ipl-logo

Theme Of Greed In Huck Finn

874 Words4 Pages

In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain displays an extremely unique point of view. Throughout the storyTwain seems to gift his characters with a lack of moral values. A gift it might not be, yet still thee characters have been a passion for making bad decisions. This seemingly little plot twist might not look like such a big deal, but in reality it effects the whole story line. These fictional personalities not only decide to do the wrong thing, they also are extremely selfish, greedy, and uncivilized. From the very beginning of the novel, Huck clearly states that he does not want to change his ways; “The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would civilize me…I got into my old rags and my sugar hogshead again, and …show more content…

This simply is not the case as many characters display faults in their actions. Greed is one major subject that is nearly shown in ever character throughout the story. Tom Sawyer, Pap, The King and Duke, even Buck and the Grangerfords are depicted as being greedy in the novel. Tom and his greed are overlooked in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Tom shows his strong need for adventure and fame in the scenes he takes part in. In chapter 35 we can see the greed really come out in Tom as he wants to free Jim, but whips up an unrealistic idea to get him out. It gets worse as in chapter 42 he admits to knowing Jim was free. Tom devised everything solely for his benefit to become a hero. Tom will clearly never get over his greed, now Pap might have a slightly better chance. Pap’s greed tends to focus more on power and money. After being gone for son long Pap finally returns and demands Huck for his money. Pap takes advantage of Huck all throughout the beginning of the story. He does this while satisfying his drinking habit. He believes that Huck being “his” gives him a right to take his earnings. Another example of greed through the book is found in chapter 18. Buck finds Huck and wants to shoot him. This is because he is afraid Huck will end up taking his precious time. The whole feud between the two families struggle with greed as they would rather kill one another than survive. This causes the

Show More
Related
976 Words | 4 Pages

Huck realizes that the two men are up to no good and he wants to be as far from them as he can. In this part of the book, Huck Finn is also trying to make sure that Mary Jane and her family get the money that they deserve. This scene relates to my life when

Read More
817 Words | 4 Pages

Then huck again met two people one of them was a Theater person and the other was a person talking about being drunk was stupid but after he did that he got drunk. That did not put a good thing about him on him . So the townspeople did not like them and chased them out. Then they bumped into huck and got on the boat with Huck and Jim.

Read More
1048 Words | 5 Pages

Because of Mr.s Watson’s death, her will said that Jim will be turned into a free man. Which is a slow start into the American dream but slowly progressing is better than not progressing at all. I don’t think there are any similarities between Jim and Pap besides the fact that they are both Humans. Jim cares for Huck as if he were his own son while Pap was willing to kill his own song for money.

Read More
351 Words | 2 Pages

Huckleberry Finn was quite the mischievous kid. In fact, in our culture today, he would be found atrocious. Huck may act in misconduct, but he didn 't have much guidance growing up. His family certainly didn 't provide leadership. Huck, being in such a situation, doesn 't seem to have faith.

Read More
848 Words | 4 Pages

“Literacy Myth and the History of Literacy” by James Gee a profound and insightful piece. James Gee states “what I propose in the following papers, in the main, is a way of talking about literacy and linguistics.” (Gee) The main focus that gee writes about in this pieces is when he is speaking about discourses. gees definition of a discourse is: “A discourse integrates ways of talking, listening, writing, reading, acting, interacting, believing, valuing, and feeling in the service of enacting meaningful socially situated identities and activities” (Gee) 719

Read More
1044 Words | 5 Pages

Every little while he locked me in and went down to the store, three miles, to the ferry, and traded fish and game for whisky, and fetched it home and got drunk and had a good time, and licked me… The old man made me go to the skiff and fetch the things he had got. There was a fifty-pound sack of corn meal, and a side of bacon, ammunition, and a four-gallon jug of whisky…… ) (36). Huck's father puts his son in unsafe situations, while Huck is left alone and he is drinking to excess and beating his child. Pap is illustrated as the villain, because he is only caring about himself, and inflicting harm on others.

Read More
440 Words | 2 Pages

At many points early in the book, Miss Watson tries to make Huck more proper. Miss Watson would say, “Don’t put your feet up there Huckleberry”(Twain 3). Huck gets sick of hearing Miss Watson and Widow Douglas nag at him so he sets out for freedom from society. But before Huck gets the freedom he has longed for, Pap interferes and makes things difficult for some time. Although Pap takes

Read More
2108 Words | 9 Pages

Morality plays an important role in Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Huck Finn is an uneducated, thirteen-year-old boy who does not necessarily know the difference between right and wrong, yet often makes the right choices throughout the novel. While Huck often accidentally does good, some people do not see this as an indication that he is a morally good person. On the other hand, Jim is a slave who almost always does the right thing, but we are not inclined to see Jim as a moral model because he is a slave.

Read More
738 Words | 3 Pages

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a classic novel that takes the reader on a series of thrilling adventures full of life threatening situations, racism, and slavery. The author Mark Twain, uses the novel to highlight the flaws in society by creating a character like Huck, whose personal sense of morals and justice are more noble than those of the very people trying to civilize him. Throughout this captivating novel Huck endures his fair share of trouble and morally challenging decision but he always comes out on top by following his heart and doing what he feels to be right.

Read More
795 Words | 4 Pages

But when Pap disappears, the Widow Douglas and Miss Watson take Huck in and attempt to civilize him by giving him new, clean clothes, teaching him to read and write, and teaching him manners. Huck’s immaturity is evident in the beginning of the story with accounts of Huck’s shenanigans with Tom. He ruins his fresh clothes, sneaks out at night, gets in fights, joins a “robber gang”, and goes on adventures with his friends. His actions show that his morals aren't present and he could care less about trying to do the right thing and be a good boy for the Widow and Miss Watson.

Read More
621 Words | 3 Pages

Since they have both ran away to the same location, they decide to go on the greatest adventure of their lives, setting a runaway slave free. Throughout the novel, Huck has a huge change of moral development. His outlook on everything changes once he see’s life in the eyes of a slave. Huck has never liked civilization, but he wants to learn and go to school because that is his way of getting back at pap. “I didn’t want to go to school much before, but I reconded I’d go now to spite pap” (p.25).

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
1083 Words | 5 Pages

In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the reader gauges morality through the misadventures of Huck and Jim. Notably, Huck morally matures as his perspective on society evolves into a spectrum of right and wrong. Though he is still a child, his growth yields the previous notions of immaturity and innocence. Likewise, Mark Twain emphasizes compelling matters and issues in society, such as religion, racism, and greed. During the span of Huck’s journey, he evolves morally and ethically through his critique of societal normalities.

Read More
1420 Words | 6 Pages

All Huck needs is to believe in himself and not worry about any family. Pap is a terrible father to Huck “he is a monster, a vicious child abuser Mark Twain and Manhood 101 nouncing how the law could stand between him and "a man 's own son, which he has had all the trouble and all the anxiety and all the expense of raising," but actually bemoaning his inability to grab Huck 's money. Pap 's only sense of worth comes from asserting his meager white supremacy” (Obenzinger 101). Huck would rather act as though he was dead than live a life with a man like Pap as his father. After Pap finally comes back to see Huck and decides that he wants to live with him Huck starts to get uneasy.

Read More
1658 Words | 7 Pages

Who is Huck? At the beginning of the book Huck let’s Tom walk all over him, tell him what do. He didn’t stop Tom from doing what he thought was right but really wasn’t , it was more like it was a stupid idea. He would never stand up for himself he would if he wanted something. Pap also made Huck realize what behaviors were right and what ones were wrong.

Read More

More about Theme Of Greed In Huck Finn

Related Topics

Open Document