Huck And Jim example essay topic

- Huckleberry Finn - Writing Task - The most important section of Mark Twain's novel, Huckleberry Finn, is the chapters devoted to the voyage on the raft. Both Huck and Jim forget themselves during the voyage, and are swept away by nature. During this section, Twain shows how people can live together in harmony, but this harmony is rare and far spaced. Huck and Jim are constantly returning to society on the shore, and society intrudes on them occasionally, and this shows that one cannot escape from society forever; it will always return.

'Civilised's ociety on the shore shows us hypocrisy, cruelty and violence, while the life on the raft contrasts to a great extent as a simple way of life, and much more civilised in comparison, though dangerous at the best of times. These are the main concerns of the novel, and therefore, collectively, are a major theme. Huck and Jim are swept away by the rhythms of nature while on the raft, forgetting racial and age difference & discussing things such as why Frenchman don't speak the same language (Chapter 14) & how they will know when they get to Cairo (Chapter 16). During these lengthy conversations, both forget racial hierarchy and age difference, speaking together like any two men. "It made me feel so mean I could almost kissed his foot to get him to take it back". This shows how Huck forgets that Jim is different, not an equal by society's standards.

This has major significance in comparison to the way that blacks and children are treated on shore. No child and black slave would even consider having this sort of conversation on shore, nor would a child kiss a blacks foot no matter how much hurt he may have done, and this is why this situation is so unique. When they are isolated, these true friendships can develop un judged by society. Huck and Jim are constantly drawn back to the shore, as shown in Chapters 10, 17, 21, 24 and 32. Society also intrudes on them, and this is shown in Chapters 12, 16 and 19. This is proof as to how one cannot escape from society entirely.

Huck and Jim continue to re-enter society through feuds intruding on the river, scouting for adventures, and people who they must follow back to society, due to the web of lies Huck has created. If they were not to follow these people, the people would discover them for who they were, forcing them back on the run, revealing neither were dead, and taking away their freedom created by their deaths. Society intrudes on them through the King and the Duke, the bandits on the crashed steamboat, and the men who think Jim has smallpox. Each time society meets Huck and the raft, Huck is forced to lie to keep Jim from being caught, and this is yet another bond Huck and Jim create after their time together on the raft.

The society on the shore sees themselves as civilised, criticising and trying to civilised those they believe are not civilised. In actual fact, they live in the hypocritical society who has birthed Huck. This is shown in Chapter 18 when the Shepherd sons and the Granger fords go to church with their guns by their side, while the preacher talks of "brotherly love and such-like tiresomeness". The families believe it to be a good service, and they speak of it all the way home, but Huck has just become more confused about the whole matter.

Huck's father and the King & the Duke are the central characters who show cruelty and violence. Pap shows it through his tanning of Huck, using Huck to get money and restraining him like a captive in the cottage, and the King and Duke through their typical, harsh treatment of Jim, and their act of selling him even though he doesn't belong to anyone. Other cruel characters include the bandits on the crashed steamboat, threatening to kill the man they hold captive. These men, along with Pap, the King and the Duke, are eventually caught and punished, but even then Huck still has feeling of guilt over running off without them, or turning them in to the Sheriff - "I felt a little bit heavyhearted about the gang, but not much, for I reckoned if they could stand it, I could".

Overall we find that the 'civilised's ociety on shore, and those who come on to the raft from it, is really a cruel, hypocritical and uncivilised society, from which Huck and Jim continue to break away from. Huck and Jim take on their false identities while on shore, which contrasts to a great extent with their truthful and uncovered nature shown on the raft. This contrast does embody a theme of the novel, the theme centred around truth, and the corruption of the society on shore..