Questioning the World (Huck Finn Blog)

Having grown up in the midst of the charming South, I’ve always been taught those old adages like “Always use yes ma’am and yes sir,” and “You better make your bed ‘cause you’re gonna lie in it!” And being a good Southern girl, I never once questioned them. Otherwise, I’d be encountering those terse scolds my mom tended to have whenever I would break one those rules.

When I sat down early on a chilly Saturday morning to read Huck Finn, I was expecting a quick read about a boy who has to grow up. I had no idea that I would be encountering and contemplating all those little things my mom taught me from my childhood. Little Huck Finn, like my Southern self, was brought up learning many lessons that he never once thought to question, like stealing is okay if you absolutely need it and that certain people are supposed to be in slavery. But unlike me, Huck takes a bold step and actually questions these values.

One passage painted a picture that I will remember more than any other. In this section, Huck is feeling extremely guilty about not telling Miss Watson about Jim’s location, so he decides he needs to write her to come get her runaway. Upon finishing this letter, Huck feels as if the weight of the world has been lifted off of his shoulders. However, Huck realizes he can’t stop thinking about how Jim would pet his hair, sing to him, and call him his best friend. Torn up inside, he finally decides that he would rather go to hell than give Jim up, forcing him to “take up wickedness again.”

Earnest Hemingway once said: “About morals, I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.” Judging from Huck’s decision, this is not true at all, even if that is what we subconsciously think. Huck has always been taught that when slaves runaway, they are to be returned without questions asked. Even though all of us today would agree that this was the morally upright choice, how is it that Huck could possibly feel guilty after? This is the question that kept nagging me, even long after I finished the novel.

            Unfortunately, the answer I have come up with is not one that I particularly like. I think all of us, Huck included, are more of a product of our culture than we even realize. Your morals and values will be shaped in accordance to what surrounds you, whether that is beneficial or absolutely crippling like slavery. That is inevitable. However, like Huck, we can push the bounds of society to a new world, or should I say the “best of all possible worlds.” I would like to learn from Huck, and find the parts of my life in which I can change that society may not like, but are morally upright. I hope I can find my Huck-sized courage somewhere inside of me to do that.