Morality and ethics

Morality and ethics

Introduction

The adventures of the author in Huckleberry Finn is the follow-up and its dumps the readers back in the Southern pre-war world. It is only this period that the adventurers were not liberty-threatening. Huckleberry Finn is a poor child whose father is an abusive drunk. Therefore, he runs away but encountered another runaway. There is a strong feature of ethics and morality in the novel, and it is set in contrary to the backdrop of social satisfaction. Therefore, the novel illustrates how individuals make their moral choices. Moreover, the author shows how the title character is discovering his moral voice. For instance, his deep relationship with Jim and the conflict friendship help Huckleberry to differentiate between artificial morality in unjust laws and the real moral truths of friendship as well as universal human rights. The decision-making process of Huckleberry reflects on both virtue ethics and Kantian deontological ethics.

https://www.grin.com/document/381043

Man is the only slave, and therefore, he is the only creature that enslaves. That is, he has been a slave in many forms and has always held other people in bandage in one way or the other (). The paper discusses morality and ethics as one of the themes in the book. Based on the moral approach of the literature, there are fundamental and essential values of humankind. The center of the book, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is the nature of man. Some philosophers believe that literature can foster virtue since it is a source of moral and spiritual inspiration ().

From the perspective of Kantian deontological ethics, the fugitive slave law is morally unfair. That is, it upholds a morally turbid social and economic system by requiring that all witnesses of runaway slaves report the transgression to the relevant authorities. But as a white child, Finn has never been taught to question the morality of slavery. He has been raised to believe that the whites are superior to the blacks.  The strictest interpretation of Kantian ethics would struggle to solve the moral conflict of Huckleberry Finn. In contrast, Huckleberry connects moral virtue with obedience to the social ethics that govern society. Thus, modern society is associated with human dignity and friendship. In the long run, Huckleberry Finn found that there is a difference between morality and law, especially when the law becomes unjust.

https://contentserver.adobe.com/store/books/HuckFinn.pdf

The novel illustrates that children can hardly make judgment on things. However, they often follow social conventions and beliefs in their understanding, and this is why Huckleberry considered Jim to be the main issue when they met after escaping from the abusive father. Huckleberry promised Jim his loyalty, but later he realized that he made a mistake. This could interfere with his future, particularly when someone finds out that he was helping a slave to escape. Huckleberry would estimate Jim’s accomplice. As a result, he could be nicknamed a low-down, which is a term referring to a person who is in favor of slave trade abolition.

On the other hand, he was afraid about the consequences if the truth comes out, and this is the reason he was scared to denounce Jim. Furthermore, Huckleberry lied that it is needed to protect Jim by saying, “(‘He’s white.’ ‘I reckon we’ll go and see for ourselves.’ (Book). During those days, it is a major crime to help, hide, and shelter a slave than to engage in robbery. In return, those who were in favor of slaves were being rewarded and were branded as slave stealers. So, they could either end up losing their properties or serve a jail term. The worst punishment was execution to the slave stealers during the journey. It can hardly be imagined how tough it was for Huckleberry to accompany Jim. But Huckleberry bore the responsibility for his decision. Despite being afraid, Huckleberry did the right thing.

The opinion of other authors

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1095995.pdf

According to Churchill (1982), morals are human behaviors, where morality becomes the practical act as ethics describes the systematic and rational reflection on human behavior. Values are connected to beliefs and attitudes; hence, they guide human behavior ().  Morality and ethics are firmly attached to the society. It implies that morality and ethics are sources of human values, standards, and struggles to locate the social condition of human beings. Therefore, morality and ethics become a way of life, and they cannot be separated from other aspects of life experiences like what Huckleberry Finn experienced in the novel.

The theoretical basis of Western morals depend on important contributions from various scholars and philosophers such as Dewey, Kohlberg and Kant. Greek philosophers influenced these individuals. Huckleberry portrayed a moral truth which is socially constructed and formed through immersion in the social body. People do not live in either moral or ethical isolation, but they grow up within a given moral traditions. Chowdhury asserts that liberation can only flourish if individuals hold some moral and ethical values (). In the modern world, technology is influencing society in universal ways while maintaining its position. Similarly, people are also being influenced by society. The rapid changes, as well as increased societal complexities, underpin the relevance of morality and ethics, including their importance to society.

The new freedom which former slaves enjoyed failed to save them from oppression. Similarly, the reconstruction period did not improve their social conditions in which they live. The novel might not depict only the local situations before the civil war, but it highlighted the status which followed the emerging oppression during the reconstruction period. This may be the major reason why the book was banned in that it was too provocative and truthful. Some parts of the novel seem to be racist, but its legacy is anti-slavery.  Virtue ethics highlight the moral, upright nature of the characters. For example, Huckleberry reacted to the calling of his morality with virtue. This reveals that he does not speak the truth, but reflects the voice of a racist culture from where he was born. Society threatens to impart its set of ethical standards on Huckleberry based on race and gender. Nevertheless, Huckleberry is aware that slavery dehumanizes and race does not determine the relative value of an individual in society. Selecting friendship and justice over the law is a clear evidence that Huckleberry in morally right. Therefore, he does not need to learn moral values to make independent decisions.

Conclusion

In the entire novel, Huckleberry Finn is confronted with circumstances that require him to choose between a rigid moral framework like those proposed by Kant and virtue ethical framework. He often opts for actions that showcase his virtue. Besides, Huckleberry veers towards utilitarianism in the sense that he does not mind breaking the law as long as such actions promote the common good.