How does an individual maintain a sound heart in the face of society’s deformed conscience?
A sound heart means a person has a healthy and morally correct soul while a deformed conscience means an unhealthy, crooked/twisted sense of morality. The book the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain has caused me to believe that a person could maintain a sound heart in the face of society's deformed conscience. In other words, a person could follow what their heart tells them to do, but then they cannot follow what society tells them to do at the same time. Most of the time their heart and society will view things differently, have different opinions, beliefs, and morals. In fact, Mark Twain said that the book the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was "a book of mine where a sound heart and a deformed conscience come into collision and conscience suffers defeat". I totally agree with Mark Twain because whenever a person is conflicted they have to choose one or the other not both. In the book there are many examples where Huck chose to keep his sound heart over society's deformed conscience. In chapter eight of the book Huck promises not to turn Jim in. He said, "People would call me a low down Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum--but that don't make no difference. I ain't going to tell..." (Twain 59). Huck realizes that Jim is his friend, and he enjoys spending time with him. He also realizes that both of them are runaways. This quote shows Huck's sound heart because society says that Huck should turn in any runaway slave he found, but Huck promises not to turn Jim in. Another example where Huck chose his sound heart is chapter fifteen. in chapter fifteen Huck decided to apolgize to Jim. He said,"It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger; but I done it, and I warn't ever sorry for it afterwards, neither. I didn't do him no more mean tricks, and I wouldn't done that one if I'd a knowed it would make him feel that way. Huck feels sorry for playing a mean trick on Jim and decided to apologize to him even if society would look down on him for that. Those are only two examples of how Huck chose his sound heart over society's deformed conscience, there are many more. This just helps prove my point that a person cannot please themselves and society at the same time. They have to make the choice and most of the time their sound heart will win. To maintain a sound heart, a person is going to have to learn not to care what other people or society says if it goes against things they believe. A person has to do what they think is right because it is their life and they have to confident with their choices and actions.