You didn’t want to come. The average man don’t like trouble and danger. You don’t like trouble and danger. But if only half a man-like you Buck Harkness, there shouts Lynch him! Lynch him!’ you’re afraid to back down – afraid you’ll be found out to be what you are – cowards!” In the novel the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain expresses his own views of society (using speeches, thoughts, and sayings such as this one). Huck Finn is the narrator so it enables Twain to use Huck’s thoughts and feelings as his own. Twain expresses his thoughts on a variety of subjects and his dislikes about them. Huck doesn’t seem to fit in Twain’s groups of society so he is the perfect character to use as the narrator. Twain expresses his negative views of different types of society like slavery, groups of people or mob mentality, and Huck himself, through the characters and their actions.
Twain chows just how white people felt towards black people or slaves back then. He uses Jim as a main source for this. Through Huck’s feelings towards Jim he can get his point across to the reader. Huck has mixed emotions about Jim and slavery. He knows Jim should be free and wants him to be, but because of the society he lives in he feels that it is wrong. Huck and Jim are good friends and companions throughout the book, but even Huck says, “He’s my nigger” in one point in the story. The constant use of the word “nigger” also shows societies feeling towards black back then. Back then it was a common word used by everyone, now the word “nigger” is used as a put-down or racial slur and is prohibited. Twain uses these techniques to show us how society felt about blacks even though it was wrong.
Twain also expresses his views towards people when they get into a group or mob. This was Twain’s most expressed comment about society. Twain expresses in many different occasions just how gullible, stupid, following, and cowardly people in groups are. Like the time the King and Duke put on the Shakespearean play for the townspeople. The first crowd came willingly and when they discovered that they had got ripped off instead of revealing the two as fakes they went and told the rest of the town to go. So the gullible second crowed went and got ripped off just as the first ones did. Then both the crowds came the second night in order to tar and feather the men but the King and the Duke ran out the back before the show started (lets just chalk this one down under stupidity). This was the best example Twain uses to express how stupid and gullible people are. The next example is when Buck Harkness raises the mob to lynch Sherburn. This showed us how cowardly the people were and how they would follow anyone that was half a man.
Twain’s depiction of Huckleberry Finn was very different from the rest of society.Huck was his own man and had his own opinions on slavery and other ideas. Huck knew, even though no one else did, that slavery was wrong. He was brought up to believe in slavery but his conscience wouldn’t let him accept it, especially with Jim. Huck disobeyed all authority. The only exception was when Tom Sawyer was around. Huck did whatever Tom said and liked to do it. Tom was smarter than Huck but he still wasn’t all knowledgeable and lied to make everything his way. This just goes to show that even though Huck isn’t like the rest of society he still wasn’t perfect.
Twain’s use of Huck to express his negative feelings about slavery, groups of people, and Huck himself, proved to be very effective. He kept emphasizing the importance of these thoughts in numerous places throughout the book. He got all of his views on society across to me and I am not the smartest when it comes to literature. “But I reckon I got to light out for the territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she’s going to adopt me and civilize me, and I can’t stand it. I been there before.”
