Preview

Examples Of Justice In Huckleberry Finn

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
691 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Examples Of Justice In Huckleberry Finn
Written by Mark Twain, the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, Huckleberry Finn tells adventurous stories about life in the southern United States in the time before the Civil War. During this period, slavery continued to be prominent in the area and tension proliferated. The story of Huckleberry Finn addresses the justice and injustice of life in this area and time period. Throughout the story, Huckleberry Finn, more commonly known as Huck, completes his search for justice by making decisions using his newfound sense of morals, relating people of different types, and realizing that rules and morals developed by civilized society are not necessarily correct.
Huck responds to justice when he makes important decisions using his newfound sense of morals. At first, Huck thinks that Jim running away is a terrible sin even though he is also running away from abuse. However, Huck does not tell on Jim out of fear for getting caught himself. In the end, Huck decides that Jim is benevolent and vows to help Jim out of slavery even if his decision ends up harming himself. Although this decision is the turning point of Huck’s search for justice and allows him to respond to
…show more content…
Huck develops his sense of justice when he goes from talking about criminals getting hung like they should, to not wanting to see people in danger. When Huck sees the king and the duke getting tarred and feathered he feels sorry for them even though they made his life difficult and were criminals and says, “human beings can be awful cruel to one another” (174). Huck sees many seemingly nice people that are religious and pray but then are very cruel to other people. He is confused by this and in the end decides that he will do what he thinks is right even if it is a sin. Huck learns that he should not just go along with society but do what he thinks is

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain follows the story of a young white boy, Huckleberry Finn, as he travels down the Mississippi River. Twain uses the experiences of Huck as he travels down the river to comment on society. His opinions of many topics are given by satirizing other characters or events. An element this satire that twain uses is the depiction of the characters in a humorous manner. Throughout the novel the use of this satire is clear and express Twain’s opinions on American culture in the antebellum period. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an effective piece of satire on American culture during the 1800s. Twain satirizes feuding, Pseudo-intellectualism and Greed in his story.…

    • 1094 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    And at its attendance, Huck 's one last dim vestige of pride of status, his sense of his position as a white man, wholly vanishes (Trilling.1950, p.35-38)." "It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger; but I done it, and I wasn 't sorry for it afterwards either (Twain, p.95)." in this one act, Huck has become a heroic character. "When, in the urging of affection, Huck discards the moral code he has always taken for granted and resolves to help Jim in his escape from slavery. The intensity of his struggle over the act suggests how deeply he is involved in the society, which he rejects (Trilling.1950,…

    • 1473 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Satire in Huck Finn

    • 983 Words
    • 4 Pages

    During the mid-1800’s there was many “imperfections” in the world, and Samuel Clemens better known as Mark Twain decided to write a book to ridicule some problems concerning religion, greed, civilization, romantic literature, and Melodramatic art. Huckleberry Finn goes on a very complex and intense journey which helps him build a perspective on life as opposed to the ones dictated by those older than him. Throughout Huck encounters situations with problems that mimic actual problems in Twain’s world. Twain makes them look extremely pointless and senseless.…

    • 983 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Set in a pre-civil war time period, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is overall controversial and symbolic of a greater moral that is heavily present in this society. During this time was a large separation of North and South over the ethics of slavery and the morals of the enslaved population. During this story the protagonist, Huck Finn, makes a very important ethical decision upon whether he should or should not turn in Jim, a runaway slave. Huck has a moment of moral liberation and searches the social and religious principles of society. By having to think about these things when making a decision such as this, it can be said that this society is backwards. Mark Twain suggests that society is morally wrong with what they believe is right, their opinion of civilized and has a faulty logic.…

    • 634 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Huck Finn

    • 608 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Huckleberry Finn is the main character in the novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain. In this book he runs around with his friend Jim, a runaway slave, and Tom Sawyer. These three characters have their ups and downs but, in the end all parties better love each other. In these adventures Huck faces several moral choices; it is through these moral choices that he betters himself.…

    • 608 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huck seemed content with his decision to write the letter to Miss Watson that was to inform where Jim was, but the more he thought about all the good times and good deeds that Jim was involved in the harder it was to think that writing the letter was the right thing to do. he also believed that in doing it, he would rid himself of the sin he thought he had committed in helping Jim escape. Huck’s long contemplation of what was the right thing to do shows just how much thought he puts into what he is doing and the maturity that goes into it along with the good morality of what the right decisions…

    • 830 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the beginning of the novel Huck has an immature way of thinking, and is affected by the widow who tries to civilize him and pap, who tries to bring Huck down to his level. Pap does not want Huck to become educated and civilized, because he dislikes the idea of his own son being better than him. “I’ll learn people to bring up a boy to put on airs over his own father and let on to be better ‘n what he is.” (p.20) Pap’s decision affects Huck, because he can’t decide for himself what he wants. His father constantly holds huck back, and therefore Huck can’t establish what’s right and wrong. Because Huck is so restricted, that is why he is childish in his thinking, meaning he can’t see deeply into matters, and always interprets them in at a basic level. “…but by and by she let it out that Moses had been dead a considerable long time; so then I didn’t care no more about him.” (p.4) The Widow is trying to civilize Huck in this scene through religion; however Huck stops caring about the story once he finds out that Moses is dead. Huck’s reaction to the story is childish because he cannot see the moral of the story, and he cannot move past the fact that Moses is dead. Huck’s immaturity is a part of Huck in the beginning of the novel, but it slowly…

    • 964 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huck chooses to follow his gut whether it turns out to be virtuous or immoral, but it leads him to see what his accepted by society through guilt. For example, the Widow tells Huck to look out for other people. “This was too much for me,…

    • 850 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As Huck travels farther down the river, he learns to be more insightful and reflects on what society has taught him along with his own beliefs. One example of this is when Huck almost turns Jim in to the slave hunters out of the guilt he feels for helping a black man escape, something he was raised to believe was very sinful, but decides to protect Jim in the very last second. Huck sees Jim as an equal and a friend and comes to find that sometimes lying is perhaps the right course of action in order to protect him. Huck is very intelligent for a young boy due to the way he can look at situations through a perspective of his own. Another example is when Jim is angry at Huck for lying to him about the fog and them being separated being a dream.…

    • 824 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huck Finn Moral Analysis

    • 372 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Huck is a boy of adventure and sporadic outbursts. Always deciding what is right for himself, ignoring the advice of his elders. Throughout the entire story he has moral dilemmas, He has to decide to what and whom he feels loyal: follow religion, or follow his gut instincts? Obey his father, or obey the Widow? Listen to Jim, even though he’s a runaway slave? He can almost never assign himself to one group or one belief, constantly hopping from place to place, never truly deciding where his loyalties lie. No wonder Huck takes these questions seriously: no matter how suspicious he is about religion, he's a good Southern boy at heart, and he's been paying attention in Sunday School. Wrong actions earn you a one-way, express ticket to hell, the "bad place".…

    • 372 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As Huck travels further with Jim, their bond grows stronger. He realizes how Jim and others are being mistreated and taken advantage of. Despite this, Huck was still bombarded with the idealisms proposing slavery. When faced with the options of turning Jim in or not, it was a difficult choice for him to make. With his decision to assist Jim in his escape, he was overcome by guilt and remorse, when in fact, morally this was the honorable and right choice. Unfortunately Huck only came to this conclusion from his feelings of guilt towards Jim. "Dah you goes, de ole true Huck; de on'y white genleman dat ever kep 'his promises to ole Jim." (page 124). Jim's loyalty to Huck was infinite and he put so much faith in Huck that he could not bear to betray Jim like that.…

    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huck Finn Racism Quotes

    • 605 Words
    • 3 Pages

    When Jim is sold by one of the con artists, Huck decides to go against societies orders, as he shouts, “Alright then, I’ll go to hell” as he goes out to find Jim and free him. Going against societies orders, proves that Huck’s compassion and care for Jim is genuine, and he is willing to risk his own life for a black person. Ironically though, when Huck and Tom manage to find Jim, Tom forgets to mention to Huck that Jim was free the entire time, and they were the ones keeping Jim enslaved. This comes to a shock for Huck because he actually believed Tom would risk his own life as well to help “free” Jim, but Huck still struggles with the idea that he thinks all “good people” obey to societal values, and that he himself thinks is bad because he does not obey to those…

    • 605 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Huck Finn Criticized

    • 1234 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The book I read was Huckleberry Finn, which was written by Samuel Langhorne Clemens whom is also known as Mark Twain. Twain was born on "November 30, 1835, in Florida or Missouri, his exact birthplace is not known" (Powers, 11). He was born to "John and Jane Clemens" (Powers, 11). At the age of only "twelve years old Twain worked as a printer 's apprentice and typesetter in Hannibal" (Powers, 11). It was "at this age that Twain became interested in writing and as he got older he got more serious into his career" (Powers, 11). By the time he died he had received many awards and honors which include "Honorary M.A., 1888, Litt.D., 1901, both Yale University; LL.D., University of Missouri, 1902; named to American Academy of Arts and Letters, 1904; D.Litt., Oxford University, 1907" (Powers, 26). Mark Twain wrote many other "Novels, Humor/Satire, Short Stories, Plays, Essays, and Letters" (Wagenknecht, 31), therefore, making him more than qualified to write this book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is considered one of his greatest works. It is so good that "Ernest Hemingway said it "was one of the great masterpieces of the world" (Wagenknecht, 34). The purpose for Huck Finn was to express ideas in the late 1800 's, which was dominantly slavery. The character of Jim as the slave as well as other minor characters in the story helps to fulfill this idea. This book is a good piece of literature that took "Twain over seven years…

    • 1234 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Although he understands the laws of society, he struggles to understand the reason behind the laws. This is obviously portrayed through Huck’s continuous friendship with Jim, a runaway slave. He knows that society would expect him to turn Jim into the authorities, but his own moral code stands in the way of what society views as “right”. While speaking with Jim, he talks to him as if were his equal. After Jim confides in Huck, Huck promises that he will not tell anyone about his whereabouts. Huck says, “Honest injun, I will. People would call me a low-down Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum – but that don’t make no difference. I ain’t a-going to tell, and I ain’t a-going back there, anyways” (Twain 53-54). Huck displays his maturity through this by making a moral decision concerning another equal human being’s life. Huck’s morality is portrayed through his involvement in helping Jim to freedom and racist tendencies of society. Although Huck helps Jim escape, he feels that he is doing something that the society he grew up in would view as wrong. In Huck’s mind, he believes that he has stolen someone’s property. He even has an inner debate with himself while questioning what he has done. Huck conscience speaks to him and asks, “What had poor Miss Watson done to you that you could see her nigger go off right under your eyes and never say a single word? What did that poor old woman do to you that you could treat her so mean?” (Twain 98-99). Henry Nash Smith states in his essay, “A Sound Heart and a Deformed Conscience”, that it is “the memory of Jim’s kindness and goodness” that “impels Huck to defy his conscience” (Smith 370). Through this, Huck’s sound heart is reinforced. Huck is also conflicted with society’s Christianity. Huck is aware of the standards of the society that he was brought up in, but he ultimately does not agree with these views. Therefore, he…

    • 1536 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huck Finn

    • 660 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Huckleberry Finn written by Mark Twain is the story of a young man, Huck Finn, who runs away with a slave named, Jim. On their journey they break laws, encounter challenges, and Huck is faced with questions that define his identity. The events in the novel take place during the mid-1800s along the Mississippi river. Throughout the novel Twain uses sarcasm and ridicule to expose flaws in society during this time, making Huckleberry Finn a satire. Twain uses the characters to satirize the flaws in mid-1800s southern society by mocking the racism, church life, and morality of its members.…

    • 660 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays