Huckleberry Finn and His Moral Efforts Essay

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Prokins 1
Shada Prokins
Mr. Flandor
English 3
17 December 2012
Huckleberry Finn and His Moral Efforts
Should morals be based on experience and opinion, or should morals be a composition of what society believes? In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, the main character, Huckleberry, is constantly changing his moral beliefs by battling between choosing what he knows is morally right verses what society believes to be correct. When Huck is accompanied by others he seems to reflect the same ideas as those individuals. Huck finds his own voice and beliefs once he is secluded from the rest of his society.
While Huck is living in society he has to obey rules. Huck does not like any of the rules that the Widow and Miss Watson have given him. Huck asks if he can break a rule to smoke and the Widow states that it is, “…a mean practice and…that [he] must try to not do it any more” (2).
Huck has no real state of authority and because of this he states that reading about Moses is a waste of time because he does not “take stock in dead people” (2). Huck starts to obey the rules when it is to spite his father who says that he does not need to attend school or church. Huck’s father thinks that Huck will become smarter than him and it scares him. To show his father that he is smart he “read for half a minute” (20) until his father became outraged and stated, “I won’t have it” (20). Huck eventually conforms to the widow and Miss Watson; once Huck is kidnapped he also conforms to his Pap’s ways. Huck conforms to the various ideas around him because he is constantly being told that his ways are wrong forcing him to change.

Prokins 2
After Huck eventually fakes his own death, he strikes out on his own. After meeting Jim on Jackson’s Island the two agree to escape and set out on a raft together. As Huck spends time with Jim and gets to know him, Huck learns that Jim is a real person too. Once Huck works up the courage to apologize to Jim, Huck states that he, “warn’t ever sorry for it afterwards, neither”
(87). In society’s eyes Huck should feel more guilt after apologizing to a slave because slaves are considered property and not people. Huck starts to see Jim as a father figure. While Huck is suppose to be on watch during the night he starts to get “pretty sleepy” (129) and so Jim would
“stand the first half” (129) of Huck’s shift for him. Huck is grateful that Jim is “always [a] mighty good” (129) person because it gives him a role model. When Huck develops his own opinion of Jim it shows how he is disregarding society’s influence on him and becoming his own person. During Huck and Jim’s adventures they meet up with two con men. These men lie about everything including their names. Each man claims to be royalty, one claims to be a Duke and the other claims to be a King. Both men force Huck to evaluate his ethics in morals. Huck must decide between choosing with or against the King and
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