Civilized+Society-P4

__Civilized Society__

Civilized society in The Adventures of Huckleburry Finn are typical of the era. The relationship between Huck and the Widow is one of respect and compliance. Huck may not always agree with her yet he does for the most part do what he is told.


 * "The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time, considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all her ways; and so when I couldn’t stand it no longer I lit out. I got into my old rags and my sugar-hogshead again, and was free and satisfied."

Pap, Huck's father, becomes aggrivated at the news of his son becoming civilized and proper. He does not approve of this etiquet being taught to his son, Pap wonders out loud if Huck thinks himself better than his father and promises to take Huck “down a peg.” Pap promises to teach Widow Douglas not to “meddle” and is enraged that Huck is the first one in the family to learn to read. Pap questions Huck's financial position and when he denies having any wealth he calls his son a liar. Then Pap takes the dollar that Huck recieved from Judge Thatcher and takes off to get whiskey.

Huck makes a decision is to travel with Jim and untimately protect him, a runaway slave. Huck has been given several opportunities to abandon him, but feels morally tied to him with the more humanly traits he sees. As Huck and Jim flee south on the Mississippi River they have a series of adventures that bring them closer together and expose them to the flaws in Southern culture. This can be seen when Huck believes he speaks the word of the devil when he says he tells the Duke and the Dauphin that Jim is a runaway, and they consequently print a "reward" ad for his finding. Huck tells the two slave hunters that there is "only one" man on the raft and that "He's white" and in doing this proves how serious and twisted teh topic of black people and slavery are.