Twain once described Huckleberry Finn as a book in which “a sound heart & a deformed conscience come into collision & conscience suffers a defeat,” and the novel traces Huck's moral development as he encounters a seemingly haphazard array of people and situations. Sounds like a really dense literature material and it is, considering The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is first on my reading list this semester. I’ve gone through half the book with multiple complications. After reading through the two hundred pages or so, I said to myself, “Hey, I’ve bloody read this some time ago back in the school library. What the heck?!” True. I’ve done the reading before, but here was where it got a little tricky. Apparently, I bear no remembrance of what the story was intending to tell. I just don’t remember. All I could recall was that the story is about a loony baloney adventure ride down the Mississippi river and a kid (well, Huck) is the protagonist.
After so many years and having that trained mind to pick out specific informations from the texts, I realized there are more to that than just the adventure of Huckleberry Finn. I scrolled through websites in order to understand it more. Behold, in my hands is the greatest American literature ever written and it is still widely debated as controversial in nature by literature scholars. Just within those pages I unraveled immense criticism on religion, race, southern societies, morality, and many more of such incredible ironic gems that simply begs to be dug out. As a child, all I cared was the story. Now as an adult, I learn to care for what’s really in there.
When it came to Huck, (I once thought he’s a bad apple) he addresses the story through a child’s mind. Innocent yet truthful, he has “a sound heart” but the corrupted society around him formed “a deformed conscience” that he had to inevitably live by. When they collided, Huck chose to do what’s right, and that is where the “conscience suffers a defeat.” Somehow, it is pretty relatable to today’s society. Interesting no? I’m sure we’ve known friends in our lives who are genuinely good (or unique) and yet, because of the society they are living in; they had to conform to society’s ideals. Some successfully hold their own principles, while others fall through and lose themselves.
Could it be that the idea of morality is torn between; whose influences you bear and not what really matters to you personally? Somehow Huck tells me that I ought to do what I deem right and not what society deems that is right for me.
Alas, it all comes down to: Just be true to yourself and to be you.
After so many years and having that trained mind to pick out specific informations from the texts, I realized there are more to that than just the adventure of Huckleberry Finn. I scrolled through websites in order to understand it more. Behold, in my hands is the greatest American literature ever written and it is still widely debated as controversial in nature by literature scholars. Just within those pages I unraveled immense criticism on religion, race, southern societies, morality, and many more of such incredible ironic gems that simply begs to be dug out. As a child, all I cared was the story. Now as an adult, I learn to care for what’s really in there.
When it came to Huck, (I once thought he’s a bad apple) he addresses the story through a child’s mind. Innocent yet truthful, he has “a sound heart” but the corrupted society around him formed “a deformed conscience” that he had to inevitably live by. When they collided, Huck chose to do what’s right, and that is where the “conscience suffers a defeat.” Somehow, it is pretty relatable to today’s society. Interesting no? I’m sure we’ve known friends in our lives who are genuinely good (or unique) and yet, because of the society they are living in; they had to conform to society’s ideals. Some successfully hold their own principles, while others fall through and lose themselves.
Could it be that the idea of morality is torn between; whose influences you bear and not what really matters to you personally? Somehow Huck tells me that I ought to do what I deem right and not what society deems that is right for me.
Alas, it all comes down to: Just be true to yourself and to be you.
Counting coins,
Vonnie S.
som1 is growing maturer becoming a level headed snake aldy. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat to do? Still wanna remain kids meh? Need to grow up and face reality.
ReplyDeleteThat's a very interesting way of interpreting it. I should get my hands on that book.
ReplyDeleteIt is. But I really hate the last 12 chapters. So messy. I rather you try A Thousand Splendid Suns.
ReplyDelete