Prototypes of The Heroes of the Novel by Mark Twain The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain uses the theme of individuality and he shows this through the main character Huckleberry Finn by showing the gap between Huck’s beliefs and society’s about the social issues and culture conflicts of this time period. In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, he portrays Huckleberry Finn as an antagonist. Mark Twain uses satire in his dialogue to amuse his audience. This has caused conflict between some audience who is offended by the ‘N’ word which is used many times and other part of the audience who believes it is purely used to remember the history around this book. Huck is used to portray the innocence, uncivilized, young boy. Huck only says what he believes is right, and does not care that society has completely different beliefs.

Twain used The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to bring notice to the problems of society and conflicts of white supremacy. The underlying theme of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn is that the ideas of society can greatly influence the individual, and sometimes the individual must break off from the accepted values of society to determine the ultimate truth for himself. Huck believes that society is always wrong and has corrupted everything and caused way too much unnecessary conflicts between different social groups and cultures. The conflict between Huckleberry Finn and society is that society was trying to make slavery and white supremacy okay where as on the other hand Huckleberry Finn knew that was wrong and he shows that where he tried to free Jim from slavery. Huckleberry Finn’s father was a drunk and this ended up separating him from society at a very young age where he grew apart from it and became very independant and that is why he has completely different beliefs from society.

However, Huck’s beliefs make his life harder on him sometimes than it would be to follow society. An example of this is when Huck tries to free Jim because his beliefs have taught him that it is the correct thing to do in that situation because Huck believes all humans are equal, whereas the correct thing to do to society would have just been to leave Jim and stay out of other people’s business. So even though it was the choice that was a lot more difficult, Huck did it because he believed it was the correct thing to do. One thing you have to remember about Huck is that since he was separated from society at such a young age, he doesn’t know between what is and is not correct to society, all he knows is all he’s learned. That doesn’t change the fact that sometimes Huck is upset with himself about the fact that he believes he may be wrong in some circumstances but doesn’t know it. An example of this is in chapter 31 when he began to write the letter to Miss Watson but then realized that’s not what he believed was correct at all, and as he was writing it he realized that and ended it and destroyed it. Huck is used as a symbol to represent the Northerners and society is the southerners. Huck believes that slavery is not okay and all people are equal, no matter what color your skin is, you are not any less of a person just like the northerners banned slavery because they believed it wasn’t okay. Whereas in the south, they had slaves still because just like society in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, they thought it was okay because they believed hugely in white supremacy.

Mark Twain does not believe in white supremacy as shown multiple times throughout the novel.An example of this is how he recognizes that Jim isn’t any less of a person than him or anyone else no matter what color skin. He shows that when he wrote “I do believe he cared just as much for his people as white folks does for their”. Through this quote, Twain really shows that the society around Huck, the things that make Huck the way he is, say what he says, believe what he believes, and do what he does, is corrupt to believe in white supremacy. Emphasizing the conflict between Huck Finn and Society, and the social issues between different cultures and social groups in the time period of the late 1800’s. Twain used Society and Huckleberry Finn as an analogy of the conflict of the North and the South America in the late 1800’s. Huck Finn represented the Northern states, and the society around him represented the Southern states. Huck Finn believes heavily that everyone is equal and greatly opposes white supremacy. He believes it is not okay that Jim is used as Miss Watson’s slave just because of his color of skin and that is why he tries to free him. Society on the other hand heavily believes in white supremacy and degrades those with colored skin. Southern states during this time period were huge with white supremacy and were all for it, just like society in the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Huck’s separation from society made it so he doesn’t know that society believes what they believe, all he knows is what he has learned from his experiences and in this case that is that he believes all humans are equal.