The_Adventures_of_Huckleberry_Finn

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn In the book Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain conveys the important message that you must not only listen to your head; but also follow your heart. Throughout the whole book Huck, the main character faces challenges and is put in difficult situations. Huck though only a young boy of 13 has to make choices on his own everyday. In the story he lies a lot, each time he thinks about his decision but also follows his heart, in most cases he helps or even saves someone by lying. The author shows us that to every positive there is a negative and to every negative a positive and by listening to both our heads and hearts we can distinguish the most positive and beneficial choice. Huck conscience haunts him for helping Jim escape from his owner. As Jim talks about his freedom and his plans for life Huck can’t help but feel guilty he thinks to himself “I begun20to get it through my head that he was most free- and who was to blame for it' Why, me. I couldn’t get that out of my conscience…”(74) then Huck tries to comfort his self by thinking “I warn’t to blame, because I didn’t run Jim off his rightful owner”(74) Huck’s head tells him he should give Jim up but his heart softens as he listens to Jim say “Pooty soon I’ll be a- shout’n for joy, en I’ll say, it’s all on accounts o’ Huck; I’s a free man, en I couldn’t ever ben free ef it hadn’ ben for Huck; Huck done it. Jim won’t ever forgit you, Huck; you’s de bes’ fren’ Jim’s ever had; en you’s de only fren’ ole Jim’s got now…. Dah you goes, de ole true Huck; de on’y white genlman dat ever kep’ his promise to ole Jim.”(75-76) This is a perfect example showing the authors purpose that you must not only listen to your head but also follow your heart. If Huck had only listened to his head he would have given Jim up, but he didn’t he, he listened to his heart and did what he thought was best. Huck didn’t give Jim up. Another example that illustrates the authors message is when Huck tries to play a little prank on Jim. Huck killed a rattlesnake and “curled him up on the foot of Jim’s blanket, ever so natural, thinking there’d be some fun when Jim found him there”(p.45). Huck forgot about the snake and by night the snakes mate came and bit Jim. The reason for this incident was because Huck didn’t take the time to think about his actions and the consequences that would come with it. This causes him to feel regret, we can see this when he says “He was barefooted, and the snake bit him right on the heel. That all comes from my being such a fool…” (p.45). After reading the novel, one can conclude that the best decisions are ones made based both on ones head and heart. We can use this lesson in our every day lives to help improve and make more intelligent decisions. The author is able to convince the reader because he provides an adequate amount of information to support his ideas. In today’s world we all have to make decisions and whether we like it or not we do all lie. We need to take the time to think about our decisions and understand why we are making them. By listening to our heads and following our hearts we will be able to make more enhanced decisions. IRP Book Twain, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Bantam Dell, 1981.