Problematic Behavior In Mark Twain's Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

We have medicine to treat illnesses associated with physical sickness and therapy to heal psychological problems. But what allows behaviors to be characterized as “problematic”? Our perspective of problematic behavior is crafted by the environment we are raised around. Published in the 1800’s, Mark Twain utilizes his book, “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” to model personalities we deem unusual. The issues he discusses are still relevant today. Twain models various poor behaviors of society through selected characterization of the Duke and King, environments such as the townspeople, and the society surrounding Wilk’s family. After Huckleberry reunites with Jim to sail down the Mississippi, Twain introduces two new characters. The Duke and

Following would be the Duke and King’s rehearsal of Romeo and Juliet. Twain uses idioms such as “knocked the spots out” (Twain 137) to make discussing the King more comical. The personalities of the Duke and King are shown like this multiple times throughout the novel; as they jump on stage naked, as they fool themselves, as they perform reckless tricks on stage. Their comicalness takes away from their greedy actions until the point where the King decides to sell off Jim. At this moment the readers are now inclined to turn on the Duke and King as Huckleberry scavenges through everything he can possible do to get Jim back. Although this conflict does exacerbate the greed of the King and Duke it dives into the deeper issue of these characters, prejudice. Prejudice against Jim, dehumanization of Jim, and African Americans alike. Readers were inclined to believe that the King and Duke are an exception to the racism that is experienced by African Americans. But racism experienced