Tom Sawyer as Role Model

There is always a very thin line between a teenager’s decision to do good or bad. There are always faced with a big dilemma and more so if their role models and people they look up to succeed by doing evil. During these scene Tom Sawyer was Huck’s role model and he was a member of a local gang that killed and terrorized people. In order for someone to be enrolled as member they have to agree with the group rules where you are required to kill your family members if you break any of the rules.

One of the boys however realized that Huck did not have a real family and hence would not have anyone to kill incase he broke any of the group rules. It was therefore very unfair to them in case he joined them. However, Huck had to find his way in into the group and therefore he offered Miss Watson to be killed in order to join the group offering an innocent person to be killed in order to join a gang is very unethical and hence at this very point his immorality was at the peak.

He had to make a conscious decision to do good or bad and this was a vital point of his moral transformation.

Huck also encountered a major dilemma when he and his friend Jim were sailing on small boat came across a wrecked steamboat that had three criminals. At this very point Huck decided to sail away and left the three criminals stranded.

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However he realized that he had left them to die and even if they were criminals they also deserved to be offered some help. Huck also thought that he may also become a murderer one day and probably find himself in the very same situation and need some help as well. This is the very first occasion that he considers what how actions could probably affect other people and hence he decided to call the captain who investigates the wrecked steam boats and helps the three men to get out of the situation.

Although these three men were murderers he could not justify their death and hence the right thing to do at this point was to help them and leave the rest to them to decide. His moral progression from being a young boy to a young man had taken place in this scene. His major role was to make a conscious decision based on his instincts of whether to do good or evil to the men. If he left them to die their deaths would be on him justifiably because he was the only one who saw them but never did anything to solve the problem. This improved his moral judgment and problem solving capability as well.

Through the entire book both Jim and Huck are good friends and Jim plays a major role in his moral progression and helping him makes right decisions. His loyalty to him is undivided and always wished Huck well. However, upon arrival to Cairo Huck is faced with moral dilemma that differentiates a boy from a man. He either had to keep his promise to his friend Jim or turn him in as a runaway slave. There was a thin line between complying with the societal standards and fighting for his friend’s freedom. Jim had been a loyal friend all along but the society could change anytime and leave him alone.

At this point he felt guilty and does not think it is right to help Jim steal his family considering he was a slave. However, he was finally able to make the right decision, that proved that he had progressed from being a boy to a man. He states that he would rather go to hell but get his friend the ultimate freedom. At this point he was able to set his own moral standards that were different from societal expectation. The ability to become a critical thinker and make the right decision was proving that he had finally progressed from being a boy to a man. It would be very unfair and ethical if he complied with the society and left his all time friend Jim alone to suffer and his family to die in slavery. This was the true test of his loyalty and moral intelligence.