The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

While there are many themes expressed in the

novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

one makes a stronger presence by its continued,

if not redundant display of itself. Far too often in

society people's lack of knowledge on a given

subject causes their opinions and actions to rely

strictly on stereotypes created by the masses.

This affliction is commonly known as ignorance.

This is curable but people have to become

open-minded and leave their reliance on society's

viewpoints behind them. In the novel, The

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain,

the ignorance of society becomes extremely

evident at many parts of the book. Society forms

ideals for all walks of life and then lets them

become like stone in their minds. Thus, once a

person has been put into a group they will remain

there forever. The ignorance of society is clearly

seen when one looks at Huck Finn, Jim the

Slave, Pap, and the senseless violence of the

Grangerfords and the Shepardsons.







Many people see Huckleberry Finn as a

mischievous boy who is a bad influence to

others. Society refuses to accept Huck as he is

and isn't going to change its opinions about him

until he was reformed and civilized. The Widow

Douglas and Miss Watson try to "sivilize" Huck

by making stop all of his habits such as smoking,

etc. They try to reverse all of his teaching from

the first twelve years of his life and force him to

become their stereotypical good boy. The rest of

the town also refused to view him as good until

they received visual proof of this. Until then, he

will be viewed as someone undesirable. The only

time that the town's people are able to put away

their views of Huck was when there was

excitement to be found, like when they all

crowded on the steamboat to see if the cannons

can bring Huck's body to the surface. Everyone

got interested in him and tried to show that they

cared about him, but this is only after he is

presumed dead. They take on these views... [continues]

Read full essay