In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, there is a young thirteen year old named Huck Finn who goes on quite the adventure experiencing, many different encounters along the mighty well-known Mississippi River. The setting of the novel takes place a little before the Civil War in the American South between 1830s-40s. Huck Finn cannot stand the idea of a “sivilized” society so he goes ahead and fakes his death to leave where he currently belongs. While going down to Jackson island, he finds a run-away slave known as Jim. As the story proceeds from this point on, Huck Finn develops in a moral manner as a character which makes him carry dynamic traits that show change moving forward. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, through the idea of the society and how Huck grew into it, he clearly shows moral development which causes change through crucial choices.
Firstly, when Huck is introduced to his best friend’s gang, Huck shows complete and utter wickedness by negative behavior, giving Miss Watson away for death as if she was nothing. If a person were to join Tom’s gang or become a member, they must come to an agreement to the homicide of a family member of their choosing (this would only occur if they break the regulations of the group). It was very soon after this time that one of the people in Tom’s gang realized that Huck did not have an actual family around him. Huck states, “ ‘They talked it over, and they was going to rule me out, because they said every boy must have a family or something to kill, or else it wouldn't be fair and square for the others ... but all at once I thought of a way, and so I offered them Miss Watson-they could kill her’ ” (6). At that moment in time, Huck is at the highest level of his immorality which significantly proves how he thinks of some people. Giving a person away for death as if he/she were nothing shows how careless he is as a character. Twain showed this as a beginning point for Huck and his immortality, he did this to show improvement in Huck so he could display growth in the character as the novel gradually moves on. Overall, Huck from this point on starts to make progress on his expedition of morals.
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Secondly, Huck experiences his first crucial quandary when he crosses the destroyed steamboat and three people that seem to be criminals. As Huck leaves the three robbers stranded without any help whatsoever, he perceives that he has left behind the three criminals to perish. Huck says “ ‘Now was the first time that I begun to worry about the men- I reckon I hadn't time to before. I begun to think how dreadful it was, even for murderers, to be in such a fix. I says to myself, there ain't no telling but I might come to be a murderer myself yet, and then how would I like it?‘ ” (54). This is the earliest of all times that Huck backtracks the result of what impact he has on caused on different people. After he realizes what his actions had caused, he goes ahead and decides to contemplate on himself as a murderer or believe he could be one. Huck Finn makes a plan where he thinks to get a leader, so he could go look more into the wreck so he could possibly have a chance to be the mens’ savior. Huck knows the men could be cold-blooded murderers and additionally robbers, but, he can not bear with the fact he would be held guilty in his mind by being held accountable for the death of three. In general, this is the first of several times Huck decides to take a leap of a step in his morality. When doing so, he begins to have have a different mindset in a sense, he starts to realize right from wrong and make decisions that build Huck into a better person despite the society he is forced to live in.
As Huck and Jim arrive in Cairo, Huck is split between turning Jim in or bringing him to freedom. Huck is trapped in such a society where colored people are viewed as people of extremely low class.that are only capable of doing dirty work. Huck feels split for not turning Jim in because he knows Jim is in need for his family since that is all he practically has left. Huck realizes two kinds of sense dealing with shame, if he were to turn Jim in, he would feel as if he would betray his friend and admit to committing which was during the time they are in, an illegal offense. Huck secondly, figures out turning Jim in would be a morally weak act towards his part, he feels this because it would mean that he was trying to recompense for doing something considered as a “low-down thing” (helping Jim escape...or betraying him). Huck states, “I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: ‘All right then, I’ll go to hell’—and tore it up. It was awful thoughts and awful words, but they was said. And I let them stay said; and never thought no more about reforming” (Twain, 162). Huck's conclusion on this part points out another significant step in Huck's moral progression, because somehow something snaps inside of him telling him he should not turn in Jim but instead help him. Overall, as the story did progress and move on Jim ends up becoming a free individual due to the fact that Huck came out of his shell, he realized how the society he lives in sees what he does as impenetrable. Huck did what was right, causing good into this so called “sivilzed” society.
All in all, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Huck went through several different stages that related on his moral changes which convinced him to be dynamic in the society he lives in throughout the novel by crucial moral choices. First, Huck decided Tom Sawyer’s gang could kill was Miss Watson as required to vow in Tom’s oath; in reality Huck is in no relation of Miss Watson making her a substitute almost. Second,Huck questions himself by going over his actions and saying if he will come to be a murderer due to his guilty remorse and how he was caught up in the moment with the robbers. Lastly, Huck decides to help Jim despite all of the backlash he could receive doing so, he wants bypass slavery once and for all. Huck's moral progression were outlined throughout the book starting off with poor morals to being able to physically understand right from wrong and make the correct decisions all on his own. It is only the help of Jim that guides Huck to become better as a person since Jim is a pure figure that is destined to help on his behalf. From beginning to end we as the audience can understand the changes that have hit Huck and made him change for the better, at first he was extremely immoral but with the story moving forward things began to gradually turn the other direction.