Purple: episodes
Blue: techniques
“In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain constructs a journey in which Huck Finn learns many lessons about himself and the society in which he lives. Discuss in reference to 4 key episodes.”
Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a schematic, satirical novel based on the physical, emotional and spiritual journey of the “rogue hero” Huck Finn. In the novel, Twain reveals what he believed were the inadequacies of the society at the time and creates an individual who resisted its flaws. In doing so, Twain exposes many aspects of the physical journey, one of which is the ability to learn. The physical journey down the Mississippi river is a catalyst for development, revelations and learning. Huck Finn is taught many valuable lessons about himself, his relationship with society and the nature of the society in the southern states of America in the nineteenth century. Many critics have been lead to believe that through this learning journey, Twain is …show more content…
This episode occurs in a small, run down town on the banks of the Mississippi river and provides yet another contrast to the idealised life that Huck and Jim experience on the raft. Twain shows the reader rather than explicitly declares an appropriate reaction to the cruelty inflicted by that part of society on a fellow human being, through Huck. Huck is constructed in this way to show the audience the immorality of their actions. Therefore, in order for this to be achieved, Huck must observe and learn from the episode. Huck further develops his sense of what is right and wrong as he watches the arbitrary power of the “mob” that have by definition lost all sense of moral autonomy or individual responsibility and the ruthless effects of extreme