What Makes Huck Finn Self Reliant

In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, Huck Finn, an orphaned child, runs away from home down the Mississippi River with a runaway slave, Jim. In the beginning of the novel, Widow Douglas and Miss Watson take in Huck and try to civilize him by teaching him the Bible and going to church. However, Huck does not understand many things about culture and how society functions, so once pap, his drunken father, kidnaps him and tries to kill him he decides to leave everything behind and live on his own. He runs away to an island where he meets up with Jim and finds himself becoming very close with the slave as they begin to travel down the river. Throughout Huck’s life he continuously questions society and how people act.

As stated in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay, “Self Reliance” Huck exceeds the qualifications that make someone a self reliant man.
For example, Emerson writes about how man should not feel confined by the church. Although society says that prayer comes from sermons in church, Emerson disagrees. He believes that true prayer happens when one immerses oneself in introspection, while alone or in nature. Emerson writes, “The prayer of the farmer kneeling in his field to weed it, the prayer of the rower kneeling with the stroke of his oar, are true prayers heard throughout nature” (pg.11). To be self reliant, according to Emerson, means that one does not have to rely on a priest to give a sermon to become a spiritual person. Rather, one should question why the church is the epitome of a religious experience. Likewise, Huck continuously questions the church and its teachings throughout the novel and is often uninterested in things like Moses once he finds out that Moses is dead. He does not understand how learning about dead people can help him spiritually. Huck’s spirituality does not come from studying dead people in the Bible, rather it comes when he surrounds himself with nature, on the raft with Jim. Ultimately, Huck qualifies as being self reliant according to Emerson because of the way he questions the church.
Additionally, according to Emerson, another quality that makes a self reliant man, is the ability to use nature as one's guide for how to act. Transcendentalism, is the belief that Emerson and many others share that just like humans have a purpose and a soul, so too flowers and a frog; everything living is connected and therefore humans should look to nature for direction. Emerson writes, “These roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones; they are for what they are; they exist with God to-day...But man postpones or remembers;” (pg.8). Although man tends to live in the past and not focus on the present, Emerson urges man to take example from even the small things in nature like a rose; just like a rose does not worry and live in its past, so too humans should also live in the present. Time and time again in the novel Huck looks to nature as a guide for things in his life. Using natural resources for food and shelter, Huck embodies Emerson's ideals of looking to nature for guidance. Additionally, Huck attempts to explain to Jim why French men speak differently than Americans, and does this by comparing French and Americans to different species of animals in nature. Because nature is something both Huck and Jim understand Huck uses that knowledge to explain other things in his life. Overall, Huck’s greater understanding of nature and usage of its guidance, according to Emerson, makes Huck self reliant.
Furthermore, to become self reliant Emerson requires one to be true to oneself. Although throughout life society attempts to rid a person of his intuition, if one can somehow hold on to their truth they have reached self reliance. Emerson writes, “If you are true, but not in the same truth with me, cleave to your companions; I will seek my own” (pg.10). People develop their own opinions and therefore their own truths, but if one cannot stay truthful to oneself then they cannot be defined as self reliant. Huck embodies this idea of staying truthful to oneself; he is a realist who does not create lies or romanticize society rather he sees the world as it is. Therefore when Huck finally understands that no one in the South agrees with what he holds as his truth, Jim being equal to a man not property, he seeks his own truth by traveling out West. Overall, Huck knows that he cannot stay in a place that will constantly make him hide what he believes to be the truth, and, ultimately, acts in a way that Emerson qualifies as self reliant.
Lastly, the most important part of becoming self reliant is the ability to not conform to society.

Emerson rightfully explains that it is impossible for one to be self reliant if one also relies on society to shape him as a person. Emerson writes, “but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude” (pg.4). What makes a person unique and self reliant, is the strength to go against what society wants of a him when he disagrees with them. Likewise, Huck illustrates nonconformity multiple times throughout the novel, but the clearest example is when he is deciding whether or not to let Miss Watson know where Jim is. He writes a letter to her explaining everything, however, he then proceeds to tear it up and says, “All right, then, I’ll go to hell” (pg.273). Huck is raised in a society where black people are treated as property, but after spending so much time with Jim on the raft, Huck finally understands that just because that is what he has been taught does not mean that is morally correct. Although society tries to push their views down his throat, Huck defies this and chooses Jim, a runaway slave, over Miss Watson, a civilized white woman. According to Emerson, by not conforming to what society has taught Huck has achieved self

reliance.
As stated by Emerson in “Self Reliance”, Huck exemplifies the qualifications that make man self reliant. Huck embodies the idea of questioning the church and regular prayer in his everyday conversations with people in his life like Miss Watson. Additionally, he follows in Emerson’s transcendentalist way of thinking and continuously uses nature as his guide and as an example for how to respond to situations. Most importantly, Huck does not shy away from speaking his truth and does not conform to societal standards; he knows how he feels and acts accordingly without being pressured by societal norms. Overall, Huck’s behavior is a perfect example of the ideas presented in Emerson’s essay “Self Reliance”. One should always be striving to look to Huck as an example and to achieve self reliance because it creates a more unique and individual society.