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Huckleberry Finn Still Relevant Today Analysis

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“I was a-trembling, because I’d got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: ‘All right, then, I’ll go to hell’ – and tore it up” (Twain 205). The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn explores the journey of a boy named Huck Finn who travels down the Mississippi River with a runaway slave named Jim. Huck is constantly torn between what seems to be right and wrong for southern states in the 1800’s. Huck faces a variety of predicaments that challenge his intelligence and makes him question his religion. In Mark Twain’s novel Huck Finn, three meaningful subjects are explored in religion, education, and morality that are still relevant today. Twain’s expresses his dislike for religion in the novel by showing how hypocritical Southern Christians are and expresses the fact that some do not practice what they preach. Huck visits numerous southern towns throughout his travels, each in which Twain includes his views of …show more content…

Twain makes Huck an unreliable narrator to display his lack of education. “I had been to school most all the time and could spell and read and write just a little, and could say the multiplication table up to six times seven is thirty-five” (Twain 15). This quote is ironic because though Huck claims he is being educated, he states six times seven is thirty-five, when it is really forty-two. Twain also displays that the crowd is uneducated when the king and duke appear in the novel. These frauds are able to convince anyone of anything, due to the lack of schooling amongst the crowd. They swindle Jim into believing that they are truly a king and duke and sell the crowds on all their scams, the worst one being when they pretend to be Peter Wilk’s brothers. Overall, Twain is able to show the lack of education in the south within his use of

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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 prevailing 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 his abusive father, chooses to befriend Jim, the runaway slave whom he encounters, and shares a pivotal stage in his life with his newfound companion, whereby contradicting

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1410 Words | 6 Pages

Summary: Through the voice of Huckleberry Finn, a deep criticism of racism and civilized society’s rules is narrated to the reader as Huck and Jim, escape from civilized society and set sail on a raft down the Mississippi river to slavery-free states. Both characters share a common goal: to be free of the rules that a civilized society places. Huck and Jim form an alternative family as they head down the river along with two white adult conmen they rescued, who commit many scams . These conmen are responsible for turning Jim into a local farmer

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1135 Words | 5 Pages

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a novel written by Mark Twain, is often referred to as a great American novel (Goodreads) due to it’s presence of the culture of the United States prior to the Civil War. Not only does this piece of literature demonstrate the mentality of the American society in the midst of slavery, but it also uses the symbolism of Jackson’s Island and the Mississippi river, one of the world’s largest river systems, to emphasize Twain’s message about morality and religion. Although perhaps not initially apparent, Twain tries to convince readers that civilization masks morality and that hypocrisy often lies within religion through Huck and Jim’s journey down the Mississippi River and their various encounters with other characters

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1162 Words | 5 Pages

Since he is the one that describes all of the events and situations that he encounters, everything that occurs in the novel has influences from his perspective. Huck is uneducated fourteen year old boy that lives in St. Petersburg in the 1840s. His perspective illustrates instances where that mindset shines through since he does not know anything other than what society wants him too. Due to how the Antebellum era influences Huck, he is an unreliable narrator-one who is not capable of understanding the significance of the events that he comments on and describes. He is not intentionally unreliable, however because he does not receive a full education and is not a many yet, he is not capable of proving the full perspective on major issues that he encounters.

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1011 Words | 5 Pages

Starting from a young age, everyone loves to go on adventures and have fun, just like Huck Finn. Growing up in St. Petersburg, Missouri, he is a white 12 year old boy and the son of a drunken father. In the beginning of the book, Huck is seen as a little innocent boy. Until he enters the world with his friend, Tom Sawyer, as they go on adventures, which creates problems and controversy through the history of the North and South, civilization, and racism and slavery. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Huck has many controversial experiences that are still a problem in today’s society, which is why we should keep teaching the book in school.

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1011 Words | 5 Pages

Huckleberry meets Jim, a runaway slave, after he escapes his abusive father to live on his own. As Jim and Huck make their way down the Mississippi river to Jim’s freedom, Huckleberry struggles with two contrasting voices in his head. He knows that he is going against his society’s morals by helping a slave run away, but in the back of his mind he also knows that it would be wrong to turn Jim in. Huck debates the issue and tells himself “All right, then, I’ll go to hell” (228) when he decides to not turn Jim in. Huck’s conclusion that he will go to hell when he is actually doing the ethical thing by helping Jim, presents the hypocrisy in society’s religious assumptions.

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Another lesson that is taught is how important education is. Jim states, "Well, I 'uz gwyne to spend it, but I had a dream, en de dream tole me to give it to a ***** name' Balum-Balum's Ass dey call him for short; he's one er dem chuckleheads, you know" (Twain 54). This shows that since Jim was a slave, he never got an education. Since Mark Twain wrote the way he talked, readers can understand the difference between Jim and Huck.

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981 Words | 4 Pages

“I was a-trembling because I’d got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it… ‘All right, then, I’ll go to hell’-and tore it up” (Twain 205). In Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a warm-hearted, young teenager living in the 1840’s escapes from his abusive father and sails away on the Mississippi River. He encounters a recognizable, runaway slave named Jim and aids him on his quest to freedom. As the two encounter many hardships and obstacles (such as slave hunters, bandits, and con men), their friendship binds together despite the difference in skin color. The book, Huck Finn, contains three main themes that are still relevant today: friendship, education, and the nature of man.

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988 Words | 4 Pages

English classes in some schools throughout the United States do not have The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain on their lists for their reading curriculum. Parents and/or grandparents whose ancestors have lived their lives as slaves refuse to allow their children/grandchildren to read the novel because of the use of the "n" word over 200 times. However, because they only think about that one word, they don't know that the book actually portrays many important themes. Three meaningful subjects are explored in friendship, religion, and heroism that are still relevant today.

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1603 Words | 7 Pages

In Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck and Jim bond closely to one another, regardless of the fact that they belong to different ethnic groups. Huck, a coming-of-age teenage boy, lives in the Southern antebellum society which favors slavery. At the beginning of the book, Twain claims that “Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; and persons attempting to find a plot will be shot” (Twain 2). Ironically, through his experiences with Jim, the uncivilized Huck gradually establishes his own moral beliefs, although sometimes struggling against the influence of society.

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641 Words | 3 Pages

Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn contains several satirical messages. Twain applies various techniques to deliver his criticism of different aspects of life in the 1800s. In particular, he uses his novel to satirize society’s view of morality and religion. A few prime examples of this occur among the main characters Huckleberry Finn, Jim, and Tom Sawyer.

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835 Words | 4 Pages

It all falls back on the idea that during this story there is a theme of fraud, where it can be used for good or for bad. The first clearly noticeable use of satirizing fraud opens as the trip to Cairo was underway. Huck and Jim came across two "royalties" who go by the names The King and The Duke. "It didn't take me long to make up my mind that these liars warn't no kings nor dukes, at all, but just low-down humbugs and frauds" (Twain 94-95).

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286 Words | 2 Pages

In the vignette My Name, Esperanza is at the beginning of this development. She describes her name, which symbolizes the person that she has to be for her family, or the role that her family has put her in. She explains that she was named after her great grandmother, a woman whose freedom was taken away from her. Therefore, this name is also associated with her and her situation. At one point, when talking about her great grandmother, Esperanza says “She looked out her window her whole life, the way so many women sit with their sadness on an elbow….I

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978 Words | 4 Pages

This book is not only about a runaway slave and a young boy, but it’s also different from today’s literature, the themes are significant. In Mark Twain’s novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” three meaningful subjects are explored in education, friendship, and slavery that are still relevant today. Twain used education to show how it impacted Huck in the 1840s and in our everyday lives. Throughout the book there is more than one example of the impact of education.

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170 Words | 1 Pages

One internal force that caused Phoebe to change was that Phoebe lost her mom and is trying to get her back and also mad that her mom kissed the lunatic. One internal force that caused Phoebe to change is that she wants her mom back. One day Phoebe found the notes on the bed and was worried where her mom went. I think This changed Phoebe by her loosing her mom and was sad about it.

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