Huck Finn as a Moral Guide for Political, Religious, and Social Dilemmas

Jakub Ferencik
Aug 8, 2017 · 8 min read

Introduction

In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Samuel Clemens, mainly known by his pen name as Mark Twain, creates a stage to express his anti-racist views on society. He does this through the boy Huck Finn who with Jim, an African-American slave, embarks on an extensive adventure down the Mississippi. Huck’s actions are looked up to and celebrated to this day as he remains one of the the most iconic and important characters in literature. Huck and this classic novel are “without peers” for their anti-racist views on American society (Smith 363), and point to a moral code worth aspiring to in today’s politically polarized world.

Mark Twain

Mark Twain

In order to understand Huck as a moral guide, we first need to understand the author’s irritation with the world. His main reason for writing this novel would be to vent his frustration; it was arguably unintentional that he provided a timely moral compass to American society. Tom Quirk in Coming to Grips with Huckleberry Finn: Essays on a Book, a Boy, and a Man notes that in 1880 Twain had already started developing a bitterness that would express his sincere scorn “for the damned human race”(30). He further describes Twain as consuming three old-fashioneds a day as well as smoking regularly in his study. It was noted that he prefered “to smoke private and cuss private” similarly to Huck in Tom Sawyer (18). Then again we could find many similarities with Twain and Huck, since for him Huck seems to represent the boy he wished he had been when he was his age (45).

The Novel and Criticism

It is important to mention the amount of time it took Twain to finish Huckleberry Finn, since some have argued that this was what damaged the book’s quality and moral aspirations. Bernard DeVoto claims that it was finished by 1883 after “an eruptive burst of inspiration” (Quirk 13). However, he had started working on this satirical novel in 1876 (Smith 363). Some critics like Jane Smiley would come to suggest that because of the duration of writing this work, Twain succumbed to losing his “original conception” that would “conflict with the implications of the actual story” (356). On the contrary, writers such as David L. Smith, would compliment it for being an accurate and harsh “judgement on American society” (370). Similarly the already mentioned critic Quirk commends the novel for it’s “artistic wholeness in works of the imagination,” despite the duration of writing it (40).

Quirk applauds the novel for the most part but also writes that Twain’s achievement in this book outran the supposed qualifications to writing it (11). In other words, Huck seems like an accident. Quirk borrows the language of Henry James when saying that Huck is a “barely literate” and “suspicious boy” both filled with “anger and frustration” and feelings of “contempt” (39). Yet he bears the responsibility of Jim both “humbly and humiliatingly” (Eliot 351). This purity, humility, and cynicism is what provides the book with it’s original sense of realism. This boy would bear the life of a man on his shoulders, a difficult task as “interesting” and “beautiful” as you could wish for (Quirk 39).

Huck smoking on his pipe. Woke.

The Symbolism and it’s Achievement in Huckleberry Finn

The difficulty and importance of this task would be better to commend with the help of C. S. Lewis, the Oxford University don and author of Chronicles of Narnia. When speaking of the importance of literary language, he said that the “most remarkable” of capabilities that literary language has is to reveal to us an experience which “perhaps we could never have” (Edwards et al. 236). Correspondingly, Twain grants us that which 19th century aristocratic society did not have: an unbiased belief on society and religion.

It is crucial to point out the use of symbolism to understand the moral guide embedded in the novel. As T. S. Eliot wrote in his introduction to Huck Finn, the symbolism of the river gives the book its “form,” but the boy gives the book it’s notorious “style,” a world of brisk honesty and perplexing innocence (351). Twain escapes from his frustration with the world by reflecting on the Mississippi as “gentle, and gliding, and smooth, and noiseless,” on the raft existence itself becomes a “dream, a charm, a deep and tranquil ecstasy” (Quirk 48).

To further contemplate the importance of symbolism as Lewis did, Michael Davitt Bell makes an important observation that will help us progress to why in particular Huck Finn serves as a moral guide. He says that Huck exists as both a literary character and a literary device: “the same character is often made to serve different artistic purposes” (Quirk 27–8). At certain times he is there to condemn white supremacy, at others he is there to scorn Christian hypocrisy, and still he finds time for satire. The combination of these prove to be why the novel has still remained vastly read in America. Just like Twain we also need to initiate political and cultural change in our own society, not with a fundamentalist approach but through the indirect and symbolic use of art.

Twain accomplishes this emotional appeal for change firstly by making us sympathize with Huck; he’s depicted as a lonely orphan child that is “down-hearted and scared” and wishes he had someone with him (Twain 16). He finds the most unlikely of companions: a runaway slave whom he identifies as a father figure. Huck is unique to other orphans in stories, as it is still used as a popular motif for books and films, because he befriends someone whom if he would turn in, he’d be as alone as he was before. His natural desire to be with humans clarifies that there’s no intrinsic difference between a black and a white man. We all just desire companionship in the end.

Huck and Symbolism on Racism

Together with Jim they come across many obstacles, some of which I’ll address below, it is commendable that despite all of these, Huck remains to have a level head and is more or less sensitive to Jim’s feelings. As we pointed out earlier, Huck primarily exists to alleviate Twain’s frustration and continue his “burlesque of aristocratic values” and “[satirizing] of despicable or laughable qualities . . . deception, or invented claims to privilege” (Quirk 29). They together form what was once wittily termed by Twain as a “community of misfortune” (39). They float down the Mississippi river both completely equal. Twain uses Huck’s character as a literary device to humble society that can not see past it’s blatant inconsistent racism.

Huck and Symbolism on Religion

As Huck addresses racism he speaks on religion as well, Huck questions religion because of his relationship with Jim, and then essentially damns himself to hell for not reporting him (222–23). In the 19th century it was unnatural to think of Jim as a person, yet Huck “ ‘reckons it’s so’ ” (170). He notices that he is “ ‘almost always right’ ” and wants to kiss his feet (86). He strikingly humbles himself to Jim and was not “ ‘ever sorry for it afterwards, neither’ ” (95). He was taught that African-Americans were sensationalist creatures and had little reasoning capabilities but is outwitted in an argument with Jim and says that Jim has “ ‘an uncommon level head for a nigger’ ” (Twain 86). All of these instances are testimonies to what TS Eliot once notably observed: Huck is incomplete without Jim; they together act as character foils to highlight distinct qualities that we can admire, “Huck is the passive observer of men and events, Jim the submissive sufferer from them” (351).

Huck could help society tackle many dilemmas we are dealing with today: unqualified presidencies, the roman-catholic priest scandals with children, extremist militant groups, etc. If written today he may have for example questioned prohibition laws against certain literature in muslim countries such as George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Christopher Hitchens, acclaimed journalist and author, said that this novel is “one of the most charming and useful fables of modern times” and remains prohibited in muslim countries due to regulations that are as Hitchens says, “so stupid that they fail to notice the . . . dictatorial role played by pigs in the story itself” (38). Similarly Winnie-the-Pooh’s Piglet and other characters are being “removed from the innocent gaze of . . . children,” due to the demonization of pigs which are viewed as unclean animals in both Islam and Judaism (41). We, as Huck, need to address these doctrines and similar ones like them. His example is as relevant for us today as it was then.

Conclusion

I do not wish to provide answers to these questions; I only point to Huck who serves as a moral reference to which we turn to for advice in how we question them. Through Huck, Twain creates a platform on which everything is permitted: the equality of boy and man, the satirization of aristocracy, and the mocking of religious hypocrisy. And so also with Twain we “vent [our] feelings of constraint and frustration” (Quirk 21), and consequently let go of the damaging beliefs our contemporaries hold about society.

Thank you so much for reading! If you have a love of reflecting and reading be sure to subscribe and hit that like button below! It means a lot to me. If you feel like dropping a critique of the article or a message in my inbox I’d also be very appreciative! I love all the feedback :)

Until next time, keep reflecting.

Works Cited

Eliot, T.S. “Introduction to Huckleberry Finn.” Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, edited by Thomas Cooley, 3rd ed., Norton, 1999, pp. 348–54.

Hitchens, Christopher. God is not Great. Warner Books, 2007.

Edwards, Bruce. L, et. al. CS Lewis Life, Works, and Legacy. Vol. 4., Praeger, 2007.

Quirk, Tom. Coming to Grips with Huckleberry Finn: Essays on a Book, a Boy, and a Man. University of Missouri, 1995.

Smiley, Jane. “Say it Ain’t So, Huck: Second Thoughts on Mark Twain’s Masterpiece.” Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, edited by Thomas Cooley, Norton, 1985, pp. 354–362.

Smith, David L. “Huck, Jim, and American Racial Discourse.” Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, edited by Thomas Cooley, Norton, 1985, pp. 362–374.

Twain, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, edited by Thomas Cooley, 3rd ed., Norton, 1999.

All About Writing

A space for writers to share ideas and techniques about the craft of writing. Want to contribute? Send us a request at http://www.supermeditor.com/p/88e25e5b7a28

Jakub Ferencik

Written by

Exploring Ethical Living | Not Pretentious | From Slovakia to Portsmouth to Oxford to Canada | Book Reviews on IG: jakubreads | Guitar vids on IG: jakublearns

All About Writing

A space for writers to share ideas and techniques about the craft of writing. Want to contribute? Send us a request at http://www.supermeditor.com/p/88e25e5b7a28

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade