What is a Huckleberry?

So far as I have been reading the novel Huckleberry Finn It has occurred to me that the novel was not what I expected it to be. The more I read the story the more I realized many of the underlying themes that Mark Twain set to discuss or criticize. I believe that many of these themes include the importance of trust between humans and flaws of society

In the novel Mark Twain set up the idea of trust first with the relationship between the boys of the “Tom Sawyer gang” in the cave. This scene between the boys in the cave emphasized the importance of trust when Tom said that the boys had to take a blood oath and promise not to tell anyone of the group’s secrets or else their family members would be killed. Though young, ignorant, and naive these boys are capable of understand a concept that is beyond their comprehension. With that idea present it is easier for the reader to understand the growing relationship between Huck and Jim. Jim is constantly hurt or fooled by Huck in the novel. One instance of this abuse is when Huck played a trick on Jim in which he put the dead snake near Jim and the snake’s mate came and bit Jim in the leg which resulted in Jim being poisoned and his leg swollen. This scene shows that the two are far from a trustworthy relationship because Huck has not committed to it. Later on however in the novel the trust between the two changes because Huck begins to realize that Jim is genuine in his care for Huck and that Huck should stop playing tricks on him. One scene that illustrates this is when Huck does not turn Jim in to the men that approached the boat.

The flaw of the society is key theme in the novel. Mark often criticizes the society that he lives in through satire. One instance in which he does this is when Huck meets Buck and the Grangerfords who are a family that are in a long lasting feud with the Shepherdson yet neither of the clans knows why each is fighting the other. This Criticisms shows that humans can be stupid and ignorant and use that ignorance to cuase harm. Another scene in which Twain criticizes the society is with the two men the Dauphin and the Duke. Twain characterizes the two as unscrupulous people who in the past have conducted shady business. Thier schemes are shown even more when one man decides to go to another town and trick the people in order to raise money for what he called a conversion of his mates while the other sold fliers and advertisements for money. through humor Mark shows how money and greed can effect humans causing them to take advantage of others. This says that the society in which Twain lived is not all perfect.