Rubin Shah
Dr. Vinetta Bell
Adv. English 11
(H)
February 18, 1997
Moral Development, according to the Webster's
dictionary means an improvement or
progressive
procedure taken to be a more ethical person, and to distinctly differentiate
between
right and
wrong. The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn and The Great Gatsby, both pose as pieces
of literature
that vividly portray moral development through the narrator's point of
view. Mark
Twain, the author
of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, wants the reader to see and focus on
the search for
freedom. As on the other hand, Francis
Scott Fitzgerald, author of Great Gatsby,
wants you to see
the American Dream, which is a freedom as well, a socio-economic freedom.
These authors
have chosen their narrators well, as we see a significant number of action that
have
brought them to
be ethically developed. Narration in a story
is important, and is usually told by a
main
character. These narrators face a world
of confusion, a world of fear, a world of adventure,
and most of all,
a world of opportunity. By these things
I mean that Nick Caraway, and
Huckleberry Finn
have a chance to mature as time progresses though the novel, and then make a
remarkable move
to end up as a hero. The narrators of
The Great Gatsby and The Adventures
of Huckleberry
Finn develop morally as the relate the story that reflects each one's position
in
society.
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The Great Gatsby, by Fitzgerald, is narrated by
Nick Caraway. Nick is a sophisticated
observer of
character, who starts out as an amoral person.
His character is a very peculiar one,
because he is
somewhat neutral though this whole story, especially without condemning others
of
what they don't
have. "Whenever you feel like
criticizing anyone, just remember that all the
people in this
world haven't had the advantages you've had". This advice was given to Nick by his
father, which
stuck to him ever since. This quote
reflects a little bit of Nick's personality.
He
tends to hold
judgements to himself, which opened up a lot of curious natures. He doesn't seem
to be involved
with what is going on , but is still aware of everyone's actions. Another character
that has a major
role in this story is Jay Gatsby. Gatsby
is a person with a dream...the American
Dream, which is
done by visualization of his boyhood ambitions like those of Benjamin Franklin.
Gatsby, in the
story trys to test Nick's amoral position, by dragging him into an illegal
business
deal. Nick falls for this deal, but the admits to
the fact that Gatsby stood for everything that Nick
dislikes. Such as the big parties, the "living on
the edge" sort of life style.
"They're a rotten
crowd," 'I
shouted across the lawn'. "You're
worth the whole damn bunch put together."..'.I've
always been glad
I said that. It was the only compliment
I ever gave him, because I disapproved
of him from the
beginning to the end'. This is a quote uttered by Nick, directed to
Gatsby. This
confession has to
with examples of the social class. Nick
is coming from a poor background and
made it rich
through business and hard work. But in
this tome-period what ever class you were
born into, you
stayed in there. Nick on the other hand
comes from a wealthy background and
knows all the
details to the upperclass. This example is one of many that Nick dislikes for
everything that
Gatsby stands for. As Nick's moral
development starts to get mature, Nick finally
begins to accept
Gatsby as a person who is trying to search for a dream- a noteworthy one. This
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3
time Gatsby is
after Daisy. He thinks he can win her
love with his wealth. "I'm going to
call up
Daisy, and invite
her over for tea". This is a
conversation between Nick and Gatsby, Nick knows
that classes
won't agree, but again tends to keep his judgements to himself. Eventually as time
pass, Nick and
Gatsby become the best of friends, discussing everything from affairs of
relationships, to
affairs of business. "I thanked him
for his hospitality, we were always thanking
him for that...'goodbye,
I enjoyed breakfast, Gatsby.' ".
Fitzgerald sets up Nick, in a such a way
that he wants to
influence the reader to open his story with an open mind. Because an important
aspect of The
Great Gatsby, is that Nick is living in the present, and telling Gatsby's story
after he
has already
passed away, which leads me to say that this moment was hard for Nick...it was
loosing a best
friend. "When a man gets killed I
never liked to get mixed up in it in anyway.
I
keep out. When I was a young man it was different - if
a friend of mine died, no matter how, I
stuck with him to
the end. You may think that is
sentimental, but I mean it- to the bitter end."
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, hereafter
referred to as Huck Finn for text and Huck
or Huck Finn as
character, is narrated by Huck Finn.
Huck is a fun-loving character who is
honest most of
the time, but will lie when it is necessary to save himself. The underlying theme
of this novel is
freedom. Moral development of the
narrator is distinctly seen as time progresses.
Through this
moral development he is able to bring out the reality of freedom, which Jim
possessed as a
dream. Huck accepts the society's view
of slavery, at first, even though he traveled
with a run-away
slave. The society's view of slavery is
that all slaves are part animal, and should
be treated like
one, therefore they are worthless; Huck accepts this at first, but then when he
runs
away, he is
caught up with Jim, a runaway-slave, and Huck's views begin to change. "...you
wouldn' tell on
me ef I 'uz to tell you, would you Huck?", "Blamed if I would,
Jim.", "Well, I
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4
b'lieve you,
Huck. I - I run off .", "Jim!".
This is a conversation between Jim and Huck, when
they first met in
hiding, and Jim reveals that he has run away.
One trick that was played on Jim,
from which Huck
learned a huge lesson, was when he put snake skin on the foot of Jim's bed at
night, and its
mate came and bit Jim on the foot, which led to a swollen leg for four
days.
"I went to the cavern to
get some food, and found a rattlesnake in there. I killed him,
and curled him up on the foot of
Jim's blanket, ever so natural, thinking there'd be
some fun when Jim found him
there. Well, by night I forgot about the
snake, and
when Jim flung himself down on
the blanket while I struck a light, the snakes mate was
there, and bit him."
From this, Huck
recognizes that Jim is human, and he shouldn't be tricked. He acknowledges the
fact that there
is conflict between human morality and spiritual morality. Huck's perception of
human morality is
that if Jim is human, and human's must be free, then Jim deserves the right to
be
free. Huck views the spiritual morality as
something personal. He feels that if he
doesn't allow
Jim to be free,
then he is going against the human cycle to be free and therefore be sentenced
to
hell. To some extent this morality has to deal with
listening to Jim, and considering him wise, by
knowing how to
survive in the wilderness, and differentiate between good luck and bad
luck.
"Jim told me
to chop off the snake's head and throw it away, and then skin the body and
roast a
piece of it. I done it, and he eat it and said it would
help cure him...", "...and he said that
handling a snake
skin was such awful bad luck. He said he
druther see the new moon over his
left shoulder a
thousand times than handling snake skin."
Huck is talking to himself, just listening
and analyzing
what Jim is saying. The fact that he has
to go to hell, is something personal, and is
believed that if
he doesn't allow Jim to go, then this action would take place, and vice versa
with
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5
Jim, if he
doesn't get satisfaction from following good luck, and decides to follow bad
luck, he too
believes that
hell is waiting for him. These two
actions are internal conflicts occurring in Huck's
mind, this makes
a big step towards moral development.
The major thing that this story focuses
on, is the fact
that Huck permits Jim to remain free, and doesn't turn Jim in as a run-away
slave.
"Aunt Polly, she told
all bout who I was, and what; and I has to up and tell how I was
in such a tight place that
when Mrs. Phelps took me for Tom Sawyer - she chipped in
and said 'Oh go on and call me Aunt
Sally, I used to it, now, and ain't no need to
change it' - that when Aunt
Sally took me for Tom Sawyer, I had to stand it..."
"And his Aunt Polly she
said Tom was right about old Miss Watson setting Jim free in
her will; and so, sure
enough, Tom Sawyer had gone and took all that trouble and
bother to set a free nigger
free! and I couldn't ever understand, before, until that
minute and that talk, how he
could help a body set a nigger free, with his bringing-
up."
Both of these novels have a series of events
that lead up to moral development. In
this
case, it is the
narrators who leads the progression, and is rewarded at the end. In The Great
Gatsby, Nick
morally developed through the use of social class, and the socio-economic
freedom
that was present
at that time. It helped Nick by giving
him something to fall back on, in the sense
that the freedom
was his motif for everything, and even more when he met Gatsby, but at that
time it was the
American Dream. Huck Finn portrays a
significant development in moral actions.
He ultimately
wanted freedom for himself from his father, and for Jim, a run-away slave.
Although, these
novels are different in approaching moral development, their goals for freedom
is
a similarity
between these two works of literature.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page
1. Introduction 1
2. The Great
Gatsby 2
3. The Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn 3
4. Conclusion 5
5. Works Cited 6
MORAL
DEVELOPMENT
in
T
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