Believe In Slavery

Huck is so influenced by his Southern community that he is forced to believe that a good Southern boy would have turned in Jim, a runaway slave, to the two armed white men, who were out to hunt for runaway slaves. Instead, Huck decides to deceive the two slave-catchers and actually saves Jim from being captured once again. However, this eventually leads to Huck’s immense disappointment in himself as a Southern boy. In fact, he blames it on his Southern upbringings and how he was not taught to be a good Southern boy from the beginning to do the “right” thing of turning runaway slaves in when he exclaims, “[Huck] knowed very well he had done wrong and [Huck] see it warn’t no use for himself to try to learn to do right; a body that don’t get started right when he’s little ain’t got no show- when the pinch comes there ain’t nothing to back him up and keep him to his work, and so he gets beat.” (118). Essentially, in this quote, Huck is recalling the values and beliefs he learned previously in his

Because of the time and place at which Huck lives, setting a slave free is a crime that most people find unthinkable. And the fact that Huck is even willing to do this, not only disgusts him but it makes him feel ashamed. “And then think of me! It would get all around that Huck Finn helped a nigger to get his freedom; and if I was ever to see anybody from that town again I’d be ready to get down and lick his boots for shame” (p. 212). This quote proves how horrible Huck feels about helping set Jim free, and how even though he still cares for Jim, he feels an incredible amount of disgrace for assisting

Huck was taught by the world that slavery was right. It was the way of life and the way it was supposed to be. "All right, then, I'll go to hell." (206) Even though he thought this way he still knew the kind of man Jim was and disregarded what he knew to be right and wrong to save Jim

In Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain presents the problem of slavery in America in the 19th Century. Twain poses this problem in the form of a character named Huckleberry Finn, a white boy raised in the antebellum South. Huck starts to question his view regarding slavery when he acquaints himself more intimately with a runaway slave while he himself tries to run away. Huck’s development as a character is affected by society’s influence on his experiences while growing up in the South, running away with Jim, and trying to save Jim. Although Huck decides to free Jim, Huck’s deformed conscience convinces him that he is doing the wrong thing.

"I never see a nigger that was a better nuss or faithfuller, and yet he was resking his freedom to do it…He ain’t no bad nigger, gentlemen; that’s what I think about him.” (Page 271). I think this quote relates to freedom because Jim was risking his life and freedom for people; Huck stated that he was a gentleman for stepping up and taking control. I think it meant a lot to Jim when Huck called him a gentleman when he did that, because Jim didn't really have anyone there for him and he was a runaway slave so it was nice to hear something like that from a person like Huck. "I do believe Jim cared just as much for his people as white folks does for their’n. It don’t seem natural, but I reckon it’s so." (Page 251). I also think this has to do with freedom and even racism a little bit because Jim is a dark skinned man and Huck stated that Jim respected anyone even though they were a different race just like he would people his own race. Also Huck stated that it didn’t seem natural for people with a different race to respect each other like in the world today, todays white people don’t look at dark skinned people the same way they do whites and Jim was a white and respected anyone no matter what race they

This is an ironic statement that Huck makes. He wonders what Miss Watson did to him to make him treat her so mean, while in reality, she is the one who owned a slave, Jim, who hadn’t done anything to her to make her treat him so

Huck hides out on Jackson's Island and for the first time in a while has no authoritative figure controlling him. Even when he discovers Jim, the Widow's slave, Huck doesn't consider himself "outranked." Huck has been taught that a runaway slave is an evil thing. Being able to make his own decision about the matter, however, Huck decides to go against society. "People would call me a low-down Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum - but that don't make no difference. I ain't a-going to tell" (43). This is Huck's first sign of maturity as we find that he is able to make his own decisions.

Twain argues it was not only the slaves who were bound in slavery but also everyone else around them. Since Jim is a slave who ran away, Huck is socially expected to go and report him, but Huck said he “ain’t agoing to tell” anyone about Jim (32). Huck is breaking widespread belief and not partaking in what is expected of a white boy. Huck’s freedom is more ingrained than any expectations anyone has for him and is one of his greatest qualities. Slavery is a set of rules everyone participates in and to step out of that and treat an African American person as a person is a very difficult thing because society is not accepting of it. Earlier in Huck’s adventure, after he was adopted by a widow, she spoke to Huck about religion and the benefits of prayer, Huck did not seem to understand the purpose of it all. The Widow spoke of “spiritual gifts” that were to be attained by prayer, a concept that confused Huck because he did not see how it helped anyone. Huck quickly finds the flaws within the concept of religion and decides he “wouldn’t worry about it anymore, but just let it go,” especially since it does not help him in any way (8). Huck does not see how praying will benefit him and therefore decides that he will have nothing to do with religion. There is also a social connection through practicing any religion and Huck grew up without any of that. Religion is one of the biggest social expectations, everyone is expected to abide by it, just like any other social standard. Huck’s reaction to religion and the prospect of turning in his friend clearly argue Twain’s point that those who do not benefit from society are the ones who challenge its

What is slavery? Slavery is forced labor and this forced labor is what built America and made them become more developed. “Africans peoples were captured and transported to the Americas to work. Most European colonial economies in the Americas from the 16th century through the 19th were dependant on enslaved African labor for their survival.” Many claim that enslavement was very necessary in order for America to thrive and not die off for it is now one of the best countries in the world. However, slavery was not necessary in the Americas it was just a mechanism that just stripped Africans of their human rights, giving the slave masters the “right” to abuse them. Slavery was not necessary in the Americas because without slavery America would

Huck does not consciously think about Jim's impending freedom until Jim himself starts to get excited about the idea. The reader sees Huck's first objection to Jim gaining his freedom on page 66, when Huck says, "Well, I can tell you it made me all over trembly and feverish, too, to hear him, because I begun to get it through my head that he was most free-and who was to blame for it? Why, me. I could get that out of my conscience, no how nor no way." Huck is hearing the voice of society at this point, not his own. He does not see a moral dilemma with Jim being free; he is opposed to the fact that he is the one helping him. This shows Huck misunderstanding of slavery. Huck does not treat Jim like a slave when they travel together, this shows the reader that Huck views Jim as an equal in most ways. Huck sees having a slave only as owning the person, not

But it warn 't so. I tried it" (Twain 8). His view of religion continues to deteriorate through Christian’s view of slavery. Slavery was the way of life for many Southerners and almost all African Americans. Those who did not partake in this destructive lifestyle were still affected by the choices people made regarding slavery. Slaves were treated as property by virtually all whites living in the South, and some Northerners looked down on them. Huck witnesses slavery firsthand since Miss Watson owns slaves.

Slaves are seen as merely property and aren't even expected to posses human like characteristics, personalities, or feelings. When Huck comes across Jim's emotions towards his family he is shocked. This shows that slavery had reduced African American's to inhuman objects specifically for the purpose of work, and they weren't treated as living creatures, much less human beings. When Huck witnesses Jim's "moaning and mourning" he is dumbfounded and believes that Jim was a "mighty good nigger" not only showing Huck's coming of maturity and understanding, but the ignorance displayed by the white's in regards to African

Mark Twain’s classic novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn took place during a tense period in U.S. history. Heated debate over the morality of slavery had sparked and deep divisions were emerging between the northern and southern states. Born in Missouri, a slave state, the novel’s protagonist Huckleberry Finn was raised on values of racism and prejudice. He adhered to these principles as they were all he knew. However, over the course of his journey, Huck’s formerly provincial morality was challenged by his real-world experiences, and he was forced to derive a new set of morals for himself. At the start of the novel, a blind acceptance of slavery was present in Huck’s mind. This was revealed when Huck thought, in reference to Jim’s plan to free his children, “Here was this nigger, which I had as good as helped to run away, coming right out flat-footed and saying he would steal his children – children that belonged to a man I didn’t even know; a man that hadn’t ever done me no harm” (137). Although grateful for Jim’s companionship and reluctant to report him to the authorities, Huck still believed slavery to be a moral practice. As evidenced by this thought process, Huck held on to the values of the slave-owning states in the south, believing that Jim’s children, as slaves, were property. He even felt remorseful at the thought of a man’s slaves being stolen. Regardless of his budding friendship with Jim, Huck was still concretely in favor of slavery. This static view on

The movement to eliminate slavery in the United States during the antebellum years was difficult and did not go unchallenged as there were many people who were pro-slavery while others were anti-slavery. Before the Civil War there was debate over the issue of slavery. Slaves were considered property, and were property because they were black. Many people in the South were strong advocates of slavery, while people in the North were opposed to it. In the South, slavery was a social and powerful economic institution. During this period in the south Pro-Slavery activists did not empathize with the system and conditions the

He like the majority of the Deep South’s population was forced to submit to popular religion in the form of Christianity, being racist and not being able to criticize the institution of slavery, as well as acting like a “proper” boy and being civilized with manors, rules, and restrictions. However, he is the polar opposite of the ideals expressed by his society. Huck is forced to reside with Widow Douglas, he describes the experience in the first chapter, “She took me… allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time … I wanted to smoke, and asked the widow to let me. But she wouldn't. She said… I must try to not do it any more.” (Twain, 2). In this particular environment, Huck is forcefully civilized by the Widow Douglas as well as Miss Watson. This essentially shows an indirect form of slavery in which Huck is forced to do as society and his elders dictate regardless of what he believes in which many of us are also subject to. This enslaves him and leads him to decide that he needs to relocate himself as far away from society as possible. Therefore, he forges his death and runs away meeting Jim on the way. This idea of Huck being controlled by society influences him through the novel, for instance he thinks about turning Jim in because it is wrong to steal since Jim is