Tuesday, November 26, 2013
The Messy Morality of Huck's World
I noticed this in the part of the story where "the king" and "the duke" put on a show only to rip off their audience. It is fairly quickly made clear that the two frauds are not very good people; while they are not extremely evil or malicious, they are liars and cheaters who basically steal these people's money. Thus, we, as the reader, at first thing that the king and duke will be the "bad guys" of the story and the audience the poor, cheated "good guys". However, when the audience reacts not by warning the rest of the town of the scam, but by plotting to deceive the rest of the town into being ripped off as well. Thus, it would seem the audience members who have been tricked are just as selfish and immoral as the frauds who tricked them. I feel like this shows how in the world of Huckleberry Finn, there really is no set right or wrong, no "good guys" or "bad guys". There is not a strict moral code that everybody follows and the whole idea of right and wrong seems to be very messy and confusing, especially to a young kid like Huck.
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I completely agree with this and feel that this goes along with the theme that society is corrupting. The people in this town all fall for this scam, but instead of telling the other people in their society, they let them fall for the scam as well. The people are given this ideal that scamming is okay when "the king" and "the duke" do it, so they allow them too. They do not perceive it as wrong like they should. The society is corrupting the townspeople and therefore the morals of right and wrong are confusing for Huck.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with both of you, however I do not quite understand Jordan what you mean by: "However, when the audience reacts not by warning the rest of the town of the scam, but by plotting to deceive the rest of the town into being ripped off as well." To my understanding the audience was the same all three nights and the last night on which the king and duke fled, the audience was planning on throwing garbage and rotten food at them. There is definitely satire in this scene as the crooks fool the town and escape. I agree, Jorden, that there is no strict moral code, especially in a time like this where slavery is an issue especially as they travel deeper south.
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