The True Lies of Huckleberry Finn

Huck begins his narrative by telling us that his book is modeled after a book about his real-life hero, Tom Sawyer. Huck also gives us the notion that he is concerned with what is true and what is not, a theme that continues throughout his story, though he grants that everybody tells some stretchers. (Why do we believe Huck isn't making up his story? Because he recognizes truth when he sees it--something other characters here can't seem to do.)

His adventures begin when he leaves town, friends and father, by faking his death to raft down the Mississippi River. While attempting to free himself from the constraints of civilization, he meets up with a different kind of runaway, Jim, the slave of Miss Watson. To escape capture and recognition, Huck employs his masterful ability to conceal the truth with all kinds of stretchers and false identities. Huck comes to realize that civilization is more than stuffy (having escapes the legalist, Miss Watson), but also corrupt and disingenuous. They meet up with hypocritical Grangerfords and the fraudulent King and Duke, on top of a number of outright murderers and thieves.  Perhaps pragmatism is the most authentic substitution for religion, Huck reasons, all the while avoiding authenticity, himself.  It's a good idea, that has worked for him and kept him alive...so far. Until his pragmatism comes up against the  Face of the Other. Huck has a moral crisis when he must decide between being true to a corrupt society or true to himself. (No accident here that Mark Twain uses a little boy, who is in his pure and natural state of consciousness, to decided for himself what is the Good. Twain believes we are shaped by our surroundings.) Only problem is that being true to his inner goodness means ditching pragmatism. Hmmmm...

So, can you escape civilization?  Huck tried and he'll keep on trying, but time and again, his trail (or raft) will lead him right back to...himself.