Huckleberry Finn 19th Century
Sometimes making a stand for what is right, especially when it is totally against the customary beliefs of your society, is not an easy accomplishment. In the novel Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, the main character Huck encounters many situations where there is a question of morality. Considering the traditional protocol of his society, Huck has to choose either what his conscience feels is right versus what the customary public views are. In many cases Huck goes with what his conscience feels is right, which always is the proper selection. Ironically, what Huck believes in, unapproved of in the 19th century, is the basis of accepted beliefs in our modern world. Huck lives with the ...
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choices, Huck is pounded by his society’s teachings the black men are property. When Huck first escapes from Pap and sets up camp on Jackson Island, he finds Jim has also found refuge there from the widow and Mrs. Watson. Huck is stunned at first when Jim tells him he escaped, because Huck knows that Jim is Miss Watson’s rightful property. “People would call me a low-down Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum,”(pg.43) Huck knows that if he helped Jim that would make him an Abolitionist, which was not exactly an accepted role in the 19th century. Huck decides that he would help Jim escape, as he would never return to the town so it wouldn’t matter if he took Jim with him. After a long raft-ride, Huck and Jim are finally about to reach Cairo, which on their arrival would make Jim free. With the smell of freedom, Jim rambles on about how he would buy his wife and then steal his children. This sets off a spark in Huck, igniting his conscience ...
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and Huck himself would always be known for helping the runaway nigger. Then he changes his mind again, wanting to accept the consequences of his actions, and wanting to confess his sins because he new Providence was watching him the whole time. But Huck, after writing the letter to Miss Watson, suddenly has a flashback of how good Jim had been to him this whole time, rips up the letter. He makes a final to choice to rescue Jim. In this last bout with his conscience, Huck finds out after a very long and tedious period of pointless toil, that Miss Watson had died and freed Jim, thus making his attempt to save Jim unnecessary, as he was already free.
The next confusion between ...
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"Huckleberry Finn 19th Century." Essayworld.com. June 29, 2004. Accessed April 19, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Huckleberry-Finn-19th-Century/10239.
"Huckleberry Finn 19th Century." Essayworld.com. June 29, 2004. Accessed April 19, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Huckleberry-Finn-19th-Century/10239.
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