ipl-logo

Moral Breakdown In Huckleberry Finn

921 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The moral growth of huckleberry finn

Moral breakdown is a phenomenon in which a major degradation or a complete loss of moral values takes place within a particular society. Theodore Roosevelt once said, “To educate a person in the mind, but not in morals is to educate a menace in society.” Morals are the basis by which people live in a positive manner because morals typically mean that people are compassionate to our fellow beings. When people have morals we know right from wrong. It 's important to have morals with a smart mind so that they understand the consequences of their actions. In the novel Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain describes that Huck Finn has moral degradation or no morals between lying, murder and greed. Everyone lies right? Some people use this immoral action by claiming it 's for a good reason instead of using it in a bad way. Not only does Huck use this, but other characters like the Duke and the …show more content…

Greed is common in everyday life and we are constantly surrounded by it. Huck Finn is constantly surrounded by greed from most people he comes in contact with. Furthermore, the grangerfords and the shepherdsons are two families who are in a family feud between them. They both have kids that escape from their parents to fall in love with each other. Huck narrates, “En ole Mars Saul en de boys tuck dey guns en rode up de river road for to try ketch dat young man and kill him” (113). These families feel greed because Miss Sophia and Harney Shepherdson have a desire to marry each other and a plan to escape to pursue their dreams. In this case greeds role plays a major part in the morals of Sophia and Harney. Colonel Sherburn is a store owner and the richest man in town. Huck narrates, “By and buy a proud looking man about 55 and he was a heap of the best looking man in town” (180). Colonel Sherburn is a greedy swindler who swindles people for money to pay for his lavish lifestyle. To sum up, greed can be connected back with Miss Sophia and Harney and in Colonel Sherburn 's lavish

Show More
Related
553 Words | 3 Pages

No one recalls how the feud started, but know two people have been killed that year, one from each family. The two feuding families attend church together, holding rifles in their laps, while the minister preaches about brotherly love. Later, Huck’s slave takes Huck deep into the swamp to show him some “water-moccasins”, but really they find Jim there who tells about how he followed Huck to shore the night they wrecked, but did not try to call out to him being scared of being caught. The next day Huck learns that Sophia ran off with Harney Shepherdson and later in the woods he witnesses Buck and another Grangerford get killed a gunfight with the Shepherdsons. Extremely disturbed, Huck goes down to Jim and the raft and they take off downstream.

Read More
2304 Words | 10 Pages

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

Read More
1410 Words | 6 Pages

However, Huck looks for the personal immediate gain in practicing religion, and his quest is fruitless. Likewise, when the Shepherdson and Grangerford families attend church, instead of focusing on the prayers and sermons, they let petty family arguments get in between and bring shotguns to a sacred place of worship. Slavery leads to a loss of humanity. Being set in the height of slavery, the text heavily criticizes the institution of slavery and the business that it is.

Read More
783 Words | 4 Pages

Thought out a person's childhood, they experience events that transform them to become who they are later in the life. People have to deal with the decision of what right and what's wrong. At a young age, Huck chooses to run away from his home because he was raised by a father who was an alcoholic and means towards Huck. He really did not care for him. Huck knows this is wrong, but does it anyway, he decides to help a slave name Jim escape and try to help him reunite with his family again, by doing this he knows he is going to get in trouble if he gets caught.

Read More
816 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout the exciting escapades in the story The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, the conflicts and complements between individuals and society are constantly shown in the book especially when dealing with matters of conscience and personal principles of right or wrong. The author, Mark Twain, shows his point of view on these uncertainties by developing an internal struggle in the main character Huckleberry Finn to help give the reader a better idea of his own morals. Mark Twain has a lot of opinions about society and he conveys these opinions through his characters. One opinion about ignorance is shown in the following example: When Pap returns to town, he demands ownership of Huck. Huck refuses to stay with Pap, but society (in the form of the new judge) imposes the rule that Huck should rightfully be with Pap.

Read More
1322 Words | 6 Pages

To begin, Huck’s struggles within the deformed conscience of an entire society leads to his maturation. Throughout the book, Huck struggles within himself whether or not to follow his heart or to follow society’s deformed views. In one situation, Huck begins to feel guilty about helping a runaway slave, Jim, to freedom. Huck narrates, “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-

Read More
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.

Read More
2101 Words | 9 Pages

For example, even the gentle Mary Jane says that the Duke and the King should be “tarred and feathered.” (Twain 190) The fact that Huck sees so much death when he visits civilization goes right back to Twain’s obvious suggestion throughout the story that society is corrupt and unprincipled, and that Huck’s life on the raft is far more attractive. The next example of Huckleberry Finn enjoying the natural life occurs when he is taken away by his father. While he is living with his father he comes to enjoy the uncivilized life more than the way he lived with the Widow, despite the fact that his Pap is an

Read More
795 Words | 4 Pages

Morality is defined as the principles for which people treat one another, respect for justice, and the welfare and rights of others. Moral development is gained from major experiences that can change viewpoints on life or cause people to make a difficult choice in a tough situation. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, one of Mark Twain’s major themes evident in the book is the moral development of Huck FInn, the main character. In the beginning of the book, Huck’s lack of morals and uncultured personality is a product of living with his abusive, demoralized father.

Read More
705 Words | 3 Pages

Hypocricy and Blind Faith Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn took place in the eighteen hundreds when religion and reputation were dominant in peoples everyday lives. It was very rare for someone to believe something different than everyone else. In Twain 's novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Tom Sawyer and Huck appear to be very different, but their actions, descriptions, and dialogue bring them together to symbolize society in order to show the blind conformity and hypocrisy that humans often display.

Read More
884 Words | 4 Pages

Mark Twain emphasizes the theme that a person's morals are more powerful than the corrupt influence of society in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Based on how Huck Finn views the world and forms his opinions, he does not know the difference between right and wrong. In the novel, Huck escapes civilized society. He encounters a runaway slave, Jim, and together they travel hopes of freedom. But along the way, Huck and Jim come across troubles that have Huck questioning his motives.

Read More
197 Words | 1 Pages

What is a witch and are they really as bad as people portray them? A witch is a person who follows the 'Old Religion ', which he or she believes to predate the Judaic-Christian religion and which is nowadays called Wicca. 'Wicca ' may be the wrong word to use to describe someone who follows the Old Religion, but it seems to have come to stay. 'Witch" may still be used as an abusive term, but then, once upon a time, so was the label Christian, and the term Jew is still, unhappily, used abusively in some circles. But what do witches believe?

Read More
1141 Words | 5 Pages

Individuals often say that the right way may not necessarily be the popular way, but standing up for the right thing, despite it being frowned upon, will be the true test of one’s moral character. This relates to the moral growth that Huck Finn experiences throughout his journey. Mark Twain’s controversial novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, can be said to be a compelling story about how one individual, Huck Finn, goes against society’s ideals. Huck’s moral development can be said to be based primarily on those around him, especially Jim. Many instances also influence Huck’s morals, particularly during the raft journey that will change his beliefs and morals.

Read More
1083 Words | 5 Pages

In addition, greed is yet another significant factor to Huck and Jim’s struggle throughout the novel. For example, Huck learns that the Dauphin sells Jim when a stranger says, “Well I reckon! There’s two hundred dollars’ reward on him. It’s like picking up

Read More
1233 Words | 5 Pages

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was wrote by Mark Twain in February, 1885, 20 years after the Civil War. However, the setting of the book takes place before the civil war in various locations as Huckleberry Finn, a boy about 10 years old, tries to race up the Mississippi river to escort Jim, a runaway slave, to freedom. Over the course of Huck and Jim’s adventures, they both become reliant on each other, as Huck develops what he feels is a moral obligation to see Jim to freedom, and Jim comes to respect and nearly worship Jim because of his efforts to free Jim. Throughout the book, the cultural attitudes and imposition of cultural norms at the time are very evident, and when reading it is plain to see that The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn’s

Read More

More about Moral Breakdown In Huckleberry Finn

Related Topics

Open Document