Morality is defined as the distinction between good and evil or right and wrong. Morality comes from one's conscience, but is often influenced by his surroundings. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, because Huck was raised under various different settings, Huck struggles with morality: his own and what society has taught him. The different viewpoints often challenge each other, which leave Huck to question good of his actions.
Huck was moved around to different homes and was taught different lessons in life. Through his father Huck, was taught that racism is right and that society is often gullible. Through the widow Douglas and Miss Watson, Huck was taught what was right and wrong from books and religion. Huck often questioned these conventions because they often confused him and, eventually, would make up his own rules and draw his own line between right and wrong. The widow taught him that he should pray for "spiritual gifts" for others" well-being, however, Huck felt that praying for others, instead of praying for oneself, was to "no advantage" (20). He also dismissed learning about "dead people" from the bible. .
These conventions were put to the test when Huck ran away from his father and began to live on Jackson Island. The books he read were either fiction or the bible and could not have helped him survive on the island. He befriended a runaway slave and promised to keep Jim's secret. By helping Jim run away, Huck ignores racism to better survive on the island and so that he would not feel "lonesome" anymore (49). Also, as a part of living on their own, Jim and Huck had to do what they could to survive. They stole food and lied to people they encountered. They justified their stealing by not "borrowing" certain things so that it "wouldn't be no harm to borrow the others" (71). To protect Jim and himself, Huck had to lie to many people so that he would not be returned to his father and Jim would not be returned to Miss Watson and sold to New Orleans.
