Huck Finn Vs
Huck Finn Vs. 19th Cevtury EthNinetieth Century Morals vs. Huck�s Conscience
Sometimes making a stand for what is right, especially when it is
totally against the customary beliefs of society, can never be an easy
accomplishment.
In the novel, The Adventures Huckleberry Finn by, Mark Twain, the
main character Huck, encounters many situations involving a question of
morality. Considering the traditional protocol of his society, Huck must
choose between his conscience or public ethics. In many cases Huck goes
with his conscience, which always proves to be proper selection. Ironically,
what Huck believes in, unapproved of in the ninetieth century, is the basis of
accepted beliefs in our modern world. Huck lives with the guilt that all his
choices could be considered immoral based on his society; yet, really his
beliefs could be just in comparison to man�s conscience. Three of the major
instances in the novel when Huck�s beliefs contrast those of the ninetieth
century are when he questions the outcome of Jim, when he tries to
comprehend the concept of the feud, and when he must decide whether to
save the men on the Sir Walter Scott.
Although Huck�s choices concerning Jim�s life can be thought to be
the moral and proper choices, Huck is pounded by his society�s teachings the
Black men are property. When Huck first escapes from Pap and sets up
camp on Jackson Island, he finds Jim has also found refuge there from the
widow and Mrs. Watson. Huck is stunned at first when Jim tells him he
escaped, because Huck knows that Mrs. Watson owns Jim, which makes him
her rightful property. �People would call me a low-down Abolitionist and
despise me for keeping mum,�(Twain 43) Huck knows that if he helped Jim
that would make him an abolitionist, which could not be accepted role in the
ninetieth century. Huck decides that he would help Jim escape, as he would
never return to the town so it wouldn�t matter if he took Jim with him. After
a long raft-ride, Huck and Jim are finally about to reach Cairo, which on their
arrival would make Jim free. With the smell of freedom, Jim rambles on
about how he would buy his wife and then steal his children. This sets off a
spark in Huck, igniting his conscience and making him very uneasy. Huck
couldn�t believe that Jim would steal property from a man that hadn�t done
him any harm. Huck then begins feeling guilty about helping Jim escape
from Miss Watson, since she had never done anything to him and didn�t
deserve for Jim to be stolen from her. At his departure for the town, on a
mission to turn Jim in, Jim leaves Huck with these words.
� Pooty soon I�ll be a shout�n� for joy, en I�ll say ,
it�s all on accounts o� Huck; I�s a free man, en I
couldn�t ever ben free ef it hadn�t it ben for Huck;
Huck done it. Jim won�t ever forgit you, Huck; you�s
de bes� fren� Jim�s ever had; en you�s de only fren�
ole Jim�s got now�. (Twain 86-87)
Hearing...
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