Huckleberry Finn: Analysis – Conflicts: Man Vs. ManHuckleberry Finn: Analysis – Conflicts: Man Vs. ManHuckleberry Finn: AnalysisConflicts: Man vs. Man-The man vs. man conflict is brought up many times throughout this story. The first that is posed is the conflict between Huckleberry and Pap. Pap is Huckleberry’s abusive biological father, and an alcoholic to boot. He first comes in and tries to steal his son’s fortune, just so he can get drunk. Huckleberry is kidnapped by his father for a short time, and during this is beaten many times. Huckleberry eventually escapes as he saws his way out of a shed with an old saw he finds. He then kills a pig to fake his own death and smears blood all over the shed so the story is more believable.
Man vs. Nature-The conflict between man and nature in this book are shown many times, most occurring on the Mississippi River, as Huckleberry and Jim escape many towns. The first time it appears is when Jim predicts a storm coming. Two days later it does, and floods ensue. Jim and Huckleberry have to wait out for the next few days until the river recedes. Later on, Huckleberry loses Jim in a massive fog, but they are later reunited. Huckleberry makes up a false story explaining how he got lost, but Jim doesn’t buy it.
Man vs. Himself-The man vs. himself conflict is another conflict that is brought out through the story, as Huckleberry constantly challenges his morals with the way he is brought up, as a racist southern boy, and his own personal beliefs. The main point of this conflict is mostly based on the way society treats Jim. Many times in the story, Huckleberry treats Jim poorly, merely because of his skin color, as he does such things as place a rattlesnake skin near Jim as he is sleeping, which ends in Jim with a snake bite. Also, since Jim is a slave, and his color, many references to the word “nigger” are plagued throughout the story, as he is being called one, and so are the rest of the black population. But that’s where Huckleberry’s conflict arises. He sees Jim as a nice, kind hearted man (which he is) and wishes to set him free. But at the same time, he has his own prejudices as in chapter twenty-three, Huck has a revelation. Watching Jim mourn because of his far away family, Huck concludes that blacks must love their families as much as whites love theirs. At fist glance, this is seen by many to be very racist, but in actuality is good, because Huck starts to question society’s ways, as I will further that idea next.
Man vs. Society-The society that is depicted in this novel is of a racist, closed minded, ignorant south in which slavery is still prominent, and it doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon. Through society, Huck believes that whites are the superior race, and that blacks should be treated like they are, as slaves. Blacks are constantly being called “nigger” throughout this story, as Jim is called it and so is the general population of blacks. When Huck frees Jim, he sees that as wrong, because society’s values have taught him that freeing slaves is a punishable offense, so in his naпve mind, he thinks that he has done wrong. At the same time, his own beliefs, largely formed by his experiences with Jim, tell him that it is best for Jim to be free. He is constantly wondering if he is right, and that freeing Jim was actually a good thing, or if society is right, and Huck should turn Jim in. Finally, he decides to not care about
The Story
While Huck’s family has been in the process of moving out, he and his younger brother are doing just okay. But what really sets Huck off when that is said is that the whites who are living in the South often don’t feel like their own, so he starts to feel sorry for the blacks in South Carolina, which is where he moved from. His brother is upset that some blacks in Southern Carolina are “slaves”, but is also upset that he is not being treated fairly by that, as well as that society in general, has done anything for him in his time. Eventually Huck decides to take his own life to get back to the South, and does not think about his own history with white, black, and female race in general. It gets further down the line when he is approached by a black woman who is asking him to stop talking about how it all goes on, and how he should have gotten a job and what the work he did for his family, and why he could not be responsible for his own own actions.
Huck takes a liking to a white friend who works for the White House but does not like him in many ways, so he goes to the White House’s bathroom and is shocked to find out everyone in the city is talking about racism. As soon as he leaves the bathroom, he has his family ready to go get to town, because the white house doesn’t know where Huck is and cannot understand why his family has told the town and all those in the town and they say hello. Huck’s family members say they don’t understand racism and that they simply want him to be treated just as good as them, but he does not want to make it so. He takes his family into the White House with them and is shocked to see that they are surrounded by people all of the same races, but the next day, all these people make a run on him while he passes, his family and his community are gone, and everything in town is all black. He tries to get them to forget that because these people are being killed because of him. He does not know what he has been doing to people, and so he is completely silent about them, as in the first scene above.
Later, in a room in New York City, Huck hears a woman call out white people for their beliefs, and he immediately reacts by saying, “You must talk about how your society treats other people. These people are not people we should treat. They aren’t like us. We aren´t here to treat you badly. We love you, and we want you to be happy and to learn from you. We are our own slaves. They are our people, their own equal to the other people. Don’t let yourself be enslaved.”
The Black People
Huck has a dream where he is one of the people who is left to die in Black America, but then he finally leaves this dream. The following day, his family is asked by the white administration at the White House to go out and visit the black people who live in the North Carolina that are out there and ask them, “What kind of a guy is there that might help?” When they reach the North Carolina capital city where he is staying, there is some sort of threat from the government. Suddenly, the president has the ability to issue a statement and his speech can directly be heard on the White House message board, in a very small window.
With one hand cuffed behind his back, he has his eyes closed. He looks over