Honesty is perhaps the most conflicting human quality, as its sacred reputation constructs the essence of one’s moral guideline, yet many find themselves deviating from that standard and expectation. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, readers trace this internal turmoil in Huck, who defines morality based on honesty, a quality with which he struggles to associate his behavioral inclinations–helping Jim. However, honesty has not been so troublesome to Huck in the beginning as to in the end. Using honesty and dishonesty as a measure of morality, Twain concocts Huck’s moral development from a character who simply lies out of necessity to one who concerns the consequences of dishonest behaviors and later acts honestly, ultimately to someone who considers the irony within honesty. Through literary devices such as hyperbole, metaphor, irony, and paradox, Twain posits the message that conventional characteristics such as honesty should be regarded elastically, especially when social conventions are at odds with one’s basic moral principles.

When the adventure just began, Huck lies out of necessity, suggesting that honesty holds little regard to his behavior. After sneaking out from his father’s control, Huck began his journey on the river. When he went ashore to receive news from the town, Huck disguises himself as a girl, as he is insufficient to lying, one lie leads to another. The moral stakes are not as high here, because Huck is lying to get information that will help him and Jim. No one is in danger, so there is less morality involved in the act of lying. While keeping the misconception that he is still alive, Huck does not think that his dishonesty is wrong. In fact, he believes that lying in this situation is a strategy helping both he and Jim to stay connected with the news and stay safe on their journey. 

As Huck’s relationship with Jim develops, he rethinks about the effect of honesty, as shown through Twain’s use of effective hyperbole. After Jim and Huck are separated by a fog, Huck hurtfully tricks Jim that he has dreamed it all. Jim then reproaches Huck, referring to him as “trash,” which opens Huck’s heretofore closed mind on the subject of dishonesty. This propels an introspection that he “could almost kissed [Jim’s] foot to take [his prank] back” (Twain). The hyperbolic statement to kiss one’s foot elusively emphasizes the scope of severity that dishonesty now means to Huck. The scenario he has proposed is socially degrading for him, especially in the racist South of Nineteenth Century where an condescention from any white person to any slave rarely occurs; yet Huck’s undoubted willingness to descend the social ladder to promote honesty demonstrates how his perspective apropos of deception has changed from before: While his disguise as Sarah Williams calls for more dishonest actions to cover up previous lies, his lie to Jim elicits an apology where he “humble[s] [himself] to a n*****” (Twain). This grave respect towards honesty shapes his budding morality as he now regards lies as immoral and wrong. Oblivious to Huck is that he also regards friendship and humanity as closely related to morality, because it is his hope to not hurt Jim that teaches him the lesson on honesty. Yet he does not explicitly mention friendship being incorporated into his morality. This unconfirmed identity of friendship forebodes a plague when it is discrepant with his conception of honesty. 

There is ultimately a satire and irony within what Huck conceives as honesty. Yet he continues to grow morally as he develops his own conscience despite being dishonest and placing an emphasis on friendship. Such friendship unleashes turmoil in Huck when Jim discloses his plans to free his wife and daughter from captivity, pertubing Huck with the torture of weighing honesty over friendship. Although Huck disturbingly decides to be honest and tell on Jim, he encounters a pair of armed slave hunters, who presents Huck with the chance to act upon his conscience by asking him if his companion is white or black. Huck proclaims, “He’s white,” reasoning “[himself] warn’t man enough–hadn’t the spunk of a rabbit.” (Twain). Whereas his previous dishonest action hurts Jim’s feelings, lying about Jim’s identity substantially saves Jim’s life. However, the metaphor that contrasts Huck being less than a rabbit reveals that he views himself as not manly, a deep reproach to himself for still being dishonest. To readers, his reflection is dramatically ironic because his conception of honesty ingrains a satirical element–society. His honesty is affected by what was taught and shown in his world that slavery was an acceptable way of life. This irony is then implicitly identified by himself when he experiences two contradictory cognitions: he questions “the use [of one] learning to do right, when it’s troublesome to do right and ain’t no trouble to do wrong, [if] the wages [are] just the same” (Twain). This paradoxical thought linking “right” and “trouble”, where right refers to personal relationships and trouble indicates honesty, reveals Huck’s own conscience, one that is based on his personal experiences rather than established social constructs. Applying a psychological lens, this paradox depicts cognitive dissonance, as John Bird describes in his research paper, “And Then Think of Me!”: Huckleberry Finn and Cognitive Dissonance, “a state of tension that occurs whenever a person holds two cognitions (ideas, attitudes, beliefs, opinions) that are psychologically inconsistent” (Tavris and Aronson).” Bird also points out that to resolve Hucks dissonance and unpleasant feeling, he relies on self-justification, which refers to people’s proclivity to mitigate dissonance and achieve consonance, by reasoning their way to favorable conclusions. This consonance is achieved when Huck “reckoned [he] wouldn’t bother no more about [his question about right and trouble], but after this [he always does] whichever come handiest at the time” (Twain). As Huck considers the paradoxical link between “right” and “trouble,” it helps him to ultimately be “dishonest” with regard to the rules of society, but “honest” with his own conscience.  This parallels stage 6 in Kholberg’s stages of moral development, which describes that “the action is determined by one’s self-chosen ethical principles of conscience” (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica). To Huck, honesty means if he is taking care of himself and hurting no one else, he has no trouble lying. However, once he realizes his behavior (lying) hurts Jim, he rethinks his honesty because it is not fair to hurt him. This eventually allows him to create a borderless line for honesty and dishonesty as he treats Jim with fairness despite society’s rules, as thoroughly exemplified in Kholberg’s stage 6 of moral development.