Does Huckleberry Finn embody the values of the American Dream?
12 Comments
Seren G
3/12/2015 12:28:43 am
I think that Huckleberry Finn embody the values of the American Dream. In the novel, Huckleberry Finn, Twain gives us information about the slavery life and racism. For example, Jim, is an African American slave in the novel, who escaped from the slavery because he wasn't treated equally like as white people, Ms. Watson, the slave owner, wanted to sell Jim to someone else, and Jim escaped from slavery to gain freedom and this shows how important and valuable freedom was for the slaves and also for other people, like Huck, who escaped from his abusive father. This example shows the audiences the life of a slave and the racism that took place in the novel. Huck, who became best friend with the slave and took many risks to save Jim and rescue him from slavery because he thought that slavery was wrong and he opposed the racism and this shows a good relationship, and friendship between Huck and Jim. Huck also become more close to his religion after his difficult experiences.Mark Twain gives the audiences a knowledge about the America in the past in the "Huckleberry Finn" novel, so the audiences can understand how important freedom was in the past and that racism was taking place in the past which had a negative impact on African American slaves.
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Jasmin Church
3/12/2015 02:14:15 am
Yes, Huckleberry embody the American Dream which including in this novel. Huckleberry Finn is an outsider that values the American society in the 19th century. He decides against the values of the Southern States and therefore friendship with slave Jim. Together they escape from society on a raft along the Mississippi River. Whether they try to get freedom, Huck decides consciously for Jim. Which is considered as a important moral values of the American Dream. Mark Twain, wrote in the novel about American Dream,to show others who read to comprehend how the feeling was.
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M. Lid
3/13/2015 07:29:28 pm
The novel Huckleberry Finn does include the image of an American Dream. However, it is presented as something that the main character, Huckleberry Finn, wants no part of. Huck has from the beginning of the book the opportunity to live the American Dream. He has gained the financial security that the American Dream seeks, and he has the opportunity to learn to be part of society when he is living with the two ladies that want to raise him in a Christian way. Instead of taking advantage of these opportunities, like most people would think is the rational way to go, Huck is repelled by the boundaries he feels the material objects and society puts on him. After spending his time with a bed in a house sneaking out to sleep in the woods, he chooses to give away all his money, and travel with nothing in his pockets to the great unknown. As he travels down the river he is presented with other ideas of the American Dream, but every time he chooses not to be a permanent part of it. Huck feels like an outsider whenever he is on the inside of society. He feels more comfortable going his own path on the outside of society. This makes the book controversial because at the time most people would give a lot to have the chances that Huck throws away. The satire shows that Huck has found the secret to a truly happy life when he chooses love and friendship over material goods.
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Ida-Kristine H. Aukan
3/15/2015 02:11:16 am
The novel Huckleberry Finn does show the image of the American Dream. The American Dream is presented through the main character Huckleberry Finn, who wants no part of it. In the beginning of the book Huck Finn had everything that would represent the ideals of the American Dream. He had great wealth, the opportunity to become a part of the «wealthy» and fine part of society, also he was following the rules of society. By becoming educated, having manners, doing what was expected of him and sharing the views that his aunts did Huckleberry Finn was living the so called American Dream. Like stated before Huck did not want any part of it, by seeping outside, befriending the slave Jim, giving away all his money, and choosing away his former life for a more free one, one can see that Huck is going against everything that represents the American Dream. Also when Huck starts his journey down the river he is faced with many situations where the American Dream is represented but he choses to have no lasting part of it. Twain is showing how Huck has found the key to true happiness, by choosing friendship and loyalty rather than what would gain himself.
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Dylan N
3/15/2015 04:11:30 am
Huckleberry Finn does embody American dreams. The idea of being financially stable and wealthy is something he has at the beginning of the novel. He has money that Americans would want to have all their lives at the age of ten and has no need of it. He also has the idea that he does not want to be part of the system or stablished rules. He wants to break away and be different. He wants to have the freedom that he wants and achieves through traveling down the river. He also has a true friend that he finds in Jim. Though Jim is a runaway slave he gets to become a friend that Huck can truly rely on and also signifies a movement in the feeling of America at the time.
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Trent W.
3/15/2015 06:00:07 am
Yes I think Huckleberry does embody the American Dream in this novel. Twain gives us information about the slavery life and racism. For example, Jim, is an African American slave who escaped from the slavery because he wasn't treated equally like as white people he was about to be sold when he escaped and tries to runaway to be a free man which shows us the importance of freedom to slaves. Huck also shows the value of freedom when he escapes and runs away from his father who kept him locked up in a house in the woods. Huck becomes friends with a slave and even tries to rescue him because he thinks slavery is wrong and opposes racism due to his strong relationship and friendship the he has made with Jim. Twain shows the importance of freedom in this novel by showing that racism was taking place in the past which had a negative impact on African American slaves.
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Anthony D.
3/15/2015 07:53:09 am
The term "American dream" is credited to the historian James Truslow Adams, who thought of it in 1931, he used this term to try and create an appealing image to immigrants from all nations. Spreading the word that everyone has a chance to make it big in America. During the sixteenth century, Europe was suffering from religious prosecution and political oppression, the great pilgrims everybody knows today left Europe for these reasons, coming to America in search of a land with religious freedoms and such. So when you come to think about it, the American dream always existed. In The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn, there is a sense of the American dream in several different ways. The characters in the book all have different goals or "American dreams", Jim's is to be free with his wife and children, Huck's is to be a free man who can do whatever he wants without authority, Tom's is just simply a lifetime of adventure. However to everybody else it seems as though the American dream is something else, its about being free, but most of all successful and rich, or having everything you've ever wanted. But in some characters case such as the ones I just named, their desires and dreams were exactly what I stated. Therefore everyone's view of the American dream is different. The Adventures Of huckleberry Finn embodies the American dream very vividly, and shows that everybody can dream differently.
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Natasha A.
3/15/2015 08:36:52 pm
In the novel, Huckleberry Finn, Huck has made his own American Dream. He views freedom solely as being away from his restrictions that society has placed him under. Huck goes against the grain when he makes his way north with Jim, a slave to Miss Watson, and develop a friendship on their journey. Though, befriending a slave or any black being at that time was get you shunned and/or perceived in a negative way. As they both escape from their troubled dilemmas they run into many obstacles and Huck comes into a new intelligence and starts to think for himself. He has his owns valued morals of right and wrong. For example, Huck begin to care more about what happens to Jim and when Jim is capture instead of just continuing without him he find Jim and frees him once again. Huck doesn't live exactly by the guidelines of the American Dream but he does get the concept of freedom out of it and makes his own dreams happen. So in a way Huck does live the American Dream.
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Michael Y
3/16/2015 02:31:36 am
The book Huckleberry Finn includes many different characters in many different settings. Huck begins in a very grim setting with his father mistreating him. He fakes his own death and escapes his father's control. In that way, he was following his own sort of American Dream. His friendship with Jim and travels were very different from the normal way of living, especially in the South. This was possible because of the American Dream though they were in danger the entire book. Despite the danger, they managed to survive reasonably well. Jim's dream was to be free back with his family which we don't know if he achieved. Huck's dream was to be away from everyone who wanted to control him. In a way, he wanted to be free just like Jim. The idea of the American Dream is different for everyone but similar in they want to be able to live a happy and comfortable life.
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Alberto L.
3/17/2015 04:10:15 am
In elements of the American dream are embodied in Twain’s novel, but with a rather mocking twist. The fact that Huck has the chance of living with Miss Watson, which seems to have a good amount of money, as well as being a highly educated woman, shows how he is already living the American Dream even before the book starts. However when Huck is taken away to his dad, he rather escapes away from everyone instead of returning to Miss Watson. By doing this Huck has shown that he neither appreciates the suppression of his father or the common perception of the American Dream. When Twain introduces the escaped Jim, another version of the struggle to the American Dream arises, and the two go together to achieve their freedom, and fulfilling their different views of the American Dream. Twain is attempting, throughout his whole novel, to ridicule the American people and immigrants, who search for freedom and opportunity, the two main things associated with the American Dream. Twain is trying to show how what you are striving to achieve might be right behind you, and that sometimes it might be better to stay and find out what might happen rather than escape. This is shown in the end of the book when we learn that Jim had been free all along, and that their journey and struggles had just been a waste of time.
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Hannah S.
3/22/2015 01:50:11 am
I think Mark Twain uses the american dream to help write Huckleberry Finn. Huck and Jim throughout the story are trying to become free and make their own lives for themselves. They both can go out and try to make something for themselves. They improve their lives, and become happier on their journey to escaping. The Duke and the King are also part of the american dream. They wanted to make more money and they went out and scammed people out of it, which no isn't what the american dream is all about. However they had the liberty to try different things. Plus the fact that Twain uses the american dream as a theme throughout the book gives the book a different side than just a boy leaving his family.
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Evin P.
3/26/2015 04:57:58 am
Yes, I do believe that Huckleberry, throughout the story, embodies the values of the American Dream. He is one of those characters that learn along the way and that shows. He also is one that likes material wealth instead of knowledge wealth. He doesn't care for religion. He also has no care for racism. It is something that he does not do.
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