Essay On Morals In Huckleberry Finn And The Grapes Of Wrath

Do the ends always justify the means? Many classic novels often try to convey this question to its readers. In both The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Grapes of Wrath, Mark Twain and John Steinbeck use flawed protagonists to help convey this message. Even though these protagonists do not necessarily follow the law, the reader is unable to stop supporting them in their quest for the American dream. Steinbeck and Twain both demonstrate a value of morals over the written law by creating sympathetic, yet "corrupted" protagonists. These authors have their characters break the law early on in the novels. This is demonstrated when Huckleberry Finn aids in the escape of Jim, a runaway slave. "I 's wuth eight hund 'd dollars" (Twain 58). In Huck 's society, slaves were seen as property. Making Huck a robber when it came down to the law. In The Grapes of Wrath, however, Tom Joad is a known murderer, and kills again later in the novel. If caught, both Tom and Huck could receive a death sentence for

Many aspects of this case relate to the question of morality that Steinbeck and Twain are trying to answer. In both the real life case and in The Grapes of Wrath, the court lowers the punishment because of the situation the men where in. In both situations, thee men were backed into a corner. Tom Joad had been stabbed during a fight at the bar, and the men on the boat were faced with death. The young boy from the ship also lacks any family, just like Huckleberry Finn through much of the novel. Another alignment is between the boy 's and Huck 's age. They are both rather young and in the company of people much older than them. However, Huckleberry has much more life experiences than this boy, making him the stronger person. "The boy was lying at the bottom of the boat quite helpless and extremely weakened" (Natural Lawyer). Unlike Huck Finn, the boy in the real life case is weak and sickly. Throughout the novel, Huck is never displayed as weak, despite