Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain
In the novel, Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Huck had to be himself and use his assets in order to make it through this extraordinary adventure. On the many quests Huck had the pleasure to be on, he had to use his intelligence and skills in order to navigate all of the trouble he came face to face with. My final position statement was “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
The main character of this novel Huck Finn was the best example when thinking about this project because he, of course, could see what was wrong with society as a whole and decided to march to the beat of his own drum, regardless of how Mrs. Watson or Pap tried to change him. In the beginning of the novel, Huck is in the care of Mrs. Watson and she wants to “sivilize” him so she sends him to school, gets him cleaned up, etc because he didn’t have parents that would do these basic things for him. In the end, he didn’t really mind school. One night he came home and Pap was in his room and told Huck to “drop that school, you hear?” (21) because it was hurting his pride, his son succeeding more than him. Huck decides to continue with school just to spite him, which probably wasn’t a good idea considering Pap’s mental state. But in the end, Huck could outrun him in a heartbeat, and did on many occasions. In the end, Huck being himself got him locked up and kidnapped by Pap which shows just how hard marching to the beat of your own drum is.
When Huck was kidnapped, his father was constantly getting drunk and beating him, so he decides he has had enough. He fakes his own death, now, for anyone but Huck this would be such a hassle and they would have better luck just running away. Huck was a very special boy in the sense he was cunning and brilliant, especially in dramatic plans such as faking his own death. He had everyone convinced, too. When he stumbled across Jim he yelled “Doan’ hurt me–don’t! I hain’t ever done no harm to a ghos’” (41). Without running away from his evil father and the corrupt society he was living in he would have never came close to being friends with Jim.
When Jim calls Huck his “fren” (80) Huck is faced with a moral dilemma. The society he had been raised in had taught him that black people were less than human, not worthy of compassion or friendship. But here Jim was, on this raft with him and taking care of him as if he was his own son. Huck felt as if Jim was his friend as well, but the society he had been apart of his entire life said that they couldn’t. Huck apologizes to Jim, even though the back of his mind told him that Jim’s feelings don’t matter. This was one of the major examples of how Huck is himself in every way possible, he didn’t care about the fact that Jim was black and wasn’t worth the apology according to every other white person in that time, he only cared that his friend was upset.
Along the way, Huck and Jim are separated. Huck was taken in by a family called the Grangerfords. They had been in an ongoing feud with the Shepherdsons for so long they don’t even know the cause of the conflict. They just mindlessly continue it, because its all they have ever known. Huck sees whats wrong with this and wishes he could change it. Especially after seeing his friend Buck shot over the feud, he decides to leave because he was particularly upset by the corruption of this southern society.
Huck and Jim finally are reunited and set back off on their adventure. They are extremely happy to be able to continue on this adventure for Jim’s freedom together, when 2 con men need help. At the time, Jim and Huck didn’t want to leave people in need behind, so they let them aboard. Little did they know this was a huge mistake because they were dirty liars who cheated everyone out of their money by any means possible. After lying and cheating for the last time, they were tarred and feathered Huck tried to stop it, but was unable to in the end. This upset him, although he knows they probably deserved it even after they sold Jim to the nearest white household for a couple of bucks.
At the end of the novel, Tom’s Aunt and Uncle want to adopt Huck because his father is dead and he has nobody to take care of him but himself. Huck turns them down, and sets off on the Mississippi because he decided everyday society was not for him. After his dad abused him, buck was killed, the con men lied and cheated, etc Huck had seen the worst of that society and didn’t want apart of it. He was meant to be out in the wild living by his own rules being his own person, no matter how difficult it was there is nothing that was worse to him than being apart of the society filled with prejudice, greed, and violence. Could you blame him?