Huckleberry Finn
Essay Preview: Huckleberry Finn
Report this essay
Why does Huckleberry Finn reject civilization? In Mark Twains novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain describes Huck Finn as a normal down to earth kid from the 1800s. Huck Finn rejects civilization because he has no reason for it. What has civilization done for him? Nothing! It has only hurt him one way or another, time and time again. Why should Huck Finn like civilization? Civilization is on land. All that the land and civilization has brought him was bad things. For example his father, Pap, beat him with a hickory stick when he was drunk: ” But by and by pap got too handy with his hickry, and I couldnt stand it. I was welts all over”(page # 189). Another thing Pap did to Huck was he locked him in the cabin, sometimes days at a time. “He got to going away so much, too, and locking me in. Once he locked me in and was gone three days.”(page # 193). No wonder Huck hated the land and civilization! Many of Hucks bad experiences are on land and involve civilization. Jim being sold and that whole incident was almost really bad. Huck almost lost his best friend throughout the trip. “I was a thinking and Jim was real good to me.”(Mark Twain Adventures of Huckleberry Finn). Huck called up Tom and they had a scheme to get Jim back. It worked but just barely. Because of this reason, Huck is rejecting civilization. Most of these things would make any of us reject civilization, too. Huck had all the reason in the world to reject civilization. He proved that he didnt need it. He was probably better without it. He was better without it. He was happy in the raft. He doesnt really need money for anything so he could just be a drifter.
The conflict between society and the individual is a theme portrayed throughout Twains Huckleberry Finn. Huck was not raised in accord with the accepted ways of civilization. He practically raises himself, relying on instinct to guide him through life. As portrayed several times in the novel, Huck chooses to follow his innate sense of right, yet he does not realize that his own instincts are more moral than those of society. From the very beginning of Hucks story, Huck clearly states that he did not want to conform to society; “The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me I got into my old rags and my sugar hogshead again, and was free and satisfied.” When Pap returns for Huck, and the matter of custody is brought before the court, the reader is forced to see the corruption of society. The judge rules that Huck belongs to Pap, and forces him to obey an obviously evil and unfit man. One who drinks profusely and beats his son. Later, when Huck makes it look as though he has been killed, we see how civilization is more concerned over finding Hucks dead