Huck_Finn_Moral_Dillemma_Climax

This quote is from one of the scenes where Huck struggles with conscience and morality. When Huck finds out that Jim has been captured, he decides to compose a letter to inform Miss Watson. In doing this, he hopes it will ease his guilt and conscience. However, Huck soon recalls the time he and Jim have passed together and thinks about their friendship; he no longer has confidence in what he originally plans to do. Instead, he tears up the letter and decides to never revert back to what he wanted to do. This quote gives a clear understanding as to what Huck is thinking and evaluating. Huck was taught the standard of right and wrong in a perspective of the society he lived in. And this has contributed a lot to his moral dilemma as he enters the world outside and begins to develop his own understandings of the world that contradict what he has been taught. After struggling in his mind as to what to do, he chooses what he believes to be right based on his own experiences and sense of logic and decides to abandon the lessons he received from the society even if it means that he will go to “hell.” This spur of moment decision reveals that Huck is truly breaking away from the society and its principles and standards. The theme of this quote is revealed as depicting an individual’s own findings of moral values in comparison to the moral education one receives. Huck learns to distinguish the good and the bad by himself rather than blindingly accept the teachings of the society. At this point, Huck no longer is an uneducated and filthy boy like he once was; he has developed into a mindful and unrestrained guy who is able to think independently and make his own decisions.