Theme Of Morality In Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the most celebrated novels in American literature. Twain uses satire to expose the racism, injustices and lack of morality in the 19th century American society. Huck, the protagonist of the novel is faced with the emotional growing pains of becoming a man in a morally flawed society. Throughout the story, Huck has to make many moral choices, and these moral choices have transformed him from an insensitive boy to someone with great compassion and morality by the end of the novel. In this essay, I will seek to discuss Huck’s tussle with morality within himself, in his treatment of other characters as well as with society’s seeming morality.

Huck’s tussle with the different definitions of morality is illustrated through his internal paradoxical struggle in defining between the right and wrong. Through Huck’s internal monologue (‘Pap always said it warn't no harm to borrow things if you was meaning to pay

Initially, Huck has no qualms lying and playing jokes on Jim as shown through how he he tricked Jim into believing that he was dreaming about the fog (‘Hello, Jim, have I been asleep? Why didn’t you stir me up?’). However, Jim’s outburst (‘bout wuz how you could make a fool uv ole Jim wid a lie’) and genuine concern for Huck (‘En when I wake up en fine you back agin, all safe en soun, de tears’) evoked a sense of guilt and reflection in Huck. Huck’s tussle with morality can be seen in his apology towards Jim. Huck’s apology and act of humbling himself ‘to a nigger’ is evident of his growth in morality as he learnt to own up to his mistake. The use of absolute term ‘no more (mean tricks)’ further illustrates how Huck has grown to be more sensitive as he realized that Jim is more human than he was supposed to believe and became more aware and considerate to his