Huckleberry Finn Morality

When one reads The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain, themes involving morality and conscience become heavily prevalent. The protagonist, Huckleberry Finn, portrays a manifest dynamic character. His actions and statements, ranging from the outset of the novel through its ending, show Huck’s development of a more concise sense of morality and conscience, which prevails over the societal influences of “right and wrong”. In the nineteenth century American South, the inescapable system of slavery and social hierarchy would have discouraged an interracial bond. Yet Huck, while escaping from his father, chooses to befriend Jim, the runaway slave he encounters, and shares a pivotal stage in his life with his companion, whereby

After Huck and Jim are separated on the Mississippi river between a towhead, which causes much strife and worry, Huck attempts to trick his partner into thinking their quandary was nothing but a dream. Originally, Jim plays along and feigns misunderstanding, but soon chastises Huck for his dishonesty. Huck truly feels bad, as if he has hurt Jim. It is quite clear that the protagonist is ashamed of this behavior when he states, “It made me feel so mean I could almost kissed his foot...It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself to humble myself to [him]...but I done it, and I warn’t ever sorry for it afterward, neither” (Twain 86). Huck Finn clearly regrets the joke he pulled on Jim, which shows the development of his moral character. As a general rule, individuals apologize when they feel guilty for their transgressions; by asking forgiveness of Jim, Huck defines his conscience in a greater way. This moment in the novel is paramount to observing Huck and his journey towards morality. It is a turning point in his tale; Huck overcomes the social standard that prohibits lowering one to the status of a slave and apologizes, showing that his conscience has triumphed over his

While the main character often makes wrong decisions, he feels regret and remorse over said choices, and attempts to learn from them. When Huck is faced with the morality of theft, he and Jim steal nevertheless, but use somewhat logical justification. Huck and his companion decide that stealing out of necessity poses less moral subjugation than careless theft. In order to prioritize what should stolen for basic purposes, Huck states, “the best way would be for us to pick out two or three things from the list and say we wouldn’t borrow them any more...and [we] concluded to drop crabapples and p’simmons…[because] crabapples ain’t ever good and the p’simmons wouldn’t be ripe” (Twain 65-66). Clearly, Huck is making a bad choice in that he is stealing food, but the end justifies the means because it is rather difficult to earn money as a child with a fugitive in