The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Throughout the course of the novel the reader will take note that each aspect of Mark Twains' satire, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is controlled by society. Huck has certain moments of racial speech, while to Huck, may be considered innocent in some cases. Even still, his words where indeed influenced by aspects of society that persuaded him to believe that his actions where meaningless. Thus, to state that there is no form of naturalism in the novel, would be a clear lie. Separating naturalism from transcendentalism in this case is not simple, however, not unachievable.

It would be a clear statement of falsehood to say that there was no form of transcendentalism in the novel. Clearly the novel shows a black man and a young white boy befriending each other as well as helping one another achieve some sort of greater freedom. However, throughout the story the scenarios of transcendentalist situations where brought upon in naturalist forms. For example, throughout the story, Huck is constantly attempting to leave society but he always ends up in locations specific to societies living.
"Quick, Jim, it ain't no time for fooling around and moaning; there's a gang of murderers in yonder, and if we don't hunt up their boat and set her drifting down the river so these fellows can't get away from the wreck, there's one of 'em going to be in a bad fix. But if we find their boat we can put all of 'em in a bad fix - for the Sheriff 'll get 'em." (70)

It is noted that Huck will do anything possible to resist society, but often finds himself in these conformed situations. While this information does not do a tremendous job explaining the most obvious pieces to take from the story about naturalism, it does an excellent job of introducing the main basis behind the novel, and it having at least some sort of transcendentalist text.

Even still the novel is based around a naturalist philosophy. Understanding that the story is rooted around the bonds that society has over its people is the most important condition to note from the story. While Jim did find his freedom and Huck was relieved of his father, these situations where only achieved from having a great understanding of society's multiple points of view.

To begin to understand the naturalism behind the novel, it is important to know how and why the two had the sort of relationship that they had. Understanding this will open an array of better understanding between the reader and the knowledge gained from the story. In order to do this, two questions must be asked. The first being - how did society's actions influence Huck and Jim's relationship? The second question being - is it appropriate to define Huck and Jims relationship as a friendship based on societies tolerance to blacks at the time?

To answer the first question, there were many aspects of society that dictated the relationship between Jim and Huck. It dictated what times they would be on the river, how they would approach people that they had just met, even when and where they could and could not eat. In a humorous situation regarding Huck's want to better understand how the people of his town where thinking of him, Huck dresses as

a girl and attempts to persuade a family into giving him information about his own whereabouts. This demonstrates that the society was more trusting towards young girls rather than a young man. This is a keen property to note about the naturalist philosophy.

Blacks of the time where obviously not well respected. Keeping some sort of relationship between a black man and a white man would have been difficult in any sense. However, Huck as well as Jim had conflict with regards to the racial aspect of their friendship. Using the "N" word, Huck often refers to Jim. However, there is a plain sense of naturalism in this example. Huck never intends on understating Jim, while through the course of his life, he has taken to account that the darker of society's people where referred to as the "N" word. Thus society had a blatant control over the relationship; even still, it is incorrect to say that there was no friendship between the two young characters. In one incident regarding an escape by river on a raft, Huck was confronted with a predicament. He began to feel guilty for "taking someone else's property" (Jim). Society had fooled Huck into believing that it is right to own another human being. It is then safe to say that naturalism is the most noticed philosophy of literature present in the novel.
To finalize my arguments, this novel by Mr. Twain was created with the philosophy of naturalism in mind. There can be no doubt considering that each situation in the novel is brought upon by conditions forced by society. The base argument is that, while certain situations in the novel where obvious conditions of transcendentalism, they were always transitioned by naturalist thoughts. This is why the novel has patterns of satire.