Before any external forces unleash their influence, a person is born into this world with a clean slate untouched by the prevailing attitudes that shape modern society. In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the character Huck is a boy who has grown up wild and for the most part free from the rules that govern the society in which he lives. Due to the unfortunate circumstances of an absent mother and a drunkard father, Huck has had the task of raising himself which has contributed to the development of his own moral code. Although there is plenty of violence and action abound in the novel, there is equal excitement to be had in the moral choices Huck encounters along his journey due to the potential danger in which his decisions consistently place him. In his novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain creates suspenseful and dramatic instances by emphasizing the internal moral struggle and danger sprung from the difficult choices his main character is forced to make.The first dramatic instance in which Huck is confronted with a difficult moral decision occurs right after encountering Jim on Jackson’s island where he is immediately forced to evaluate his loyalties and choose a side. This is a difficult choice for Huck to make because while he values Jim’s friendship he must overcome the prevalent dismissive attitude towards black slaves that he has grown up with. In her literary critique “Huck, Twain, And The Freedman’s Shackles: Struggling With Huckleberry Finn Today.” professor Tuire Valkeakari of Providence college explains why this is such a difficult attitude to reverse “Huck, in turn—despite his apparent freedom—is confined by various white conventions of antebellum life, especially by his society’s axiomatic assumpt…
…30 Apr. 2014.
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Lee, Jung H. “The Moral Power Of Jim: A Mencian Reading Of Huckleberry Finn.” Asian Philosophy 19.2 (2009): 101-118. Academic Search Complete. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.
Twain, Mark. “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” Concise Anthology of American Literature. Ed. George McMichael, James Leonard, 7th ed. New York City: Pearson, 2011. 1187- 1365. Print
Valkeakari, Tuire. “Huck, Twain, And The Freedman’s Shackles: Struggling With Huckleberry Finn Today.” Atlantis (0210-6124) 28.2 (2006): 29-43. Academic Search Complete. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
