Ethical Decisions In The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Huck goes on an adventure down river with Jim, a runaway slave. Throughout his journeys, Huck has to make many important ethical decisions, with many of them having to do with his friend Jim. Huck has been taught that slaves are property and should be kept by their owner, but his budding friendship with Jim made him ponder about whether or not he should turn him in. Huck learns to believe more in his heart’s own morals because of his friendship with Jim lasting longer and longer, allowing his own heart’s own morality to finally be used in order to make tough ethical decisions.
Towards the beginning of Huck’s adventures, he allows the, “civilized,” morals of Miss Watson and the Widow to have

Huck then elaborates, “a body that don’t get started right when he’s little ain’t got no show.” This is used to demonstrate that Huck views someone only as moral when they are not inconsistent with their morals. He believes that every person should find the correct morals, and then just stay with it. Even with this in mind, he still determines that he would, “feel just the same way I do now,” if he had turned in Jim. This is his finally questioning the morals he has been taught for most of his life about slavery, and is a sneak peak to how Huck will change his morality in the future, but at this point he still views himself as mostly in the wrong. This is why at the end of the passage, Huck states, “what’s the use you learning to do right when it’s troublesome to do right and ain’t no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same?” Huck recognizes that doing right is the best thing to do, but here he is questioning why he believes in this sentiment. This is just the beginning of Huck’s morality being influenced by decision making involving

This is clear when he, “went on thinking.” Huck begins to reminisce about all the good times he had with Jim, and it is very apparent he held them very close to his heart. This is clear with Huck stating, “how good he always was,” when referring to Jim. Huck also begins to connect how important he may have been to Jim, when Huck says, “ he was so grateful, and said I was the best friend old Jim ever had in the world, and the only one he’s got now.” Huck now has a momentous decision, determining whether or not he will follow the morals he has viewed as good, or those he knows truly for himself. Huck conveys this with, “I’d got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it.” Huck puts his foot down and decides to save Jim, causing him to feel terrible about his decision. This is the final straw for Huck, and he has now decided to never think, “more about