Huck Finn's Observational Dilemma

            Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published in 1884 and has been hailed as the great American novel. Since its publication Huck Finn has been studied endlessly since then on its societal implications. One of the subjects of analysis in the novel is Huck’s perception of reality. As I said in a previous post, Huck questions the stories and practices he hears and sees. He finds logical inadequacies and picks at them with a thoughtful mind. However, one problem complicates this. Huck can notice and question problems but he has trouble forming conclusions due to his lack of experience and learning. The way I phrased it to some classmates is that Huckleberry Finn is intelligent but ignorant.

            His mindset is displayed quite well throughout the novel but one section struck me in particular. Toward the beginning of the novel he is listening to Miss Watson, the sister of the woman who is taking care of him, teach him about religion. I’m not going to call it Christianity because it is my belief that the past several centuries of Christians, especially in the early United States, entirely missed the point of the Bible and Christianity as a whole. I’ll not go any further with that because I’ll never stop writing if I get going with my many problems with the ‘Murican take on Christianity.

            Anyway, when Miss Watson tells Huck about Heaven, referred to as “the good place” in the novel, he asks if she thinks his best friend Tom Sawyer would go there. She responds with “not by a considerable sight,” which means hell no for those unfamiliar with nineteenth century speech patterns. Its also judgmental as hell and last time I looked Christians were—not supposed to get on this topic because it will dominate the post. Huck is glad for this answer to his query because he wants to be with his friend. Now, I’ll sidestep the tragic implication that Huck believes that he’s going to hell because of the ridiculous expectations forced on him and the other children by adults who should know better that kids are kids and should be allowed to be so, to focus on his conclusion.

            Huck is glad that Tom will not be going to the good place because that means that he and Tom can hang out together and continue to have adventures. His lack of education keeps him from realizing that he can draw his own conclusions and instead operates within the limitations of the conclusions provided him by the adults in his life. He does this again later on in the novel when he decides that he is going to help Jim, a runaway slave in the context of the day, which is illegal. Instead of declaring the system to be wrong and that helping Jim is the right thing to do, Huck decides that he’ll just have to be an outlaw. Its his lack of education that keeps him from realizing that he’s allowed to draw his own conclusions

            Just imagine how powerful his critical apparatus would be if he became an academic. He’s a small boy in this story and he’s already analyzing the world around him and noticing that some things don’t make sense. But he’s uneducated and insistent on staying that way. At the end of the novel he heads off into the wilderness because he does not want to remain in society.

This great figure of Americana was not brought up even once in class.
Such a missed opportunity.