Huck Finn - Theme

There are many themes that run through Huck Finn, but my favorite is one that we learned about earlier in the year while reading Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thereou. The theme that runs throughout both works of literature is that the majority is not always right. In Civil Disobedience, the majority was the government, in Huck Finn, its the white man in the American Society. We see this majority rule as Huck struggles to free Jim, a slave that would otherwise be sold.

Huck learns at a very young age that black men are not to be treated equal, and because the majority believes this, so does Huck. He also is brainwashed into believing that if he doesn't follow the rules of the majority he will go to Hell. We know this because towards the end he makes a famous statement that he is "willing to go to Hell" if it means freedom for Jim.

We see the majority rule in other ways besides just blacks vs. whites in this book. When the King and the Duke are posing as the brothers of the deceased man and he has convinced everyone to believe them. Finally, when only one man stands up against him and tries to show that they are frauds, nobody will believe him.

Another instance is the Sherburn/Boggs episode. It starts out with Sherburn killing Boggs, a man that has threatened Sherburn many times. After he does so, one man rallies up enough people to go after Sherburn that soon everyone joins because they think if this large group thinks Sherburn should be hung, then they must be right. I like this instance the best, because Sherburn points out that without Buck Harkness the group would have never even pressed charges. Once again, the power of numbers attracts people into believing that if so many people believe in this idea, it must be correct.

All in all, I think this theme can teach us a couple of life lessons. Obviously, not to always follow the crowd, and also to not be afraid to have your own thoughts, ideas, and feelings. It's easy to follow the crowd because there is so much power in numbers. But as Huck learned in the end, when he goes against his beliefs of slavery, the crowd isn't always right.