Ｔｈｅ Ｐｒｏｃｅｓｓ ｏｆ Ｈｕｃｋｌｅｂｅｒｒｙ Ｆｉｎｎ＇ｓ Ｍｏｒａｌ Ｄｅｖｅｌｏｐｍｅｎｔ

[收稿日期]2009年9月8日

[作者簡介]李翠翠(1983～ ):女，空軍航空大學(xué)外語教研室助教，東北師范大學(xué)外國語學(xué)院英語語言文學(xué)碩士。

[摘 要]\"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn\"vividly depicts the adventurous life of Huck and the runaway Negro slave Jim and reveals profoundly the cruelty of the so-called American civilization and portrays the appalling truths regarding slavery which pervaded the South，thus shows Huck's earnest yearning for the ideal spiritual world.This paper elaborates and analyses the mental process of Huck's moral development to pursue the spiritual freedom.

[關(guān)鍵詞]slavery civilization moral freedom

[中圖分類號]I106 [文獻(xiàn)標(biāo)識碼]A [文章編號]1009-5489(2009)11-0120-02

Ⅰ.Introduction

Mark Twain is a very famous humorous and satirical writer in American literature.He is called\"The true father of American literature.\"His childhood was mostly spent in Hannibal on the Mississippi River.There he developed a passion for the river and most of his works reflect various things happening on it.The story of\"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn\"is one of them.In this novel all of Huck's virtues come from his good heart and his sense of humanity，for most of the things that he was taught in real world turned out to be wrong.During the adventure along the Mississippi River，he experienced the progress of moral development.

Ⅱ.The Background of Morality Formation

Huck is a poor boy about 13 years old who has no mother and no home，just has a drunkard father who beats him frequently.He comes from the lowest level in white society and no any chance to enjoy family warmth.He is adopted by the Widow Douglas，is a kind but stifling woman who lives with her sister，the self-righteous Miss Watson.Huck gets habit of living in free environment and is none thrilled with his new life of cleanliness，manners，church and school which is forced to do by Widow Douglas，the boring environment let him feels lonely and no friend around him，even he feels sadness when he hears natural sounds.

Furthermore，his brutish drunkard father Pap often beats him.It is too difficult for him to endure his abuse.When he just begins to adapt the living way in Douglas his father reappears in his life.Pap thinks it is a kind of shame for him that his son has knowledge even Huck just only can read several characters and living in better environment than him.It seems that they are no any intimate emotion but only the blood relationship between them.These sad experiences lead Huck has strong mind to escape from his daily life.

It seems that Huck cannot live in a'civilized\"way by nature.He can read the Bible but he cannot understand the meaning and always want to go to the hell; he can read several characters in school and get a picture for his good study but he feels like be kidnapped to dressed in new clothes.It is easier for him to suit free environment in forest.So the society cannot offer a right belief or moral value which suit to Huck，even law cannot offer a good condition for his growth in an efficient way.Here Huck begins tired of this kind of civilization and starts to doubtful everything especially social moral and social rules that surround him，he distrusts the morals and percepts of the society that treats him as an outcast and fails to protect him from abuse.

Ⅲ.The Process of Morality Formation

After faking his own death by killing a pig and spreading its blood all over the cabin，he hided on Jackson's Island in the middle of the Mississippi River and there he encounters another hero of this novel who breaks the law and risks his life to win his freedom.Then following strong conflict in Huck's heart he begins his adventures with Jim along the river.Morn than one time he needs to make a choice about surrendering runaway black slave Jim as social rules'requirement or protecting him as his real friend.These two conflicts more and more vehement with the novel progresses and impenetrate the mental process for Huck's moral development.

The similar experience and potential danger make Huck and Jim team up and escape together，both of them pursue freedom which belong to themselves.During their adventures，Jim always takes care of Huck heart and soul as father to son，even Huck never enjoys this kind of feeling from his real father.Huck contributes much aid to Jim's mission for freedom，and thus learns many truths about society.The sincere emotion unsteadies Huck's morality.When they were ready to shove off they were a quarter of a mile below the island，Huck incorrectly assumes that people can spot a black person from far away.At this point，he still holds the belief that blacks are essentially different from whites.But in order to assure Jim's safety he is carefully enough and considers their troubles in the round as possible as he could，these express their endless solicitude.

During a night of thick fog，Huck and Jim miss the mouth of the Ohio and encounter a group of men looking for escaped slaves.Huck has a brief moral crisis about concealing stolen\"property\"because he thinks Jim belongs to Miss Watson.On the one hand，Watson is the owner of Jim and she treats Huck well and takes care of him carefully，so Huck thinks he should take Jim back to Watson.On the other hand，Huck was brought up in white society although he is just a drunkard's child belongs the lowest social status，but he remain is educated that what is different between white people and Negro slave.So he thinks it is his duty to tell Watson how to find Jim.It is the first leap in Huck's moral development.He begins to feel social rules against Negros was unpardonable by his heart.

Ⅳ.The Breaking off with the Real World

For both Huck and Jim，the Mississippi River is the ultimate symbol of freedom.However，they soon find that they are not completely free from the evils and influences of the towns on the river's banks，the real world intrudes on the paradise of the raft.In this transition from idyllic retreat to source of peril，the river mirrors the complicated state of the South and offers many chances to Huck to realize the real world.Each escape exists in the larger context of a continual drift southward，toward the Deep South and entrenched slavery.After Duck and Dauphin sell Jim to aunt Sally Huck ever thought to write a letter to Watson and told her where she can find Jim，but after he thinks it over and over again he felt good and all washed clean of sin for the first time he had ever felt so in his life，then he decides to help Jim even God punishes him.

Huck's good nature leads him to do the right things although it is seems that he is wrong as what he has been taught in white society，it forces him to reject everything that\"civilization\"has given him.So at the end of the novel when aunt Sally want to adopt him，it is nature for him to refuse it.Aunt Sally has prepared everything for Huck that everybody should have:religion，clothe and food，education，moral value and so on.But Huck does not think they are useful for his growing up，it is much better to learn everything in his own way.Here Huck has surpassed this society totally and broke off with the real world completely.During this adventure Huck finished his moral development and get freedom in his spiritual life.

Ⅴ.Conclusion

The story tells about the social evil of slavery through the eyes of an innocent child.Huck represents natural life through his freedom of spirit，his uncivilized ways and his desire to escape from civilization.Along the Mississippi River，his Humanitarianism ultimately triumphs.Mark Twain utilizes the plot to express the immorality of life in the south during the 1800s，he depicts the code of slavery in the south and quest for independence of a slave and a young boy.In nineteen thirty-five，Ernest Hemingway wrote:\"All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark twain called'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'.There was nothing before.And there has been nothing as good since.\"

[參考文獻(xiàn)]

[1]DeVoto，Bernard.\"Introduction，\"The Portable Mark Twain，1946.

[2]Mark Twain，The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn，青島出版社2003年版。

[3]Meltzer，Milton.\"Mark Twain:A Writer's Life，\"The American Scholar，1985.

[4]劉暉《試論〈哈克貝利#8226;費恩歷險記〉的主題》，《湖北教育學(xué)院學(xué)報》2005年第3期。

[5]馬克#8226;土溫著，賈文浩、賈文淵譯:《哈克貝利#8226;芬歷險記》，北京燕山出版社出版。

[6]張震久:《永不晦暗的藝術(shù)形象——談〈哈克貝利#8226;芬歷險記〉》，《河北師院學(xué)報》(社會科學(xué)版)1996年第3期。