Throughout the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck struggles with morality. He is a
young, abused, and poor boy who is growing up in a world in which slavery is accepted.
Huck is very troubled with deciding between what he truly believes to be just and what he
has been taught by others. In this novel, morality is based upon a “civilized” society’s rules
of which Huck’s individual morality is constantly battling. Not only does Twain focus on
where morals come from in this novel, he also displays less value for religiously taught
morals through the use of satire and humor.
To begin, Twain’s novel stresses the influence of society on one’s beliefs. Huck lives in a
time when slavery is not only normal, but also just. He often questions the logic of other
people’s thoughts and compares them to his own. In some cases, he feels sin weighing on
him for thinking the way he does and clearly does not fit in with society. Huck especially
battles with morality regarding slavery and friendship. One of the first instances of this is
when Huck and Jim find each other on Jackson’s Island. In chapter 8, Huck discovers Jim
has run away from his owner, Miss Watson, in attempt to gain his freedom. Initially, Huck
is pleased to see Jim, but as time goes on Huck begins to question whether or not he should
inform anybody of Jim’s whereabouts. Eventually Huck decides not to tell anyone about
Jim, however, he feels he is compromising society’s morals. In fact, Huck says “ People
