Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn :: Adventures Huckleberry Huck Finn Essays

Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry FinnIn Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck is a person to be admired. His caring attitudes and blunt honesty prove that he is a great person. Although Huck can be seen lying, cheating and stealing, he does these things out of necessity and as a result of his wretched upbringing. These negative attributes dont affect his overall high character. Huck Finn has many great aspects, but he is light and capable of doing wrong. He often lies, cheats, and steals simply to survive and get out of trouble. Huck also displays this bad behavior as a result of his poor upbringing. Much of this behavior was learned from his father, as evidenced in the following passage. Pap always said it warnt no harm to lift out things if you was meaning to pay them back some time but the widow said it warnt anything but a soft name for stealing, and no decent body would do it (65). It is this learned behavior, his desire to survive and get out of jams, and societys negative influences, such as its view that thralldom is right, that motivates him in doing wrong. Although Huck can sometimes be labeled as a miscreant, he is actually a very honest person. In a literal sense, Huck doesnt always exhibit honest behavior. However, it is Hucks realistic and slightly naive view of society that is honest--he sees things for what they truly are. ane example of this honesty occurs when Huck helps Jim to freedom. While he doesnt view his own actions as honorable, the reader can infer that they are. Huck feels guilty for his persona in Jims escape, knowing that he was doing something society would have scorned. He says, I couldnt get it out of my conscience, no how nor no way. It got to troubling me so I couldnt rest I couldnt stay still in one place. It hadnt ever come home to me before, what this thing was that I was doing. But now it did and it stayed with me, and scorched me more and more...I got to feeling so mean and miserable I most wished I was dead (88).Huck is honest with himself and his feelings.