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Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

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In the novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain, societies boundaries and expectations are pushed to their limits not only by the actions of the main character, Huck, but in Twain’s controversial writing style. Though the book is often claimed to be offensive, it was actually a parody of the times. Mark Twain was ridiculing the racist tendencies of mid-1800s society and their views of the poor/lower classes. Through reading “Huck Finn”, it is apparent Twain is challenging the reader to rethink society’s rules. To start with, Huck was highly against racism, despite his adoptive family owning slaves and his father being immensely hateful toward them. He realized, though society had taught him otherwise, that it was …show more content…

The second way Huck went against society’s rules was by refusing to be civilized. He would never listen to the Widow and Mrs. Watson when they attempted to make him act proper and work on his studies. He’d much rather run around in the woods and play robbers with his friends. Twain himself, who spent much of his life traveling around the United States, used Huck to show that life was meant to have fun and to not waste so much time putting on airs.
Lastly, Huck didn’t put up with anyone telling him what to do, especially pap. Pap was racist and abusive, and Huck fought back even though he knew he’d be beat. Pap was furious that Huck was going to school and learning to write, on account of nobody else in the family being able to, saying:
“You’re educated, too, they say; can read and write. You think you’re better’n your father, now, don’t you, because he can’t? I’ll take it out of you.” (Ch. 5)
He continued to go to school because it made pap mad, although he didn’t like it because he preferred to not be civilized. He ran away when pap kidnapped him, partly because he was sick of getting beat and dealing with his dad’s alcoholism, and also for the reason that he just wanted to be free.
As you can see, “the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is a story with a new view on society and what is right/wrong. It was and still is a book that leaves much to be debated on topics such as culture, race, and

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