Chapters 35-36

Mark Twain called The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn "a book of mine where a sound heart and a deformed conscience suffers defeat." Within this novel, Huck's conscience is "deformed" due to the influence around him. Some of these influences include Pap, his father, who taught him many unethical morals. Pap was not what one would consider "the best" role model taking into account that Pap was a heavy drinker and smoker. This allowed Huck to think that these things were alright to do.
Another of his influences would be the duke and the king. The duke and the king were con artists who tended to rip people off and lie like when they took people's money for the play and ran off stage, not performing. After being with them for a while, Huck had to have started thinking differently. Watching the duke and the king do what they did caused Huck to think differently about lying and using people. It made him question whether he should turn Jim in even though Jim was like his best friend.
Also, I think that another influence would be the environment in which Huck has lived. Huck and Jim have lived on the river for quite some time, and it didn't seem like they were having very good luck with the weather as they travelled. Huck went from staying in a nice warm house with a bed and plenty of food to living on the raft outside with Jim and having to steal to get food. This had to have made him think differently. I think that after he adapted to living on the raft, his conscience would have to have changed, not necessarily for the bad but most likely.
These influences that Huck has faced are still at work in the world today, maybe not in the same form, but they are always there. There will always be those people who will try to make you think that lying and using people and smoking and drinking are alright and that you should try them. Those are the people who influence the naive who don't have a clear conscience about themselves yet, like Huck.
Even though there are bad influences in the world such as Pap, the duke, or the king, there are always good influences too. In the book one of the good influences is Widow Douglas who tries to change Huck into a proper gentleman. Another one from the book is Jim. Even though he doesn't try to make Huck a better person, he does indirectly by being a good friend and showing Huck what a good friend really is by helping each other out. There are always people out there that will be there to help. God is even one that helps you create a good conscience within yourself.