Huck Finn/Plato-human nature

Huck Finn/Plato-human nature

Themes that represent the nature of man are prevalent in Mark Twain’s, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.   Plato’s Theories of Human Nature and the universe show many similarities to those in Twain’s novel.   We learn these theories through Twain’s main characters, Huck Finn, Jim and other characters the duo meets on their journey down the river as well as Huck’s best friend, Tom Sawyer.
In one of Plato’s dialogues, Republic, the Gods, yet it seems as though he do not take them very seriously, and does not see them at a personal level.   We learn Huck is the same way throughout the novel.   In the beginning, when the Widow Douglass tells Huck that what ever he wants, if he prays for it, it will come.   Huck takes this too literally and prays for material things, and does not get them.   This make’s him believe that there is no sense in praying; Huck see’s God as Plato saw the Gods, very impersonal.   Later in the novel, when Huck is on the island, and a piece of bread floats by for him to eat, he believes that someone has prayed for the bread to find him.   He still does not feel a personal relationship with God, yet he believes there is one out there, just as Plato did.
Plato’s theory that nobody is morally perfect is illustrated throughout Huckleberry Finn.   Every one who is described by Huck or other characters as perfect in a moral sense are far from it in reality.   Miss Watson, for example, is described by Huck as a religious woman who is trying to raise Huck right.   Yet as Plato states, nobody is morally perfect.   She owns slaves, and yes as she is calling everybody to the table for a prayer before dinner, she is referring to any one of African American descent by the “N-word”.   This juxtaposition of the “N-word” around Miss Watson’s calling everyone for a prayer is an irony that is very universal in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.   Everyone who we are introduced as great people all own slaves.   Tom Sawyers family is another one of these great ironies....