Essay On Huckleberry Finn's Truth

Huckleberry Finn is a liar throughout the whole novel but unlike other characters, his lies seem justified and moral to the reader because they are meant to protect himself and Jim and are not meant to hurt anybody.

Because blacks are uneducated, he sees them as stupid and stubborn. He frequently tells stories to Jim, mainly about foreign kings and history. When Jim disagrees with Huck, Jim becomes very stubborn and refuses to listen to explanations. Huck eventually concludes, "You can't learn a nigger to argue". Jim also seems to accept that whites are naturally superior to blacks. He knows that Huck is far smarter than he is. When Tom Sawyer and Huck are planning an elaborate breakout for Jim, he allows their outrageous plan to continue because they "was white folks and knowed better than him". This mutual acceptance of whites as superior to blacks shows how deeply rooted slavery was in Southern culture. This made it very difficult for Huck to help Jim. When Tom Sawyer says he will help free Jim, Huck is very disappointed. He had never thought that Tom Sawyer, of all people, would be a "nigger stealer". Huck had always considered Tom respectable and educated, and yet Tom was prepared to condemn himself to damnation by freeing a runaway slave. This confuses Huck greatly, who no longer knows what to think about his situation with Jim. When Huck is forced to make a decision regarding slavery, he invariably sides with his emotions. Huck does not turn Jim in, despite having several chances. His best chance to do what he believes is right comes as they are rafting towards Cairo, Illinois. Huck finally

     On Huck and Jim’s journey to Cairo, Jim begins to speak about when he is free he will go and find his children and take them from the slave owner. This rubbed Huck the wrong way; his standards of Jim had been lowered because, from Huck’s point of view, why would Jim steal his children away from a man who has done nothing to him? Huck’s conscience began to come into play and he had made up his mind: He was going to turn Jim in when they reach shore. He was sure of it until Jim began to sweet talk Huck, telling him that Huck was the only white man that had ever kept a promise to him. This comment went directly to Huck’s heart; he could not possibly

One instance was when Huck lied to protect Jim from getting found out. “Your Pap’s got the smallpox, and you know it precious well…. “Well,” says I, a blubbering, I’ve told everybody before, and they just went away and left us” (Twain 136). The fib that Huck told the men who were searching for the slaves saved Jim indeed. Yet, Huck wasn’t trained to do that; he was taught to be racist and turn in runaway slaves. This comes to show that Huck’s gotten close to Jim he’s become a friend to him. The text stated, “I was paddling off, all in a sweat to tell on him, but when he says this, it seemed to kind of take the tuck all out of me. I went along slow then, and I warn’t right down certain whether I was glad I started of whether I warn’t” (Twain 134). This shows that Jim really did care for Huck. Even though he was taught to report runaway slaves he makes the right choice. He fibs and explains that the man he’s with has smallpox. Just imagine if you were Huck and you were close with Jim like Huck was, but you felt you had to tell on him, so consequently he got busted and was owned by a slave owner. Suddenly, you never had the chance to see him again. Sad, huh? Another mission accomplished by Huck, and he saved Jim from getting

After the situation goes too far for Jim's comfort he confronts Huck about his insensitive behavior and says, "I’s so thankful. En all you wuz thinkin’ ‘bout wuz how you could make a fool uv ole Jim wid a lie" (86). , Huck realizes that he is wrong and states, “I didn't do him no more tricks, and I wouldn't dove that on if I'd a knowed it would make him feel that way” (86). Importantly, this scene shows how Huck's opinion of Jim is changing -- he realizes that Jim can feel and hurts just as he does. Indirectly, Jim teaches Huck the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It is a very humbling point in the novel for Huck to relate to Jim in that way. Huck suddenly realizes why outsiders view Jim the way they do and admits, “It made me feel so mean I could almost kissed his foot to take it back” (86). Huck doesn’t approve of the way others treat his friend and he's embarrassed that he had ever done so. From that point on, the relationship between the two of them is different, even in trying

Across the story, particularly in the beginning, Huck lies simply for the act of lying, showing a level of immaturity. Early in the story, Huck, along with Tom Sawyer and others, decide to, “…[slip] Jim’s hat off of his head and [hang] it on a limb…” (Twain 18). Sawyer’s gang, including Huck, opt to pull a prank for no logical reason, and choose to target Jim because of the low level of difficulty needed to pull it on him. This is basically picking on the weak, which demonstrates a level of cruelty towards Jim. Later, after Jim joins Huck in escaping, Huck gets knocked off their raft, and uses a canoe to reach the raft again. When Jim, who fell asleep, wakes up to find Huck returned, Huck decides to make Jim believe that, “‘[He] couldn’t ‘a’

In the novel by Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the reader comes to know Huck as a boy who often likes to lie mostly in order to get himself out of trouble. Huck’s greatest lie of all was when he decided that it was morally right to conceal the truth in a world that was morally wrong. He had chosen to do what was right according to his conscience rather than do what was socially and legally right at the time. He would rather his soul burn in hell than to send his friend back to the cruel and unjust world of slavery. Huck knows his best friend Jim was a man and had feelings just like him.

When Jim catches Huck in his lie, Jim is very upset and hurt because Jim thought that huck was his friend that and that what Huck did to him is not how you treat your friend. Huck then feels bad for his actions and states “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.” Jim, a runaway slave from the same town as Huck, has the largest impact on Huck’s character throughout the entirety of this book. In the beginning, Huck doesn’t even think about what it truly meant to help Jim runaway. He just goes along with it because he likes Jim, he had always liked Jim, but he still considered him as property and not a person.

In the interim of Jim’s escape, Huck and Jim become separated, but soon meet up after Huck floats back to Jim. Jim is worried for Huck, but Huck tries to take advantage of the moment by playing a prank on Jim leading him to believe that he dreams everything up, subsequently being upset. Huck regret everything he does and “[felt] so mean [he] could almost kissed [Jim’s] foot to get him to take [what Jim said] back. It was fifteen minutes before [Huck] could work [him]self up to go and humble him[self] to a nigger, but

When Huck and Jim were still on the island Huck decided to play a trick on Jim by putting a snake in his bed and endangering him for fun, and forgot that he planted the snake which ultimately led to Jim getting bitten and in response Huck, “ slid out quiet and throwed the snakes clear amongst the bushes; for [he] warn’t going to let Jim find out it was all [his] fault, not if [he] could help it” (Twain 60). The fact that Huck “slid out quiet” shows he was sneaking because he knew what he did was wrong; Huck deciding that he “warn’t going to let Jim find out” shows his intentional decision to not let Jim know it was him who put him in danger which shows a lack of maturity on Huck’s part and also a lack of respect for Jim as another human being. Rather than being upfront Huck decides to play dangerous tricks on Jim and then doesn’t own up to his tricks which highlights that Huck saw Jim as a play toy that he could poke fun at whenever he saw fit and didn’t even respect Jim enough to tell him about the tricks he played on him. In addition, Huck’s inner struggle between whether or not he believes Jim’s impending freedom was good or not is shown when they begin sailing down the Mississippi River and Jim continuously gets excited because he thinks he’s nearing freedom while Huck begins to

It is difficult to disagree with everything that family members and the entire population of the United States have taught you over the years, as well as everything your family members and friends believe. This makes it a lot easier to understand why Huck felt better after telling someone about Jim’s situation. Another quote from the book was during an early conversation with Jim and Finn: “’Well, I b’lieve you, Huck. I—I RUN OFF.’ ‘Jim!’”

Huck must lie about the real identity of Jim to keep himself and Jim safe. Normally, Huck thinks that slavery is wrong. He also thinks that there is nothing wrong with blacks, and he thinks they should be treated equally. However, once on shore Huck is afraid of society.

“The tragedy [was] that despite their closeness, Huck still [could not] understand Jim's perspective...a fact made painfully clear...as Huck trick[ed] Jim after they [were] split up in the fog”(Derosa). This particular moment played a significant role in the novel because when Jim expressed his concern towards Huck, Huck realized his misdemeanor. Huck learned to respect Jim seeing that he truly cares for him. Like in all relationships, there come times of disagreement; however, this discrete argument between Huck and Jim marked the beginning of a fortuitous and enduring friendship. They began to trust and rely on one another more, not letting the argument affect them in any

“Have you given up yet?” Walter winced, incredulous at the scornful query he heard from the despicable man standing in front of him, as he fought to stand up, sweat dripping from his forehead, pain ravaging his chest, hands shaking, breath uneven, slight blurring. “Given up?” Walter repeated with great disbelief, smirking while he reached for his sword. “I should be the one asking you that.” sneered Walter as he promptly examined his opponent. The man laughed boisterously from the other side of the arena while limping towards Walter, rapier clutched tightly in a bruised hand, silver blade reflecting sunlight, blood cascading from his leg creating a path of red behind him. “I wouldn't be so irresponsible to let the princess marry a savage like

In chapter 15, there is an incident where the fog separates Huck and Jim. Consequently, Huck takes this as an opportunity to play a joke on Jim; however, when Jim finds out that Huck is trying to make a fool out of him he indirectly teaches Huck a lesson through his choice of words. Jim tells Huck that he was so thankful to have him back safe and sound, yet “…all [Huck] wuz thinkin’ ’bout wuz how [he] could make a fool uv ole Jim wid a lie. Dah truck there is trash; en trash is what people is dat puts dirt on de head er dey fren’s en makes ’em ashamed...” (Twain 86). Jim was rebuking Huck, just like a real father would, for thinking that it was acceptable to make a fool out “ole Jim.” Jim’s words had an affect on Huck and made him realize that he had done wrong. Huck did say that “…[he] felt so mean…” and “…it was fifteen minutes before [he] could work [himself] up to go humble [himself] to a nigger…but [he] done it…” (Twain 86). As a result of Jim’s words, Huck understood that he had to think about the feelings of Jim, or anyone in general, before playing a trick and for the first time Huck learned to apologize to a slave and realized that they are human beings as well, regardless of their position. In addition to this, Jim was the one who basically taught Huck to follow his conscience. For instance, when Jim was sold by the duke for forty dollars, Huck was debating on whether he