Analyzing The Theme Of Conscience In 'The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn'

ESSAY 1: CONSCIENCE In this essay, I intend to answer the question on what a conscience is and whether one’s conscience could be wrong. This essay will be divided in three sections. In the first section, I will explain what a conscience is. In the second, I will explain if one’s conscience is always right or if one’s conscience could be wrong and how one would know if their conscience is wrong. In the final section, I will bring to light what I believe I have shown in this essay.
SECTION ONE: What is it to have a conscience? To have a conscience is to have morality. Morality is a set of rules or principals that one lives by that would guide them to determine right from wrong. For example, with the Christian and Catholic religions, their morality …show more content…
Huck was helping a slave named Jim, who also his friend, escape slavery. Huck’s conscience told him that helping Jim escape was wrong and that he should turn Jim in. His conscience ate at him and made him feel guilty for going against what he was taught, which was that slave owning was rightful and Jim was rightfully owned. Knowing this, Huck still helps Jim to escape slavery, something that went against his conscience and moral values. Huck eventually decides to give up on his moral values because he realizes that following his conscience will lead to something bad for his friend Jim and he will feel just as bad as not following his conscience. We now know that slavery is wrong, so by Huck going against his conscience he actually did the right thing, even though he felt like he did the wrong thing at the time (Scalet and …show more content…
I have also given an example of how one could not follow their conscience and feel guilt for not following, but in the end made the right decision. Following or choosing to not follow one’s conscience is not always as easy. Huck struggled with going against his conscience and did not feel like he made the right decision. The Officer thought he did the right thing following his conscience and took the life of a teenager but later found out he was wrong, which probably brought guilt after. From my examples, I have shown it is not always clear when one makes the right decision by following or choosing not to follow their conscience. The realization that one either made the right or wrong decision comes after the action or decision has been made, surely after some heavy thinking. In the case of the officer his realization that he was wrong came from the judgment of a court and in the case of Huck his realization that he was right came after he realized that his moral values were not right and that his friend should not be a slave. I know for me, I have been told many times to always follow my gut or first instinct when taking a test and many times those answers were still not right after following my gut. So, I think it is safe to say that following one’s gut or conscience is not always the right thing to do because one’s conscience cannot possibly