Free Sample Essays > North American
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
just about to go and vote, myself if I warn’t too drunk to get there, but when they told me there was a State in this country where they’d let that nigger vote, I drawed out. I says I’ll never vote agin’” (Twain 20). Huck listens to this and learns to hate slaves even more, adding to society’s influence on his principals. When he leaves home, Huck helps Jim escape and they live on the river. They attempt to avoid people by only traveling at night, and sleeping during the day. All of these things are his effort to leave society behind, and he does this because as Goodin says, his conflicts are because of his non-conformist attitude towards society (2). Later in his essay, Goodin also states that, “The entire plot of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is rooted on intolerance between different social groups. Without prejudice and intolerance The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn would not have any of the antagonism of intercourse, which makes the recital great” (4). Goodin makes a point that shows no matter how hard Huck tries to change his principles he can’t, they are imbedded by society. He also shows that without them the story would falter. In the opinion of Goodin Huck goes along, forming a conscience that is keenly aware of society’s prejudices (2). In freeing Jim, Huck brings himself above society’s beliefs, and “his innate sense of what is right and wrong holds him to a higher moral standard than those of society” (Goodin 2). Although at certain times Huck is above the principles of society, he can never fully escape them. He falters over and over, nearly turning Jim in: “I got a piece of paper and a pencil, all glad and excited, and set down and wrote...I took it up, and held it in my hand. I was a trembling, because I’d got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: ‘Alright, then, I’ll go to hell’-and tore it up‘” (Twain 161-162). This speech by Huck is in regards to a letter he wrote to Ms. Watson to tell her that he had her slave. He succumbs to society by doing this, and then manages to pull himself slightly above by tearing the letter up. Although he does this, he is still influenced greatly in his racist ideas, because he thinks by helping a slave he will be doomed to hell. Every time Huck comes close to improving his principles, he shows us yet again how society has influenced him, and that he can’t escape from it.
Throughout Huck and Jim’s adventure on the Mississippi River, Jim shows himself to be more than what stereotypical slaves are. When they are with the King and the Duke, Jim is tied up everyday when they leave the raft. He knows that if he asks for a better plan, then something new will [next page]