Free Huckleberry Finn Essays: Civilization Vs. Natural Life

Civilized vs. Natural Life
The Oxford dictionary defines civilized as “The comfort and convenience of modern life, regarded as available only in towns and cities”. Huck is forced out of the only lifes he knows and into civilization by the Widow and Miss. Watson. Everyone seems to think that because Huck is worth a fortune he needs to be integrated into society and become a proper young man. He is taught civilized people go to school, read the bible, and have absolutely no fun. As Huck and Jim continue down the river Huck sees that people have different perspectives on what civilized is. Civilized people are accepted by society, go to church, and own slaves. A civilized member of society would never fake their own death and run away to escape the pressure of
The fact that Huck chooses to travel and befriend Jim shows that he doesn't care what society thinks of him. He would rather be able to sleep at night then do what was thought socially acceptable. while on the river, Huck knew what was right and wrong according to society, but he chose to do what was right by his heart. Several times Huck stopped and asked himself whether or not to turn Jim in, yet he never did because he could see Jim was a person, not an object and if it meant he would go to the bad place then so be it because he wasn't going to turn his back on a true friend. We start to see this change in Huck when he tries to trick Jim then feels bad and apologizes to him. It goes against everything he had ever learned, yet he swallowed his pride and did it because it was the morally right thing to do.
It can be inferred that Twain believed the natural way of life is better than the civilized. His message is that civilization corrupts rather than improves human beings, contrary to what we are taught. Twain took the views of an open minded child to convey his ideas on Slavery, Social Acceptance, and religion to show how one could have broke free from the accepted yet untested ways of