The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is rife with conflicts, both internal and external. Throughout the novel, Huck struggles to reconcile his own moral code with societal expectations and pressures. He also faces conflicts with other characters in the novel, including Jim, Tom Sawyer, Miss Watson, and Aunt Sally.
Whether it is a struggle between morality and society or between different individuals, there are many different types of conflict that drive the action in Huckleberry Finn. Ultimately, Huck must come to terms with these conflicts in order to fully embrace his freedom and make his own choices.
Twain’s Huckleberry Finn portrays the conflict between society and the individual as a major theme. Huck was not brought up in accordance with contemporary civilization norms. He almost self-reliant, relying on instinct to guide him through life. Huck frequently chooses to follow his natural sense of right, even though he does not realize that his own instincts are more moral than those of society.
Huck values the freedom of being on his own, something that is so hard to come by in society. Although some may argue that Huckleberry Finn has a number of conflicts throughout the novel, one of the most prominent conflicts arises between Huckleberry and society. Huckleberry rejects societal norms and values, choosing instead to rely on his own intuition and natural sense of morality. This underlying conflict persists throughout Huckleberry’s journey down the Mississippi River with Jim, highlighting Huckeby’s innate rebelliousness against social conventions.
Despite facing opposition from many different sides—including society itself, Huckleberry stands firm in his beliefs and remains true to himself and to what he knows is right. Through Huckleberry’s journey, Twain demonstrates the conflict between individual and society, emphasizing Huckleberry’s ability to overcome persecution and pursue what he believes is right. Ultimately, Huckleberry’s story serves as a powerful example of the inherent struggle between individuality and conformity.
“I put on my old rags and sugar hogshead, and I was relieved and happy once more. ” When Pap returns for Huck, the issue of custody is considered in court, and the reader is forced to examine society’s corruption. The judge rules that Huck belongs to Pap, forcing him to obey an obviously cruel and unfit man. One who drinks excessively and beats his son. Later, when Huck makes it appear as though he has been murdered, we see how civilization is more concerned with finding Huck’s dead body than freeing his living one from Pap.
The men search for his body in the river and are more than content when they find it. The whole scene is a microcosm of society’s treatment of Huck Finn. He is unimportant, except as property or as a corpse.
Pap’s abuse of Huck is only one aspect of the many conflicts present in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. As Huck travels down the Mississippi River with Jim, a runaway slave, he must deal with his conscience, which tells him that it is wrong to help a slave escape. At the same time, he has formed a deep bond with Jim and does not want to see him returned to a life of slavery. This internal conflict is resolved when Huck decides that he would rather face the consequences of helping Jim escape than live with the guilt of turning him in to authorities.
Other conflicts that arise throughout Huckleberry Finn include those between Huck and superstition, Huck and society, and Huck and his conscience. Despite these challenges, Huckleberry Finn is ultimately a story of friendship, loyalty, and freedom – qualities that serve as a beacon of hope in a world fraught with conflict.
Huck’s adventure with Jim serves to illustrate this point. This is a society that is more preoccupied with the dead than it is with living individuals. The significance of this notion becomes even more apparent as Huck and Jim depart down the Mississippi River. Huck enjoys his adventures on the raft. He likes being free in the woods rather than constrained by society’s rules.
Also, while Huck tries to save Jim, he believes he is committing a sin against society. Ironically, despite believing he was doing something wrong by defying society and protecting Jim, he does not realize that his own instincts are actually more moral than those of society.’
Huck Finn is in conflict with just about everyone and everything he encounters. The first conflict is within himself. He has been raised to believe that slavery is morally correct, but his own conscience tells him otherwise. This inner conflict torments Huck throughout the novel.
The second major conflict is between Huck and society. Society tells him that slavery is right, and that he should not help Jim escape. However, Huck’s own sense of morality says that Jim deserves to be free. This conflict leads Huck on a journey down the Mississippi River, where he confronts many other conflicts along the way.
The third main conflict is between Huck and nature. Nature is often harsh and unforgiving, as Huck finds out when he gets lost in the wilderness or when he is attacked by a swarm of bees. However, nature can also be beautiful and peaceful, as Huck experiences when he floats down the river on his raft.
In chapter sixteen, we see perhaps the most inhumane behavior of society. When Huck encounters some men looking for runaway slaves on the river, he creates a tale about his father on the raft with smallpox so as not to get sick.
The males are afraid of catching this sickness and so they refuse to save him instead offering money and advise him not to reveal his father’s illness when seeking aid. These people aren’t opposed to hunting down slaves, but they won’t help someone who is ill. This is contrasted by Huck’s sense of guilt for protecting Jim while doing an ethically correct action.
Huck had the opportunity to turn Jim in, but he could not do it. Huck says, “All right, then I’ll go to hell” (Twain 219). This is the first time Huck has ever said anything of this sort. He is fully accepting of the consequences he will face because he knows it is the right thing to do.
Huck Finn embodies the ideal American because he follows his conscience instead of society’s rules. In a time when slavery was still present and minorities were discriminated against, Huck had the courage to stand up for what he believed in. His journey down the river with Jim showed his personal growth from a boy who was unaware of the true nature of slavery to a young man who was willing to risk everything for what he knew was right. Huckleberry Finn is a hero not because of his actions, but because of his character.
When Huck learns that Jim is still in the cave, he writes to Miss Watson to return him. However, e tears up the letter and wants to set Jim free. “‘All right,’ says he, ‘I’ll go to hell.’ And he ripped it in half.” Here we see that Huck concludes that he is bad, and that society was correct all along. The ending is particularly disappointing because it appears as if through all of his trials, Huck was maturing and embracing his natural beliefs about right and wrong.
When Huck is on his own, he consistently shows himself to be a good and honest person, despite the teachings of those around him. Huck’s development is stunted by contact with civilization, which value artifice and hypocrisy over truth and sincerity.
One of the major conflicts in the novel is between Huck and society. At the beginning of the novel, Huck is ignorant of the fact that slavery is wrong. Through his interactions with Jim, however, Huck slowly realizes that slavery is unjust. However, at the end of the novel, when Jim is recaptured by Miss Watson’s men, Huck goes along with Tom’s plan to “free” Jim through a ridiculous escape attempt, instead of just simply telling Miss Watson where Jim is.
In conclusion, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel full of conflicts. These conflicts help to drive the plot forward and keep the reader engaged. Without these conflicts, the novel would be quite dull and uneventful.