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Essay: Explore America's Morality Transformation Through Twain's "Huckleberry Finn

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Sebastian Salvador

English 3H, Period 3

Mr. Radzak

28 November 2018

America from Sin to Morality

Mark Twain once said, “The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to the other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creature that cannot” (Twain). At the time this quote was written down in Mark Twain’s book “What is Man” it probably had nothing to do with slavery. However, this quote is all too easily connectable to slavery. Most men, if not all, during the time of slavery in the USA knew that it was wrong yet, they willingly chose to not only participate in the horrid act, but also to blindly support it in pursuit of money. Slave owners at that time were the wealthiest of the wealthy and wer only interested in making that more and more evident each and every day by supporting slavery so much, they were willing to go to war over defending the immoral and purely evil act of enslavement. This quote and idea of morality has a myriad of relatable aspects to “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. Huck’s journey to maturity throughout Huckleberry Finn symbolizes the journey of America’s growth from a nation of sin in slavery to a nation of morality following the Civil War.

In Huckleberry Finn, the Mississippi River symbolizes a path aiding Huck to freedom or a path to a new life.  For example, Huck is able to mature on this journey to freedom and be reborn ultimately because of one particular reason, he learns to think for himself without interference of the biased opinions and thoughts of the Southern folk he was constantly around. Once Huck entered his journey down the Mississippi with only himself and Jim, for the most part, he learned to develop and formulate his own moral opinions on things, thus maturing him in the process. For example, after his prank on Jim Huck claims that he “wouldn't [have] done that” if he knew Jim would react the way he did, showing how Huck is beginning to grow as a better person on this journey (Twain 115). The same can be said for the ‘rebirth’ of the United States as a nation, stemming from the Union’s refusal to continue accepting slavery as a normalcy and its determination to achieve the moral right, which was abolition of slavery. In addition, Huck’s time with Jim helps him realize that slaves had families too and, in turn slavery caused the “separating of families” (Stowe 167). This seems to be the start of him realizing the “abominations of slavery” (Jacobs 81).  In contrast, Tom Sawyer, his gang, and mostly everyone else in Huck’s hometown can be thought of a symbol for how slavery blinded people’s views on morality and humanity. Similarly, hanging around Tom Sawyer and his gang blinded Huck’s views, opinions, and thoughts on the same subjects. The Mississippi acts as a path to freedom throughout Huck and Jim’s adventure.

Several events that lead up to, take place during, and take place after the journey down the Mississippi are symbolic of America’s journey to Morality. For example, the first event in Huck’s journey towards morality is his faking of his own death. This could be symbolic of the Union’s realization that something had to be done in the fight to abolish slavery. When Jim and Huck set sail into the Mississippi, it is symbolic of a theme of new beginnings for themselves and symbolic of a theme of new beginning for the United States during the Civil War. The uncertainty of Huck and Jim’s final destination on the Mississippi is symbolic of the freedom that slaves acquired after the war as well as being symbolic of a theme of Uncertainty of the Future in Freedom. An example of this theme being that after slaves were set free and given their “…inalienable rights…” they had nothing to fall back on, so their new lives in freedom held uncertain futures (Northup 34). Slaves were treated more as property than as actual humans, this being backed by the fact that a slave could be bought for a price of “two hundred dollars” (Twain 281). The story’s resolution, in which Huck decides he no longer wants anything to do with small town society and decides he wants to head to the Western Territories is a symbol for the US’s mindset after the war and abolition of slavery. The US’s mindset after the war was to move on with life, explore the unknown, seek adventure, and seek fortune, which were all possible through the Western Territories. Huck is getting bored with life in a small town and wants to trade that in for adventure in the Territories West of Missouri. This was also an allusion to Twain’s own life. Twain enjoyed travel and even set out on the same adventure out West after becoming bored of life in small town Missouri.

Twain symbolizes the cruelty of slavery through several characters and events in the book. Slaves were often treated cruelly and inhumanely especially in their transport across the ocean and their slave housing (Slavery in America). Slaves were also treated inhumanely in the fact that they were separated from their own families most likely never “going to see each other no more” (Twain 247). Huck’s father ‘pap’ could symbolize a cruel slave owner in the fact that he is abusive towards Huck and beats him regularly. The duke and king are embodiments of greedy slave owners in the fact that they continuously take advantage of people for their own financial gain, even selling Jim to Silas Phelps for $40. Slave owners would often take advantage of slave for their own financial gain because slave labor was free. Jim, being a slave, is abused time and time again throughout the book, just because he is easy to take advantage of due to his status. Wether it be Miss Watson threatening to sell him Deep South, getting pranked by Huck, or being sold by the King despite aiding the Duke and King in their acts of deception, he was constantly abused and taken advantage of. All of this cruelty in this book juxtaposes the “civilized” society that Miss Watson wanted Huck to be a part of. Huck fully realizes the errors of this “civilized” society he lives in, through their cruelty towards slaves. Pap’s cruelty towards Huck serves as the catalyst for the rising action of the story’s plot, because his abuse leads to Huck faking his death to get away. Huck’s complete moral 180 is shown in the scene where the King sells Jim. Huck knows this is wrong and this leads to his decision to help free Jim from his captivity in slavery. Tom also demonstrates that society sometimes is too immature to make sound rational decisions and resort to l…cruel, unjust, and barbarous…” decisions such as Tom’s gang making their blood pact to kill any gang members family member if they spill secrets about their gang (Northup 158). Many symbols of cruelty towards slaves were used by Twain throughout the story to capitalize on the effect of cruelty and irrationality within a society.

Huck’s acquisition of morality through his own thoughts and actions are an ironic source of morality in the story. Huck acquires his morality through his own adventures which is ironic because most people acquire morality through their religion and family upbringing; however, since Huck wasn’t brought up in a religious background and didn’t have a conventional family background or upbringing Huck was forced to find morality by himself through his own experiences and adventures.

In conclusion, Twain used Huck’s journey down the Mississippi to symbolize a rebirth in his character as well as a rebirth for the nation during the Civil War era, while using other symbols in the book such as cruelty and the irony in which Huck acquires morality to support this argument.

Works Cited

Jacobs, Harriet A. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2010.

Northup, Solomon. 12 Years a Slave. Scholastic, 2014.

“Slavery in America.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 12 Nov. 2009, www.history.com/topics/black-history/slavery#&gid=ci0230e630f02126df&pid=interior-of-slave-ship.

Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Sirius, 2018.

Twain, Mark. “What Is Man? and Other Philosophical Writings.” UC Press Blog, University Of California Press, 1973, www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520016217/what-is-man-and-other-philosophical-writings.

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