Morality of Lying in ‘Huckleberry Finn’
Everybody lies, So it is important to understand the moral nuances that surround lying. Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is a great book to look into the reasons people lie and their outcomes. Throughout the book many people lie, either to manipulate people for the liars benefit, to get information and hospitality, or to help other characters in the story.
The most notable liars in the book aside from Huck are the King and Duke who lie to swindle people out of their money as a job. One of the first times we see this happen is when the King tells a group of church goers that their surmon had saved him from the damnation of being a pirate, his story was so convincing, the group decided to take up collection
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“Was Jim a runaway nigger? says I "goodness sakes! Would a runaway nigger run south?” (175). Although Hucks opinion on slavery is often conflicted, he knew after meeting back up with Jim that he couldn’t send him back to his owners. So to keep him safe, Huck had to stick his neck out for Jim many times throughout the book. So despite the obvious dishonesty, it is easy to tell that the deception was best course of action in these situations.
Aside from harming and helping people, sometimes the lies people tell have real effect on the people who were lied to. When Huck goes to the shore from Jim and his island hideout he dresses up as a young girl named Sarah Williams. Although under false pretenses, Huck never takes anything the woman didn’t give. and she is in no way harmed by Hucks inquiries (77). Even though it would be better to not lie, if it is the only way to get the information you need, and you won’t harm those you lied to it is not nearly as bad as cheating someone out of their money.
The nuances of lies are far too important to simply say all lies are bad. Some lies harm, some help, and some don’t do much at all. People lie, so to generalize would only lead to more