2 Essays Over Huck Finn

4 Pages 970 Words

1) Throughout the novel Huckleberry Finn, Huck progresses
physically, mentally, and morally. Although he will never
(within the novel) have a full enough understanding of his
surroundings to give us a fair perception, we can obviously see
that his down-to-earth ideals spread unto his morals.

As Huck continually rejects the values of society and it's
twisted hierarchy, he matures morally. The internal conflict
within Huck between his own sense of right and wrong and
society's at first tears him apart, not knowing what to do and
praying unto God to help him understand. However, as he and Jim
embark upon their journey, they both make many observations on
human nature and the South in general. Jim is a much deeper
character (morally speaking) than Huck may ever be. As a young
narrator, he cannot efficiently evaluate Jim as a person, merely
as a "nigger" and so as the reader, one must suppose his
qualities.

As they go along their adventure, the allusion to the freedom of
the river is further accentuated. It seems to the common reader,
the longer Huck and Jim stay on shore, the more trouble that
arises. Upon the river raft, they can be naked (obviously
shunned by society), a white boy can be friends with an adult
slave (never even thought of along the shore), and the general
love and friendship they share for each other and their freedom
cannot be understood until one has escaped such a metaphorical
prison and made it out into the freedom of a river.

Unfortunately, as they make it out into the free world, they
also come across many obstacles. Huck's youthful innocence is
shattered at the sight of a young, thirteen-year-old boy shot in
the chest, for virtually no reason. The idea of locking Jim
within a pen disgusts him. Not to mention the "Duke and
Dauphin", who are low-down ragamuffins with horrible plans to
send Huck and Jim awry. Huck leaves us at the end of the novel
with a feeling he may not be to...