Conclusions About Life and People

The novel by Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn focuses on the character Huck Finn and his escaped slave friend Jim. In this novel, many of the characters in a sense try to push their beliefs onto Huck. Although Huck experiences much pressure to act a certain way from Miss Watson, his father, and the rest of society, Huck develops his own idea on life and on people. Mark Twain uses characterization to portray Huckleberry Finn as a strong-willed kid who despite the pressures of those around him has developed a personal sense of right and wrong that overrides the values of society.

Huckleberry Finn lives in a society where the children are rebellious and the adults are more civilized. Huck is rebellious in the terms that he does not listen to Ms. Watson or the Widow. An example of Huck not listening to adults is when they are trying to teach him proper manners, "'Don't gap and stretch like that, Huckleberry-why don't you try to behave?'"(page 2). It is clear that Huck does not care about what they think of him and that he does not like behaving. The adults do not like this very much either whereas they are all well mannered and proper. This example here shows Huck drawing his conclusions on more of a small personal level about not life in general, but about his life. Society and those around him, specifically Miss Watson and the Widow try to get Huck to behave the way they see fit; not the way Huck would prefer. Although Huck for some time followed the rules set by Miss Watson he decided that wasn't they way he wanted to be disregarding the rules set by life around him.

Huck lives in a society with many different people and personalities. Most people described are under educated and hard working, but despite this key characteristics a difference of personalities is shared between the widow and Huck. The widow is very proper, religious, and also somewhat educated. Huck is a typical kid being very adventurous, "Pretty soon [He] wanted to smoke . The widow tries to fix Huck to be a better citizen, but Huck does not want to change he just wants to play with his friends. Societies is the same here as in the book, everyone has their own personality and way of life. This although minute once again shows how Huck does as he pleases, not as society says.

When first thinking about the way Huckleberry draws his own conclusions about life and people, the biggest and most evident thing is racism and how Huck's mindset about it changes. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck's morale is transformed by one of the main flaws in society: Racism. Being brought up in highly racist society Huck, naturally, had a racist mentality. Huck found the society's morals to be untrustworthy, however, because they fail to protect him from abuse such as that given by Pap, his father. The one most important thing that society does teach Huck is not to trust it. His teachings regarding