Huckleberry Finn 7 Essay, Research Paper
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is a true American classic. Twain weaves a tremendous story about a boy, Huck, and a slave, Jim who together overcome obstacles, and eventually reached their goals. Huck is boy made for the frontier. He is very practical and has a superb amount of common sense allowing him to think situations through and decide on the best path to choose. Huck s best quality is his deep caring for other human beings, and his makes him a class character. Huck shows his givingness to others in his aiding Jim, a slave, and together they become great friends. They show that despite drastic differences among people, everyone is human, and deserves to be treated equal. Mark Twain was on of the finest satirists of his time. He used satire to thsow the flaws of the people around him. He contrasted the illusion of freedom to reality, ignorance with enlightenment, and what is believed to be good and what truly is good.
The illusion of freedom is a powerful one. It allows people to rest in a false sense of control over one s life. When Widow Douglas is taking care of Huck, he feels that he can sneak out at night and by himself. Widow Douglas was constantly trying to control him. After he and Pap leave, he feels that he is free from his constrictions, but he has been under stricter rule before. After he ran away, he felt he was finally free from the chains of society, but he had to constantly hid and stay in certain places to avoid getting caught. The only place he is truly free is on the raft. We said there warn’t no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don’t. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft said Huck Finn. This is ironic because the raft is the most physically confining place he could possibly be.
Another powerful illusion of mankind is that people typically believe they are more intelligent then they truly are. Many believe they are always correct, and are not able to see to see their mistakes, even when they are right in front of their eyes. When Tom Sawyer, and the other children form a group of robbers near the beginning of the novel, they aren t dismayed by the fact that they don t know what the ransom is, and they have full confidence in their amazing abilities to misunderstand and incorrectly apply that stories that they have read. The king and duke use his illusion against the people by profiting off their ignorance by putting on shows that appeal to the public s attraction to humor. Another piece of irony is that the two most intelligent people in the novel are the two that, uder the time s stereotypes, were supposed to have been the most ignorant Huck Fin a runaway, and Jim, a slave.
A third illusion that is demonstrated throughout the novel is the difference between what is thought to be good and what is truly good. Widow Douglas believed she was doing good by trying to turn Huck into a civilized child, but she was actually stifling him, and rather than bringing him into her world, she was actually pushing him away. Jim tried to help Tom after he was shot, but it was this act of kindness that allowed him to be recaptured. The kind and duke provide excellent examples of this. For example, giving a lecture on temperance in the hopes of making enough money t get drunk. Their original action can be perceived as good, but no true good comes from it.
In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain did an excellent job of showing humanity s delusions through eyes that, quite often, did not see them. Illusions of freedom, intelligence, and goodness continue through today. Much like the people in Twain s day. The present day public is still unaware that they are duped by these early days of their lives.