Huck Finn blog 3 (chpt. 23-30)

Huck has continued to struggle with his internal conflict of whether or not he should turn Jim in since people are out searching for him. Throughout the entire book, Huck has been faced with making the choice of whether he should be morally correct and turn Jim in or if he should be a valuable friend and pretend Jim is somebody else and not turn him in. Huck decided not to turn him in. Eventually Huck will be faced with more challenges and this internal conflict will grow, developing into the theme of not having morals, which brings up the next topic.

Huck’s experiences on the river versus on land have begun to grow into a theme. While rafting down the river, Huck and Jim hardly faced any problems and their lives were literally smooth sailing. On the contrary, every time Huck and Jim were off the raft and onto land, they had run-ins with people that have brought them to trouble. Since Jim and Huck never had to worry about anyone catching Jim while on the raft, Huck began to believe that there were no rules or necessity for morals on the raft. Because of what Huck adapted to on the river, he continued to make the decision to keep hush about Jim. These experiences add to the reasons why Huck continues to make poor decisions when it comes down to deciding which choice is morally correct. Huck’s morals may eventually develop by the end of the book as he continues to mature and is faced with other struggles dealing with Jim.  

Alcohol and drinking has appeared in the book a few times and has helped add to one of the themes as a whole. To begin with, Pap was always a drunk and took poor care of Huck because of his drinking problems. Huck even told earlier in the book, “The judge he felt kind of sore. He said he reckoned body could reform the old man with a shotgun, maybe, but he didn’t know no other way.” The king and the duke also relate to this topic. In chapter thirty, the duke and the king begin to bicker, accusing each other of moving the bag of money into Peter Wilks’s casket. Their fight results into them drinking alcohol. Huck tells on page 260, “So the king sneaked into the wigwam and took to his bottle for comfort.” The duke and king are replicas of Pap, not only because of the fact that they drink their problems away with alcohol, but also with the way they treat Huck. Pap always put Huck down and never had any encouragement for him, and the king and the duke were threatening Huck and questioning him after he tried to ditch them. None of them treat Huck well. The king and the duke will never change in the way they treat Huck, and also tricking people into believing them. Lying and tricking people into believing them is one of their main hobbies and adds to the theme involving corrupt society.