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The Illusion of Freedom: Huckleberry Finn's Moral Epiphany

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The irony, however, is that, even if a person escapes the physical boundaries of his society, he still carries its psychological baggage with him. Twain’s dark suggestion is that Huck will never truly be free because, wherever he goes, those cultural messages and values will always be with him. Escape and freedom from this inner tyranny are illusions. To paraphrase an old adage, “No matter where you try to run from yourself, there you are.” Even the geographic movement of the story underscores this point. Huck and Jim are trying to reach freedom, but, ironically, end up traveling down the river - toward slavery. 

(…) All of this raises the question of the extent to which early training (i.e. indoctrination) can be overcome by later experience. It is a question to which Twain offers no easy answers. The reader cannot help but be struck by the underlying pessimism with which he approaches the issue. If training is everything, how can anyone escape the mental enslavement of his or her upbringing? In order to truly deny and negate the values of one’s culture, not only would a great deal of counter-training be necessary, but also, a tremendous amount of moral courage would need to be summoned. This is a quality which Twain emphatically believes most human beings lack. He makes this point with withering acerbity in Colonel Sherburn’s speech to the mob in chapter 22, which might just as well be Twain, himself, speaking directly to the reader. The address is savagely disdainful, and denounces the average person as a coward. It also decries the mob mentality, wherein no one has the fortitude to go against the majority, or to act without it. So long as these are parts of human nature, the attainment of true freedom will be as likely as Sisyphus getting his rock to the top of the hill. We are all slaves in our own way. According to Twain, we are likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remains one of Mark Twain’s most profound meditations on human nature. In it, he holds a magnifying mirror up to the face of mankind, revealing every blemish in all its repulsiveness. The satire invites the reader to laugh (or sneer) at the ignorant and inhumane actions of the characters, thus allowing a little emotional distance. The complacent reader will simply conclude that he or she is “better than that,” and walk away with a smug sense of superiority. The meditative reader, however, will recognize the universality of Twain’s observations, and, perhaps, confront his or her own blemishes. Such deep psychological insight, coupled with the ability to provoke a thoughtful internal dialogue within the reader, is a mark of literary greatness of the highest order. For that reason alone, the novel richly deserves its exalted position in the American literary canon.