Huckleberry Finn Human Nature Analysis

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Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is known to be one of the most remarkable novel written by Mark Twain, which was published in 1885. In the novel, Mark sketched the figure of a merely-orphan boy in the town, who eventually escaped from his drunkard father and went on his journey with Jim, the escaped slave. The background of the novel sets along the Mississippi River during the 1840s, when slavery is still permitted by the society of the United States. After the Civil War, which had freed 4 millions former slaves, the battle of African Americans and their true freedom continues. Mark Twain lived through the Reconstruction period when southern states passed a set of law that intended to keep African Americans oppressed. But rather than only addressing …show more content…
Human nature is complicated in the sense that people seeks freedom, yet also long for conformity. Mark Twain illustrates how the nature of human excludes itself form true freedom because society affects values and behaviors of individuals. In chapter 17 and 18 of the novel, the feud between Grangerfords and Shepherdsons goes continuously .Members of these two families regard individuals from the other family as enemies, just because of their different last names. They fight each other even more fiercely when among groups of fellow family members. And. Twain emphases the role that crowd or social plays in values and behaviors of individuals. Buck, the youngest son of Grangerfords, runs into woods with Huck when they encountered Harney Shepherdson, who were also alone. Although Buck shoots Harney while running, he fears to provoke a direct confrontation. Hiding from the young Sheperdson, Buck even comments “there ain’t a coward among them Sheperdsons—not a one (Chapter XVIII).” Buck clearly perceives and appreciates good qualities of Sheperdsons as human beings, when he walks away from his fellow Grangerfords. But when he finds himself in a group of Grangerfords, he suffers the selective blindness to see these qualities of …show more content…
Because it is human nature to socialize, and being in crowd prevents people from thinking rationally. Eventually, irrationalism drives people to break laws and other social orders. The feud which Twain presents produces tragical outcomes and clearly contradicts with social orders. Grangerfords and Shepherdsons rejects to sacrifice their freedom of act, they practiced their own justice instead, by taking lives from members of rival family. Although Twain did not identify the long forgotten cause of the feud, he confirms the existence of a court judgment, which establishes settlement. But neither Grangerfords or Shepherdsons decides to respects the court’s decision;and once the feud outburst, the human’s nature of conformity pass along such madness among individuals and even generations. Ironically, despite fighting each other, Grangerfords and Shepherdsons share common spiritual beliefs. They even goes to the same church. By using such satire, Twain further addresses the absurdity of the feud. Beneath this mask of satire, some people suggest that Grangerfords and Shepherdsons are symbols representing the North and the South in Civil War.Yet Twain was clearly implying to something broader and deeper, which is any violence that occurs among human. This scene reminds me of China’s Cultural Revolution period, when violence often occurs among different group of “red guards.” It is hard to believe ordinary people are able to
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