In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain concerns
himself with the inability of his characters to produce
subjective judgements. This problem manifests itself many
times throughout the novel. One example of this is the feud
of the Grangerfords. Wrapped up in the pointless hate for
the sake of tradition, the Grangerfords have stopped making
subjective judgements in favor of continuing the feud. One
of the best examples is the Mob (or crowd). Twain
frequently uses the crowd as a singular character. Wrapped
up in the odd effects of group psychology, no one individual
in the Mob is capable of making subjective judgements. This
sets off the Sherburn incident, as well as allowing them to
be duped numerous times by the King and Duke. Twain is
saying that subjective judgement as opposed to doing the
accepted thing, provides for a better guide for living.
The mob is a critical character throughout the story and
almost always shows a definite lack of subjective
judgement. The mob is most prominent during the Sherburn
incident. Also, the mob is swindled numerous times by the
King and the Duke, due to their lack of subjective
judgement.
One point in which the mob shows significant lack of
subjective judgement is when the King swindles the religious
revival soon after joining with Huck and company. The
King's spiel about how he had "been a pirate for 30 years
out in the Indian Ocean" who had just recently become "a
changed man now" manipulated the crowd into acting without
subjective judgement. After the King subtly hinted that it
would "take him a long time to get there without money"
someone in the crowd yelled out "take up a collection for
him, take up a collection". The crowd immediately began
forking over large amounts of money. No one considered the
unlikeliness of a pirate from the Indian Ocean winding up in
the middle of Bible Belt America. Neither did it occur to
anyone the unlikeliness of someone who had been a pirate for
most of his life suddenly acquiring religion in less than an
hour of revival. Both of these are incredible lacks of
subjective reasoning.
The Sherburn incident is one of the main places where the
mob displayed its lack. Soon after Boggs' death "somebody
said Sherburn ought to be lynched". After this, everyone
immediately joined in and proceeded to go to lynch him. No
one suggested that he be arrested and put to trial, nor did
anyone point out that Sherburn had said to Boggs, "I'm tired
of this, but I'll endure it till one o'clock. Till one
o'clock, mind -- no longer. If you open your mouth against
me only once after that time, you can't travel so far but I
will find you." Sherburn was giving Boggs a clear warning,
but Boggs persisted anyway. No one in the crowd made any of
their own subjective decisions. Everyone simply jumped on
the band wagon as soon as it was suggested to lynch
Sherburn.
Sherburn's speech throws significant light on the reasons
for the mob's deficit. When Sherburn says: "... they (the
mob) don't fight with courage that's born in them, but with
courage that's borrowed from their mass ...," he is stating
an important aspect of mob psychology. He knows that people
in large groups don't think for themselves, but rather each
person does what they are doing because everyone else is
doing it. No person in the crowd is performing any
significant independent thought at all, much less making any
subjective judgements. Sherburn's speech was able to break
this group cohesion. Without the force of the Mob driving
them, the individuals "broke all apart, and went tearing
off every which way".
The feud between the Grangerfords and the Shepardsons is
another example of people with a subjective judgement
impairment. Although it seems quite different, there is a
similarity with the mob from the Sherburn incident. The
individuals in the crowd were letting the crowd make their
choices for them. The Grangerfords are allowing their
ancestors to make the decision that they must all kill
Shepardsons. No member of the Grangerfords considered the
fact that no one even remembered why they were fighting. In
fact, when Huck asked Buck Grangerford if land was the
reason for the feud, Buck responded, "I reckon maybe -- I
don't know." And when asked about who started the feud,
Buck's response was, "Laws, How do I know?" Not only does
Buck not know the original reason for the feud, he doesn't
really care either. This shows that Buck is not using any
subjective judgement. The only reason that he continues to
fight Shepardson, is because it's tradition.
Nor, when Harney Shepardson eloped with Miss Sophia
Grangerford, did anyone consider canceling or even
temporarily suspending the feud for the sake of the
newlyweds. Instead, the news caused renewed hostility.
Once it was discovered by the two families both families
came out en mass to shoot each other. Specifically, the
Grangerfords were out to shoot Harney Shepardson, who was
now or soon would be part of their family by marriage. When
reporting the events to Huck, Jack (one of the slaves) said,
"Sich another hurrin' up guns en hosses you never did see."
The family didn't spend any time considering the merits of
such a marriage. As soon as they heard of it, they
reflexively reacted by preparing to go to kill their
daughter's lover. It never occurred to anyone to be happy
that two young people had found love. Clearly, neither the
Grangerfords not the Shepardsons were making any rational
subjective judgements.
In these cases, the characters did the accepted thing
without considering whether it was what they really wanted
to or should be doing. In contrast, consider each time Huck
debated with himself whether to turn in Jim. Every time he
began by reasoning about what would be the legal or moral
thing to do. In doing this, he always reached the
conclusion that since it was against the society's mores and
laws to assist a runaway slave, he must turn in Jim. Each
time he reached this conclusion and set about the task of
turning in Jim, he started thinking about his previous
relation ship with Jim, and the friendship they had formed.
At this point, he realizes he can't turn in Jim. When he
realizes this, Huck is making an independent subjective
judgement different from that of the society around him.
After each incident, Huck, although he is certain he is
going to hell for it, seems happy about his decision, and so
is the reader. In contrast, when the Grangerfords set out
to kill Harney Shepardson, Huck is disgusted by the whole
state of affairs, and decides that it is time to leave. The
reader also feels disgusted. Twain is trying to show us
that the ability to make your own independent subjective
judgements is critical to being able to be in charge of your
own life.