Sympathies In Huck Finn

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In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Huck struggles to be free of society’s rules and principles. Yet, while Huck rejects civilization, his morality aligns with that of society’s. While Huck is naturally kind hearted, these ingrained moralities come into conflict with his sympathies towards others. As Jonathan Bennett claims, Huck’s solution is to reject his morality and accept that he is a bad person. Even though there are many instances where Huck’s sympathies win over his morality, by the end of his adventure, his morality remains unchanged and still has an influence on his thoughts and actions. Although Huck is resistant to conform to Southern society, often commenting on how he does not want to “sivilize,” his …show more content…
As Bennett states, Huck “cannot envisage revising his morality, altering its contents in face of the various pressures to which it is subject, including pressures from his sympathies” (Bennett 7). Huck does not think that his morality can change, so when he is challenged by his sympathies, he “just gives up trying,” and decides to “always do whichever comes handiest at the time” (Twain 89, 91) However, it is important to note that while Huck decides to no longer follow his morality, he still thinks that he’s doing the wrong thing. For instance, when he makes this decision to abandon his morality he states, “All right, then, I’ll go to hell…It was awful thoughts and awful words, but they was said. And I let them stay said; and never thought no more about reforming. I shoved the whole thing out of my head, and said I would take up wickedness again” (Twain 214). Instead of believing that his sympathies are right and his morals are wrong, Huck accepts that he is a bad person and decides to stop feeling guilty for doing the ‘wrong’ thing because “I’m low down” (Twain 225). Thus, Huck is hesitant to tell Tom that he is helping Jim because he knows that is wrong, and he is even more shocked when Tom is willing to help steal Jim because he admires and regards Tom highly and cannot imagine how his friend could “stoop to this business, and make himself a shame” (Twain 233). In addition, although he has neglected his morality in favor of his sympathies towards Jim, his overall morality towards slavery has never been questioned or challenged. Huck is able to develop sympathy towards Jim through their shared, personal experiences, but does not display this sympathy towards any other blacks. While Huck has never been cruel to other slaves and treats them kindly, he still believes that generally all blacks
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