Huck Struggles

It's fascinating to watch Huck struggle with the concept of morality--both his own and society's--because it almost seems like his uncertainty lies not in what is the good thing to do, but in the fact that he feels conflicted between what he has been taught by by society and what he feels is right. In most of the scenes where he acts or is tempted to act in a way that is less than kind or honorable, he tells us that he isn't comfortable with what he's doing. At the same time, he has been told all his life that whatever the educated people tell you is the truth, and that it is something you just don't question. However, Huck does question it--battling with his conscience to determine the best way to live. 

This is what sets Huck apart from the other characters. Despite his somewhat inconsistent and incomplete education, he is obviously very intelligent--he is a "thinker". It seems to me that Huck has had a taste of several different "kinds" of life. He has lived with his father, the id, the wild and lawless. He has spent a great deal of time with Tom Sawyer--two young boys with incredible imagination (especially Tom) and no one to guide or control their lives. He lived with the Widow, receiving an education and learning to be proper. He has experienced many "walks" of life and now, as he travels down the Mississippi on a raft, he looks back on all of these and can finally think. 

It's almost like the river is his freed mind--whereas before he was always locked into one state of being on land, surrounded by others who did all of the thinking for him, he can now explore and discover his own true opinions, beliefs, views. It is this search that leads him to his decision to disregard the "morality" he has been taught, and instead act simply on his conscience. In this decision he frees himself from the bonds society has put on him through his education and socialization, making the leap into independent thought.