Summary

The novel that is narrated by Huckleberry Finn, a boy who later chooses to elude the demands of society and "go to hell." There many themes and issues in the novel such as superstition, religion, hypocrisy, loneliness, slavery, isolation, and so on. The two most important are freedom and conformity to society (or as Huck puts it "sivilization"). In understanding Huckleberry Finn, it is necessary to understand first the epoch in which it was written.

It is considered one of the first few books in early American Literature to address the issues and the problems of society. (As noted in history most books The novel approach issues such as race, slavery, on violence, on child abuse, alcoholism, class distinctions in America, hatred, fraud, as well as what was mentioned above. The institution of slavery and slave holding was still very much apart of the culture. Slaveholding was defended because society was build on the institution of slavery. Many writers of the time, such as Samuel Clemens, psuedo Mark Twain saw the injustice and the irony of the society. Huckleberry Finn was criticized and ostracized because it attempted to expose these problems blantanly to its readers. In this cleverly masquerading as an innocent boys' book, Huckleberry Finn casts a brilliant satirical light on pretensions and hypocrisies of slaveholding and a still deeply racist society. Huckleberry Finn is about American civilization and about what it mean to be civilized in a vast, experimental, provisional and morally unsettled territory. Huckleberry Finn, a boy who is confused by the dictates of a double standard society rejects society and "sivilization" and develope his paradigm. A paradigm that goes against the value system of society, which makes him uncivilized by the standards of society.

Analysis

Thoughout the book Huck is by far the most truly civilized character in the society. For example, when the king and duke were caught and ran out of town, Huck, who has every reason to cheer the spectacle, instead reacts this way: A Well, it made me sick to see it; and I was sorry for them poor pitiful rascals, it seemed like I couldn't ever feel any hardness against them any more in the world. It was a dreadful thing to see. Human beings can be awful cruel to one another." (Twain, Huckleberry Finn, chap 33, pp 403)

The pressures of the human situation or conformity are the cornerstone of Huckleberry Finn. Huck Finn sense of this pressure is instinctive and pre­verbal. During the opening chapter Huck experiences the pressures of "civilization" as harshly as he ever will. " Miss Watson ... Had jist come to live with the widow Douglas," say Huck, giving the impression that Miss Watson had been sent by some malignant agency to harass him. Her nagging is ingenious. It combines bullying with indifference, so that Huck is subject both to human pressures, "She worked me middling hard for about an hour, " and natural ones " Then for an hour it was deadly dull, and I was fidgety." Huck's two­page struggle over whether to betray Jim examines man's conscience. Huck accuses himself of lowdown, ornery wickness " in stealing a poor old woman's nigger."(Twain, Huck Fin, pp 386­387 ) The law­­ righteousness, the society's definition of good ­­says Huck is doing an awful thing in harboring Jim, a slave. Huck attempts to conform by praying, but " my heart wasn't right." By chosing to as Huck puts it " All right, then, I 'll go to hell," ( Twain, Huck Finn, pp 388 ), he has done the loneliest, bravest work there is ­­making a life­or death decisionb against the law and custom of his society. Thus proving to us that Huck is a civilized person. At the very beginning of Huckleberry Finn,Twain warns the reader not to do these things he outlined: " Person attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; person attempting to find a plot in it will be shot." In doing this, he has achieved the greatest task of writers and this is to manipulate the reader's mind before the story is actually unfolded.

In conclusion, Huckleberry Finn exposes racism and the premise for discrimination in the society. Huck found it ironic that the price for finding his murderer was one hundred dollars less than for the price for capturing Jim. One may argue that although Tom who is the epitome of conformity to society, lacks the pragmatic and realistic logic of Huck who has rejected the same society that condone hypocrisy and discrimination. It suggests to the reader that Twain is against conformity to society because his view of the society is distorted. How can a society that advocates freedom endorse slavery, racism and discrimination? The explanation given by Twain, though Huck's understanding of the way nature exists is "providence" or the demand value of the situation. Mankind adaptation to society is based a great deal on the societal demand values.

In dealing with a situation Huck leaves it up to providence, " not fixing up any particular plan, but jist trusting to Providence to put the right words in my mouth when the time come" ( Twain, Huck Finn, pp 393) I think Twain is simply saying that we still uncivilized in many things we do and how we do things since we react instinctively. Adaptation to society should be instinctive not dictated. Twain is against any society that has double standards that explains Huck's resistance to conform to something that he does not understand or comes instinctively.

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