“It has always been a peculiarity of the human race that it keeps two sets of morals in stock- the private and real, and the public and artificial.” Twain shows his point of this statement by writing the character Huckleberry Finn. In his novel, Huck shows his morals in public and in private, though most of the time the reader can see that Huck has one set of morals, public and real. The novel shows Huck Finn’s struggle with his public and private morals. In Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the reader can see Huck’s morals are put to the test through his inner conflict with society’s norms of the time.
Frauds challenge Huck’s morals by displaying acts of dishonesty, cruelty, and deceit. The frauds go against Huck’s morals …show more content…
It is easy to see throughout the novel that it is a social norm to own slaves and that Huck doesn’t believe in it. This can be seen clearly when Huck befriends Jim and helps his escape slavery. Jim is telling Huck that he ran off, and Huck promises not to tell anyone where he is. “People would call me a low-down Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum-- but that don’t make no difference. I ain’t a-going to tell, and I ain’t a-going back there anyways.” (43) Huck is promising Jim that he won’t tell anyone that he ran off, even if he would be called names and go to hell for it. This shows the reader that Huck doesn’t care that he would be called names, he is challenging the social norm of slavery by befriending Jim. Another social norm that Huck must work through is the unnecessary violence of the towns that they cross. Huck views unnecessary violence firsthand when he arrives at the Grangerford house. The first encounter he has with the Grangerfords is having guns pointed at him, and the reader later learns this is because they are looking for their rivals, the Shepherdsons. “When I got down the tree I crept along down the river-bank a piece, and found the two bodies laying in the edge of the water, and tugged at them till I got them ashore; then I covered up their faces, and got away as quick as I could. I cried a little when I was covering Buck’s face, for he was mighty good to me.” (115) Huck is telling the reader that he finally left the tree that he was hiding and when he went down the river he found two bodies, one of which was his friend Buck. Buck and the other child were murdered by grown men, and Huck is upset by the fact that his friend was laying on the shore dead. Huck challenges this norm because he believes that it wasn’t necessary to kill children. Another act of unnecessary violence is when he and
Frauds challenge Huck’s morals by displaying acts of dishonesty, cruelty, and deceit. The frauds go against Huck’s morals …show more content…
It is easy to see throughout the novel that it is a social norm to own slaves and that Huck doesn’t believe in it. This can be seen clearly when Huck befriends Jim and helps his escape slavery. Jim is telling Huck that he ran off, and Huck promises not to tell anyone where he is. “People would call me a low-down Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum-- but that don’t make no difference. I ain’t a-going to tell, and I ain’t a-going back there anyways.” (43) Huck is promising Jim that he won’t tell anyone that he ran off, even if he would be called names and go to hell for it. This shows the reader that Huck doesn’t care that he would be called names, he is challenging the social norm of slavery by befriending Jim. Another social norm that Huck must work through is the unnecessary violence of the towns that they cross. Huck views unnecessary violence firsthand when he arrives at the Grangerford house. The first encounter he has with the Grangerfords is having guns pointed at him, and the reader later learns this is because they are looking for their rivals, the Shepherdsons. “When I got down the tree I crept along down the river-bank a piece, and found the two bodies laying in the edge of the water, and tugged at them till I got them ashore; then I covered up their faces, and got away as quick as I could. I cried a little when I was covering Buck’s face, for he was mighty good to me.” (115) Huck is telling the reader that he finally left the tree that he was hiding and when he went down the river he found two bodies, one of which was his friend Buck. Buck and the other child were murdered by grown men, and Huck is upset by the fact that his friend was laying on the shore dead. Huck challenges this norm because he believes that it wasn’t necessary to kill children. Another act of unnecessary violence is when he and