Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn: Key Themes Analysis
Context and Background
Mark Twain began writing the novel during the Reconstruction Era, after the Civil War had ended in 1865 and slavery was abolished in the United States. But even though slavery was abolished, the white majority oppressed the Black minority, leading to the Jim Crow Laws of 1876, which institutionalized racial segregation.
Setting and Symbolism
Freedom in the novel is symbolized by the North, where slavery is illegal, and by the West and the river. In America, this concept is very important because it was the aim for Puritans that arrived in the country; they escaped from oppression in Britain to find religious freedom. Mark Twain is connecting the novel with their own national freedom and identity.
Point of View
The novel uses a first-person point of view with Huck Finn, a 13- or 14-year-old boy. Huckleberry Finn voices Mark Twain’s opinion and his own ideas about society.
Major Themes in Huckleberry Finn
Racism and Slavery
Racism and slavery were accepted in the South during the time the book is set. Black people’s lives were considered worthless and irrelevant, viewed only as possessions whose primary function was to serve others. The hero of the novel, Huck, is a racist as well. It is only after spending time with Jim that Huck recognizes Jim’s humanity.
When Twain wrote the book, slavery had ended, but racism was as rampant as ever. African Americans continued to be treated unfairly according to the Jim Crow Laws. Jim is inhumanely ripped away from his wife and children. However, white slaveholders justify the oppression, exploitation, and abuse of Black slaves by ridiculously assuring themselves of a racist stereotype: that Black people are mentally inferior to white people, more animal than human. In this way, slaveholders and racist whites harm Blacks, but they also do moral harm to themselves by viciously misunderstanding what it is to be human.
At the beginning of the novel, Huck himself buys into racial stereotypes and even reprimands himself for not turning Jim in for running away, given that he has a societal and legal obligation to do so. By the end of the novel, Huck would rather defy his society and his religion—he’d rather go to Hell—than let his friend Jim be returned to slavery.
Society and Hypocrisy
Huck lives in a society based on rules and traditions, many of which are both ridiculous and inhuman. At the beginning of the novel, the Widow Douglas and Miss Watson try to “sivilize” Huck by teaching him manners and Christian values. But Huck recognizes that these lessons do little more than make him uncomfortable, bored, and, ironically enough, lonely.
After Huck leaves the Widow Douglas’s care, he is exposed to even darker parts of society, parts in which people do ridiculous, illogical things, often with violent consequences.
Even at the beginning of the novel, a judge ridiculously grants custody of Huck to Huck’s abusive drunkard of a father, Pap. Huck’s abuse and imprisonment is implicitly compared to the institutionalized enslavement of Black people. Huck comes to recognize slavery as an oppressively inhuman institution, one that no truly “civilized” society can be founded on. The latent racism exists even in so-called civilized people. It is hard to overlook this attitude and see these people as good, like Huck does. Huck himself is confused by the end and refuses to be “civilized.”
Religion and Superstition
The educated and the “civilized,” like the Widow Douglas and Miss Watson, practice Christianity, whereas the uneducated and poor, like Huck and Jim, have superstitions. On the other hand, Huck and Jim’s superstitions, silly though they are, are no sillier than formal Christianity.
Huck and Jim read “bad signs.” Whenever anything bad happens to them, they’re sure to have a sign to blame it on. Silly as superstition is, it is often a more accurate way to read the world than formal religion is. By Christian values as established in the American South, Huck is condemned to Hell for doing the right thing by saving Jim from slavery. Huck, knowing that the Christian good is not the true good, saves Jim anyway.
Maturation: A Bildungsroman
The novel presents a coming-of-age story (a Bildungsroman) in which the protagonist, Huck, matures as he broadens his horizons with new experiences. Huck begins the novel as an immature boy who enjoys goofing around with his boyhood friend, Tom Sawyer. He has a good heart but a conscience deformed by the society in which he was raised, such that he reprimands himself again and again for not turning Jim in for running away.
As the novel develops, however, so do Huck’s notions of right and wrong. Huck learns that he must follow the moral intuitions of his heart, which requires that he be flexible in responding to moral dilemmas. Indeed, it is by following his heart that Huck makes the right decision to help Jim escape. This mature moral decision is contrasted with the immaturity of Tom.
Much of the good behavior he witnesses comes from Jim. Jim’s behavior and actions push Huck the most to grow and mature. When Huck decides he is willing to “go to Hell” for Jim’s freedom, he shows a level of maturity much greater than earlier in the book. Huck is willing to listen to his own conscience and do what he feels is right. He ignores the civilized people and goes against what he has been taught growing up.
Freedom and Nature
Huck and Jim both yearn for freedom. Huck wants to be free of the manners and societal values and his abusive father, who goes so far as to literally imprison his son. More than anything, Huck wants to be free such that he can think independently and do what his heart tells him to do. Similarly, Jim wants to be free of bondage so that he can return to his wife and children.
The place where Huck and Jim go to seek freedom is the natural world. Though nature imposes new constraints and dangers on the two, including what Huck calls “lonesomeness,” a feeling of being unprotected from the meaninglessness of death, nature also provides havens from society and even its own dangers, like the cave where Huck and Jim take refuge from a storm.
Friendship and Loyalty
Huck values loyalty more than anything else, so he sticks with Jim to the end.
Nature as a Moral Compass
Huck always goes back to nature as a supporter of his thoughts, to keep his mind clear. He feels relaxed when he lies down beside the river and looks at the stars. Most of Huck’s time is spent in the wild fields, surrounded by natural figures. It is an example of how nature can help him to deal with stress. Huck is the only one who changes his perspective in the story, and this is likely related to his connection with nature.