Huck Finn
Jonathan Weingartner
Mrs. Lee
Hon. English 11 Per.2
20 December 2013
Moral Choices in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 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. The first moral incident was when Huck took the $6,000 from the Dauphin and Duke and gave it back to Mary Jane. It all starts off with the Duke and Dauphin coming into Huck's life. They are a couple of con men that jump from town to town ripping people off, and almost always get ran out of town. This time they pretend to be English uncles in an elaborate scam. They get three sisters to believe them, and to have the Duke and Dauphin invest their $6,000, from their late father. When the Duke and Dauphin go out, Huck finds the sack of money and decides to hide it in Mr. Wilks' coffin. Then Huck told Mary Jane to leave, and gave her a note with the directions to her rightful money. Huck deciding to give to money back to the rightful owner shows his developing maturity and justice. In the beginning of the novel Huck probably would have kept at least some of the money. Instead he understands what the Duke and Dauphin are doing and he doesn’t like that they are trying to scam these nice people. Huck is really trying to be fair to these girls. Huck made a moral choice to give the girls their rightful money back. Just as Huck matures from the Duke and Dauphin scheme, Huck’s attitude towards Jim changes from him thinking Jim is just property and ignorant, to Jim being a good friend and equal to him. Huckleberry was born believing slaves are not human beings, have no feelings and are stupid (Kaye, Race and Reading: The Burden of Huckleberry Finn).
Mrs. Lee
Hon. English 11 Per.2
20 December 2013
Moral Choices in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 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. The first moral incident was when Huck took the $6,000 from the Dauphin and Duke and gave it back to Mary Jane. It all starts off with the Duke and Dauphin coming into Huck's life. They are a couple of con men that jump from town to town ripping people off, and almost always get ran out of town. This time they pretend to be English uncles in an elaborate scam. They get three sisters to believe them, and to have the Duke and Dauphin invest their $6,000, from their late father. When the Duke and Dauphin go out, Huck finds the sack of money and decides to hide it in Mr. Wilks' coffin. Then Huck told Mary Jane to leave, and gave her a note with the directions to her rightful money. Huck deciding to give to money back to the rightful owner shows his developing maturity and justice. In the beginning of the novel Huck probably would have kept at least some of the money. Instead he understands what the Duke and Dauphin are doing and he doesn’t like that they are trying to scam these nice people. Huck is really trying to be fair to these girls. Huck made a moral choice to give the girls their rightful money back. Just as Huck matures from the Duke and Dauphin scheme, Huck’s attitude towards Jim changes from him thinking Jim is just property and ignorant, to Jim being a good friend and equal to him. Huckleberry was born believing slaves are not human beings, have no feelings and are stupid (Kaye, Race and Reading: The Burden of Huckleberry Finn).