A Rebel in a Civilized Society

---Analysis on Characteristics of Huckleberry Finn

My favorite modernistic writer is Mark Twain, one of the greatest realists, satirists and humorists in America whose representative works are The Adventures of Tom Swayer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, among which the latter attracts most of my attention, because I find the story is very interesting and in it the author satires slavery in the south of America.

1. Analysis on Huck, the main hero

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn centers on a boy named Huckleberry Finn and the author let Huck tell the story in first person style, which can make the story be truer to readers. Huck was almost an orphan, because his only relative, his father was a famous drunkard in the town who never gave a hint to how Huck lived his life or whether Huck had something to eat or somewhere to sleep or not. Thus Huck barely received educations from home, school or society and formed the habit of living independently by himself. He could be put into bad guys by many people and the reason lies in that Huck himself liked to live alone and disgusted the surrounding dull life and hypocritical civilities. He neither went to the church to pray nor dressed decent clothes to pretend a civilized person going to school.

In the beginning of this novel we can see that Huck was adopted by Douglas the widow who tried to educate Huck into a well-educated boy so that he could be in the civilized society. However, Huck managed to run away from Douglas’ home and her education, trying to make others believe that he was dead,  because he wasn’t accustomed to those rules and restraints; he was more used to free life, that is to say, a life in which there was no one to tell him what to do or what cannot be done. He felt he was suffocated in Douglas’ home as if suffering from day to night. He was only comfortable when dressing his own rags.

While almost all whites were for slavery and having slaves, Huck was trying to help his companion Jim, the black slave to get rid of restraints and have a free life. Though Huck once was a little bit upset for being against social custom to help Jim, he finally decided to follow his heart to offer help. He even showed his respect to Jim and treated Jim as a respectable black rather than made fun of him during their journey along the Mississippi river.

Huck was a wild boy undesired of “the decent society”. Without the influence of the so-called civilization, having no sophisticated philosophy to communicating with others, he tended to make his decisions according to his own experiences and feelings. He was even suspicious of religion, wondering “if one could get whatever he wanted by praying, then why didn’t the widow get back her silver cigarette case that was stolen? Why didn’t Miss Watson get weight?” To Huck, pray was nothing. He put social and religious restraints aside and went away to pursue his free life, claiming that he would never become good again, because he was unwilling to involve the civilized world.

In all, from his family and education background to his behavior and words, it is not difficult to draw the conclusion that Huck was rebellious and against social restraints. In order to run away and live his free life, he enjoyed Jim the black slave’s company, developed a deep friendship with Jim, and demonstrated his kind, free, independent, rebellious characteristics.. Thus, we can say that Mark Twain succeeded in portraying the hero Huck as a rebel to reveal and satire evils in the then society with the process of Huck’s characteristic becoming maturity.

2. Criticism on the Then Society

The main plot of this novel is the process of Huck’s saving the black slave Jim. During this process, the author successfully describes all aspects of the middle and west life of America in the 19th century by putting the theme of pursuing freedom and that of releasing slaves together. The author reveals and satires the then American evil realities. Slavery is one of those realities that Mark Twain satires most. The revelation and satire are shown by the development of Huck’s characteristics in this novel and this composition will focus on analyzing characteristics of Huck. When almost all the whites in the southern part were for slavery, Huck himself tried his utmost effort to help his companion the black slave Jim, which is of course against the social custom. Through his saving of Jim, he showd his dislike toward slavery.

Huck’s runaway from the town he was born in is actually a process of satiring the southern society. He realized people’s hypocrisy at that time and felt disgustful. He was unwilling to accept Douglas the widow’s education and pretend he was a civilized man. He was happy and comfortable in his own rags. He was even suspicious of the religion and unwilling to pray. All of these show Huck’s satire and criticism about the then society’s hypocrisy.

All in all, in this novel, Mark Twain introduces a rebel to us and through the rebel’s eyes and words, we sense the author’s revelation of the corrupt culture in the southern part and also sense the autor’s criticism about such a culture. This is not only a children’s book, but a book of social study for the adults.