Huckleberry Finn Human Nature Analysis

When human failures become inescapable, a person who initiates awareness of these shortcomings is imperative. This is someone who can expose a group’s flaws, force people to face reality, and provide insight to the world’s issues no matter how unappealing they may be. Mark Twain epitomizes these attributes. Generations to come will forever be contemplating his candid views on human nature through his powerful literary works and satirical messages. One of his most controversial pieces, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, criticizes unpleasant features of humanity, targeting racism and greed. In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain uses satire to articulate that racism and greed contribute to human cruelty, because when one becomes preoccupied

For example, as Huck converses with a lady from another town, he finds that Jim, a black slave, is blamed for Huck’s alleged death, the lady presumes, “A good many thinks he done it. But they’ll get the n*** pretty soon now, and maybe they can scare it out of him” (43). People looking for Huck’s murderer parallel the mindsets of white people during this era: they utilize the color of his skin as justification before accusing Jim as the culprit, an act that corresponds with the false accusations many slaves experienced. Although they lack proof for condemning Jim, the community intends to “scare it out of him”; therefore, they will act inequitably towards the slave based on a false proposition. Likewise, once Jim begins to discuss the prospect of freedom and possibly stealing his children back, Huck reacts regretfully: “My conscience got to stirring me up hotter than ever, until at last I says to it, ‘Let up on me—it ain't too late yet—I'll paddle ashore at the first light and tell’” (67). His racially biased upbringing proves to have an influence when the young boy creates a culpable interpretation of helping Jim: this notion consists of Jim’s freedom emerging as a crime that Finn supported. Exemplifying a collectively racist instinct, the runaway disregards the negative backlash of returning Jim back to his

An outcome of cruelty is conveyed while addressing the harsh treatment of slaves and the manipulation of unsuspecting people for money. Satirical references expose prejudice mentalities and materialistic people; ultimately, this contributes to a substantial goal of conversation amongst humans that focuses on people’s drawbacks. If humanity wishes to remain peacefully, preventing the pitfalls of racism and greed, people must stop limiting themselves to one mindset and listen to every opinion with an open