Huckleberry Finn Rhetorical Analysis

The Changing Morals of Huckleberry Finn
Throughout the beginning and midsection of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain illustrates the adventures of Huck and Tom cruising down the river. On this journey, through their many adventures and mishaps, Huck develops a more sympathetic view towards Jim, and changes from a child-like persona to a more adult person. By the time the story has reached the moral climax in Chapter XXXI, Huck has matured in his ways, and grown to see Jim the former slave as more than a piece of property.
Finally, Huck matures from the beginning to the moral climax. In the beginning, Twain’s diction reveals Huck as rather young-minded, referring to hell as “the bad place” when the Widow tells him more about religion on page 2. This

specific childish word choice is later contrasted with a very distinct alteration to Huck’s diction when he deliberates over what to do after Jim is caught. When Huck goes against the pressures of society and says “I’ll go to hell”(215), the change in language from “bad place” to “hell” becomes immediately apparent. Huck has matured from a boy who refers to things with childish language to a young man who is making important moral decisions. This clear change in Huck’s language showcases his coming-of-age during his journey down the river.