Nick Serrato Adventures of Huckleberry Finn We live in a society where people lie a lot. The lying of our time and the lying of our past times have dictated some events in the past and the future. In the book ​
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn​
by Mark Twain, lying occurs very frequently, for better or for worse. Huck Finn is a troubled boy who lives with his father, the town drunk. Obviously, Huck has terrible issues trusting people. Huck Finn has constantly been lied to, and lied to others throughout his thirteen year life. Through the lessons of Huck Finn, lying has shown to be productive and helpful in some occasions of desperation. There are good lies, bad lies, and also general lies. Occasionally, lies can be used to show protection and thoughtfulness. As an example, one could describe their friend as superhuman as baseball. Though that may be a lie, they say it for the positive reputation their friend gets. In ​
Huckleberry Finn, ​
Huck Finn wards off slave hunters by telling them about a fake smallpox outbreak in order to protect Jim, a runaway slave, from Widow Douglas. This shows Huck Finn has an affinity for Jim, the runaway slave, by saving him from the hunters. By telling a lie, Huck Finn saved Jim from a life of slavery. Although the morally correct thing of Huck Finn’s time is to turn Jim in, he does not because of his unorthodox rebellious ways which he grew up on. Although Huck Finn may have threatened the livelihood of the slave hunters, it was because of a sense of brotherhood. Jim has no idea of what Huck Finn has done in order to save him, but he subconsciously knows that Huck Finn is always looking out for him. Lies can change someone’s life in many positive ways. Most lies, however, get people hurt, or even killed. In the horrid event of lying for bad intentions, The Duke and The Dauphin tell even more lies than Huck Finn himself. Most of their lives are for bad intentions. The Duke and The Dauphin tell multiple lies in order to scam innocent townspeople. Their lies, such as pretending to be brothers of a wealthy dead man and demanding his fortune, prove that these two con men are no good liars. The Duke and the Dauphin have become addicted to lies and use them constantly to get money any way they can. The Duke and The Dauphin’s worst lie was telling a slave hunter that Jim was hiding with them so that they could get a cash reward. The slave hunters pillaged and ransacked in order to find Jim, which they did not. This proves that The Duke and The Dauphin will lie about anything to get money. Jim and Huck Finn struggle to hide away from the slave hunters, and find themselves in Tom Sawyer’s aunt’s house. This lying (for bad intentions) has proven that lying is a menace to society. In ​
Huckleberry Finn​
, lying occurs spontaneously, Huck Finn and other characters lie for good and/or bad reasons, The Duke and The Dauphin do it the most. One reason why Huck Finn lies so much is because of the society he lives in. He lies to survive. Possibly, Huck Finn lies simply because it’s the only thing he knows to do. He’s lost his grip on the truth, and lies because it’s the only thing he knows how to do. In ​
Huckleberry Finn​
, persistent lying from some characters makes their truths less valuable, and also their inner beliefs become disrupted. The Duke and The Dauphin claim that they are descendants from royalty, but it is hard to believe them due to their consistent tall tale­ing. Huck Finn is a young boy who doesn’t know any better, and lies because of his ignorance. An old folk tale example is The Boy Who Cried Wolf, where a young lad lies constantly about a wolf attacking him. The first time, people came to his aid, but as he told more lies, people started to not believe him, and when he was actually brutally mauled by a wolf, nobody came to rescue him. The Boy Who Cried Wolf was fake, but real situations like that happen all the time. The reason lies happen in ​
Huckleberry Finn​
is the same reason why lies happen in real life government. The government could potentially be a truthful system of operations that works. Unfortunately, like any other system, it becomes corrupt with greed and a hunger for power. These systems are usually based on lies and false promises of tranquility. Lying is just a part of life. On the matter of lying purposes, Huck Finn lying in order to save Jim is considered good. But The Duke and The Dauphin lying to get money is considered bad. These two situations can be looked at in opposite ways. Huck Finn lying to slave hunters is wrong because he did not tell the truth to an authority figure. The Duke and The Dauphin lying about having Jim, a runaway slave, in order to collect reward money can be seen as the right thing to do, because Jim is breaking the law, and The Duke and The Dauphin would be law abiding citizens by lying and saying that they have Jim, even though they don’t have him. Lies are, in many different ways, are morally correct and incorrect. ​
Huckleberry Finn​
questions one’s sense of right and wrong among lies that are beneficial for some, and bad for others. Lying occurs frequently throughout ​
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn​
, for better or for worse. On the lighter side, Huck Finn lies in order to protect Jim and to save him from the hunters. But on the darker side, The Duke and The Dauphin constantly lie in order to get money and other benefits. Characters in Huckleberry Finn​
lie in order to achieve personal wealth. But most of the time, in a system such as government, lying corrupts the system. For Huck Finn, a young, clueless boy, he seems to have a sense of right and wrong when it comes to lying, and is mature for that. For Huck Finn, lying is his scapegoat. And in our lives, lying is what makes us who we are.