on to the biggest one of all” (Twain 204). He knew that what he was doing was not considered right in that situation but he felt okay with the choices that he had made. At this point, the reader can see how Huck is conflicted and acknowledges that his lies could have been immoral. In the end of his meltdown, he decided that it was all for the best and he wanted to continue to protect Jim at all

    Read More

  • An Analysis of the Most Important Scene Presented in Mark Twain’s Text Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

    1127 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...their position in society, and therefore, Huck’s opinion on things such as slavery was formed by the world in which he lived. Therefore, the moment he meets up with Jim, his mind starts to tell him that he is doing something wrong, and as he continued to help Jim narrowly escape death, that nagging feeling grows to an intense level. This feeling peaks when Huckleberry is forced to make a decision between saving Jim, and reporting his location to Miss Watson. In other words, he has the choice between what society believes is right, and what society believes is wrong. This point in the text becomes so incredibly crucial because it is a moment where Huckleberry actually finds the strength to stand up against the opinions of the mass and make a competent decision based on logic, reason, and his own personal experiences, something that before, seemed impossible for him.

    Read More

  • Huck's Conflicted Character in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

    613 Words  | 2 Pages

    Initially, religion is appealing to Huck when the Widow Douglas tries teaching him: "After supper she got out her book and learned me about Moses and the Bulrushers; and I was in a sweat to find out all about him" (220). Salvation seems possible to Huck, but he prefers to go to the "bad place" instead of spending eternity with Miss Watson (221); also, he abandons the concept of morality as a result of Miss Watson imposing it upon him. "I couldn't see no advantage about [helping others]...so at last I reckoned I wouldn't worry about it anymore, but just let it go" (226). Huck does not realize that he is not a selfish person, but resolves to sacrifice salvation instead of living selflessly simply because of the source and c...

    Read More

  • Huckleberry Finn

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Huck Finn Passage Analysis

    1327 Words  | 3 Pages

    Toward the beginning of the novel, Huck has no problem robbing caravans, kidnapping wealthy people for money, and even killing the families of the gang formed by him and his friends if they became turncoats and told of this gang. He was even disappointed when all the gang did was cause trouble at a Sunday school meeting. Later on in the novel, Huck is also faced with a moral dilemma when he comes across Jim, Miss Watson’s runaway slave. As they travel down the river, huck mentions, “I begun to get it through my head that he was most free—and who was to blame for it? Why, me. I couldn’t get that out of my conscience, no how nor no way. It got to troubling me so I couldn’t rest” (Twain 153). Back in that time, it most certainly would not be a moral dilemma; instead, it would be very simple: bring the slave back to his owner. However, when Jim asked Huck to promise that he wouldn’t tell, Huck replied with, “Well, I did. I said I wouldn’t, and I’ll stick to it. Honest injun I will. People would call me a low down Ablitionist and despise me for keeping mum—but that don’t make no difference. I ain’t agoing to tell” (Twain 103). In the chosen passage, it is very clear that Huck realizes what is happening there, and believes it to be wrong. Huck thinks to himself, “this is another one that I’m letting him rob her of her money. And when she got through, they all just laid

    Read More

  • moralhf Moral Choices in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

    572 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn you meet a rebellious young teen named Huck Finn. Huck is not your everyday hero especially in the beginning of the novel but slowly through the story his mature, responsible side comes out and he shows that he truly is the epitome of a hero. Huck is forced to make many crucial decisions, which could get him in serious trouble if not get him killed. Huck has natural intelligence, has street smarts, which are helpful along his adventure, and is assertive. Huck has always had to rely on himself to get through things because he is from the lowest levels of white society and his dad is known more or less as the `town drunk." So when Huck fakes his death and runs away to live on an island he is faced with yet another problem, which revolves around the controversial issue of the time of racism.

    Read More

More about Huck Finn Conflict

Open Document