Explain Why Tom Should Be Followed Without Questions In Huck Finn

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain provided social commentary on southern society and beliefs. Twain addressed a number of significant issues throughout the novel, including religion and slavery. There are a number of instances where Huck, the 14 year-old protagonist, pushes back against the idea of organized religion. Similarly, Huck encounters a personal and moral dilemma when it comes to the practice of slavery. This idea of rebellion against society is a major concept explored in the book. Small instances of Huck’s rebellion culminate with him eventually freeing a runaway slave. The main examples include Huck’s refusal to learn the Bible, Huck’s decision against not to turn Jim in, and Tom and Huck’s choice to set Jim free at the end of the story. Huck’s refusal to conform to and demonstrate the social norms of the South illustrate the theme of rebellion against society.

In Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a variety of people influence Huck’s ideology. From the Widow Douglas and Miss Watson’s religious rhetoric to Pap’s brutal, uncivilized manner, many contrasting ideas shape Huck’s belief system. However, among these people, Tom Sawyer holds the greatest impact over Huck’s actions and mentality because of Huck’s immense admiration for him. Huck’s initial encounters with Tom Sawyer establish Tom as a major component of the ideology Huck maintains throughout his journey. Despite Huck’s skepticism and confusion about Tom’s imaginative schemes, Huck regards Tom’s judgements as the truth and follows all of Tom’s plans.

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

Twain also exposes the deplorable concept of slavery by allowing Huck to view Jim as an equal person. As the novel proceeds, Huck and Jim continue their voyage down the Mississippi River and become close friends. Huck eventually has to decide whether or not to turn Jim in to Miss Watson. "…And I got to thinking over our trip down the river; and I see Jim before me all the time: in the day and

The night that Tom and Huck set Jim free, Tom got shot by the farmers that were chasing them. Once they knew that they were out of the farmer 's sight they all sat down and Huck said “We was all glad as we could be, but Tom was the gladdest of all because he had a bullet in the calf of his leg.” (275). The reader would expect that Jim would be the most glad when everything was over because he was finally free, but Huck tells us that Tom was. The reason he was the most glad is that he finally got the adventure he was looking for. When Tom first agreed to help Huck save Jim, Huck was a bit surprised that he said yes without any hesitation but what Huck didn’t really know was why he said yes. He soon figured it out, however, Jim didn’t. When Tom got shot, Jim genuinely thought that Tom was risking his life for him. However, the reader knows that since the beginning when Tom agreed to help Huck, he only said yes because he was looking for adventure. This shows Tom’s ignorance because he only did it thinking of himself and not thinking of actually helping Jim out. Through this, Twain shows that higher end class people like Tom and other white men could also be very ignorant and not just people from lower class. Twain showed that people of all classes, both low and high, are very gullible and ignorant.

But it’s too blame’ simple; there ain’t nothing to it. What’s the good of a plan that ain’t no nothing to it” (Twain 232)? This shows how Tom’s Romantic thinking will get Huck and him into trouble. Tom knows that Huck’s plan would work but he is more concerned with the troubles that come along with the plan. This is influenced by literature’s Romantic ideas. Huck realizes that Tom’s plan is going to be trouble and more complex than his when he says, “…[A]nd I see in a minute it was worth fifteen of mine for style, and would make Jim just as free a man as mine would, and maybe get us all killed besides” (Twain 233). There is no reason for Huck and Tom to make a more elaborate plan because Huck’s plan would work fine. Huck even realizes this, but Huck just has his thinking to back up his idea. While Tom has read all these books that would back up his thinking that the escape must be as complex as possible. Huck does not even question Tom’s plan because he feels Tom’s plan is just as good as his. This shows how Huck is dwarfed by society’s Romantic ideals and does not even want to try to attack these ideas.

Huck’s strategy of planning and the fact that his motivation for doing so is derived from following his moral conscience separates him from Tom Sawyer. This scene shows that Huck chose to help the Wilks simply for the sake of doing the right thing. The scene also reminds the reader to follow Huck’s example by listening to their moral conscience and stop at nothing in the pursuit of doing so, never sitting idly while known injustices are occurring. That is the lesson that Mark Twain leaves for his reader in this

At the beginning of the book, readers understand that Huck admires his best friend Tom Sawyer for his bravery and popularity. When Miss Watson taught Huck about heaven and hell, Huck asked if Tom Sawyer would make it to heaven, and she confidently answered no. After, Huck thought to himself, “I was glad about that, because I wanted him and me to be together,” proving that even though his foster parents openly disapproved of Tom, Huck still greatly valued their friendship and would travel to hell just to be with him. Throughout the book, however, it is obvious that Tom does not feel the same way about Huck. While they may seem harmless, Tom’s insults throughout the book add up to mentally hurt Huck. Towards the end of the book, Huck and Tom worked together to rescue Jim from Aunt Sally’s shed. Tom’s grand plan worthy of a real adventure book conflicted with Huck’s fast, simple, and safe plan to set Jim free. Tom denounced Huck for trying to take saving Jim seriously, saying, “Oh, shucks, Huck Finn, if I was as ignorant as you…” (Twain 240). Tom, wishing to dramatically dig Jim out of the shed using butter knives, yells at a resistant Huck, “It ain’t no use to try to learn you nothing, Huck. Run along…” (Twain 244). This made Huck extremely sad since he had stood by Tom for dozens of crazy adventures, desperately trying to earn Tom’s respect. However, it became

This quote shows how Jim is an important character and contributes to the meaning of this novel because it shows that he is kind and caring. It illustrates how Jim's freedom is not worth the price of Huck's life and that he would risk his own life to aid Huck. During this time period, people tended to think that blacks were simply property and didn’t have feelings or care, but Jim proves this stereotype wrong when he cares for Huck. Jim's compassion, intelligence, logic, and loyalty for Huck, Tom, and his family make him a heroic figure.

Huck used his logic and condoned his straightforward plan that he knew would aid Tom’s interest—freedom. In response to Huck’s idea, Tom replies back, ‘“But it 's too blame’ simple; there ain 't nothing to it’” (271). Even Tom Sawyer, himself, declared that Huck’s plan was too simple that anyone could accomplish the goal. One author acknowledged, “Twain documents Huck 's development or education in the course of his "adventures" on the river, including both Huck 's experiences and his reflections on them” (Nicols). Nicols agreed to the main point that Huck is realistic/practical. The author can see that Huck’s character developed morals and responsibility from life lessons with Jim that consist of his education. Huck is a practical learner where he learns through experience and applies what he knows to his advantage. This illustrates that Huck views his surroundings with a logical and reasonable mindset.

Throughout the novel, Twain seeks to display the conflict between higher moral values and society's values that were prevalent in the South before the Civil War. As soon as Tom settles into the Phelps's household, he starts planning with Huck how they are going to steal Jim. Tom develops a plan which Huck knows will constantly be changed by Tom during their adventure, but Huck still does not understand why Tom would save Jim from slavery. He questions why Tom a “bright,” “knowing,” and “kind” person would put his “character” and family at risk of “shame” for helping a slave escape. In addition, Huck believed that it was “outrageous” that Tom would do such a thing and

It is recognized that there is less silence of the thought process of Huck as it is apparent that his moral character has started to develop. Further down the Mississippi, “Huck ... faces once again the responsibility for deciding on a course of his action”, (Nash Henry Smith) and is forced to truly, again, think about who Jim is to him: a sub-human creature, or his only companion? Though troubled by this decision, he still seems that it is fair to treat Jim unequally, but what is most important is the fact that he is uneasy as to how he should go about his decision. By the end of the novel, Huck’s moral development has also come to a completion, as it is apparent that he now sees Jim as more than a slave. At the climax of the book, when Huck rips up the note he was to send to Jim’s owner, Twain shows the “deepest level of [Huck’s] personality [, as he overcomes] the overlay of prejudice and false valuation imposed on all members of the society”. (Nash Henry Smith) It is obvious now, that Huck has a completed view on the world he lives in, and where his beliefs stand, successfully categorizing him a “hero”. Being one of the major elements in a work of literature entitles that the protagonist overcomes a change in a personality, finally overcoming the struggle of who he will in fact, become in the end. “Huck

Then I get up my canoes to-morrow night, and fetch my raft over from the island. Then the first dark night that comes steal the key out of the old man 's britches after he goes to bed, and shove off down the river on the raft with Jim, hiding daytimes and running nights… '"(291). Essentially, his plan is perfect. He is going to find out of it is actually Jim in the hut, get the raft ready, steal the key, and continue doing what he and Jim had been doing the entire trip. His plan would quickly and painlessly get Jim out of harm 's way and prevent him from being sold back into slavery. Through this quote, we can see that Huck is looking out for his friend. He doesn 't want anything bad to happen to him so he works his plan around the safest way for Jim to escape without being caught. Tom Sawyer had a different idea. Tom took one look at Huck 's plan and rejected the entire thing," 'Work? Why, cert 'nly it would work, like rats a-fighting. But it 's too blame ' simple; there ain 't nothing to it. What 's the good of a plan that ain 't no more trouble than that? It 's as mild as goose-milk. '"(291). In his rant, Tom compare Huck 's plan to being "as mild as goose-milk." Tom hates this plan because there is no fun in it. Tom would rather do something entertaining than look out for Jim 's well being. Tom completely disregards

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is a satirical novel about the evils of slavery. When Huck makes the decision to save Jim, it’s because he realizes that Jim does not deserve to live a life as a slave. Huck began to think about all the memories he had with Jim and “how good he always was” (238). These memories suddenly made Huck change his mind because he

Mark Twain’s novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn tells the story of Huck, who sets off on a journey down the Mississippi river to escape from his abusive father, and to help the Widow Douglas’s slave Jim escape into freedom. Originally, the novel was intended as a sequel to Adventures of Tom Sawyer, a children’s story. However, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn effectively became a vehicle for Twain to convey a satirical moral message about southern American society. Twain conveys this message through the eyes of Huck, who undergoes gradual moral development during his journey away from home. During this journey, Huck eventually has to make the crucial decision to either follow his conscience or his heart, in order words to either obey or disobey