In Civilization, Lance Morrow (1995) asserts that Mark TwainÆs Huckleberry Finn attacks a compendium of American issues, ôHuck Finn is one of the earliest and deepest texts on race and slavery on violence, on child abuse, alcoholism, class distinctions in America, hatred, hypocrisy, fraud, gaudily manifold stupidity, backwoods brainlessness, and lying in all its forms-creative, vicious and otherwise,ö (25). From this compendium of social ills, the unlikely hero of the novel, Huckleberry Finn, emerges. Huck must survive a variety of ordeals during his adventures in the novel. He suffers from a motherless childhood, an abusive alcoholic father, and an environment filled with racism, thievery, and liars of one sort of another. Huck uses a variety of survival strategies to endure this world, from passive resistance and escape to thievery and lying. However, HuckÆs biggest challenge of survival is moral rather than physical in nature. It is his survival over this moral challenge that makes him emerge as heroic.
Huckleberry Finn is a motherless child who suffers from an abusive and alcoholic father, Pap. Pap is fond of stealing, lying, beating Huck, and exhibits a racist mentality. Huck is locked up in the cabin for long periods of time. Huck is young at this point, both physically and morally. His main survival strategy is passive resistance. He takes his beatings and keeps his mouth shut, silently enduring his torment while he awaits a chance to escape. By faking his own death, Huck is able to survive the tortured world of his upbringing. Huck will eventually find a loving and caring presence in the character of Jim. Jim is also a survivor. However, Perkins and Perkins (1999) argue in their introduction to the novel that both Huck and Jim are survivors, but HuckÆs brand of survival is more instinctual, they do so in a different manner: ôHuckÆs psychological situation is similar to that of a slave like JimàMotivate...