The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Social Class vs.
In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, Huck Finn embarks on an adventure along with one of the best friends he will ever have, but who happens to be a black slave. Just this small detail erupts a huge amount of moral conflict within Huck as he must decide whether or not to follow society or follow his heart. From these conflicts, the reader can observe that it seems those of higher status have less moral value and are more concerned about society. Those of the lower class in society are willing to push aside the views of the outside world and are willing to look within themselves to solve their conflicts with a much higher morality. .
Huck is a prime example of a lower class person, whose morals exceed social expectations. When he meets up with Jim on Jackson Island, Huck does not think much of the consequences of traveling with a fugitive slave, however, as they get closer and closer to the North, Huck stops to consider what he is actually doing. As Jim and he move closer to Cairo, the point of freedom for Jim, Huck realizes that helping to free a runaway slave is not right in the eyes of southern society. Huck "got to feeling so mean and so miserable" about aiding Jim in reaching his freedom that he "almost wished he were dead" (Twain 85). Huck is so intoxicated by the ways of southern society that he believes that he should be swimming to shore to quickly tell someone that he has a fugitive slave aboard. Instead, Huck stays true to his friendship and holds true to morals rather than what society dictates as right. When two men with guns stop Huck and ask if the man on his raft is black or white, Huck says white. When the men want to see for themselves, he makes up an elaborate tale, telling the men that it is his family who have small pox, knowing that they would not go near the raft if this were so. What Huck really believes is the right thing to do shows through when he is put on the spot.
