Huck Finn Character Traits

As a runaway slave accompanying a white boy, Jim cannot expect what Huck could do to him; Huck could turn him in or leave him by himself. Jim also had the opportunity to leave Huck, but having all his faith and trust in Huck, Jim decides to stay, hoping Huck was not lost in the fog. After Jim’s lecture, Huck starts to feel guilty, saying, “It made me feel so mean I could almost kissed his feet to get him to take it back”

Huck's observation and reaction to the feud of the two families has reinforced his conscience about the chaos of white society in comparison to Negroes. Huck's reaction in regards to the King and the Duke is also an important point in Huck's development as a person. Huck, having been exposed and shown the immoral and corrupt products of society has grown strong enough to work against society in the end. This development has allowed huck go approach society in a more skeptical manner and to confront and accept that society and the world is not Widow Douglas' delusional mirage. This resulted in Huck to have more confidence in his relationship with Jim and loosened his bond with society's immoral

Although Huck is a bit racist to Jim at the beginning of their journey, the negative attitude held by Huck begins to fizzle as their adventure continues on. The more Huck and Jim go through together, the closer the two become. Huck begins to see Jim as a friend and vice versa. By the end of their journey, Huck disagrees with society's idea that blacks are inferior. One example of this is evident when Huck doesn't tell anyone of Jim's whereabouts. Huck doesn't tell anyone because he knows that if he does, Jim will be forced to return to slavery. Instead, Huck chooses to "go to Hell" for his decision. He has shied away from society's acceptance of slavery.

Huck has grown up in this society and has not escaped its influence. At first he too holds abolition to be a mortal sin punishable by an eternity in hell. However, Huck's religious outlook changes as his heart comes to dominate his mind. As he spends time with Jim, he comes to see Jim as a human being. At first the recognition of Jim's humanity is subconscious. When explaining to Mary Jane why she cannot immediately expose the king and the duke, he says, "I'd be all right, but there'd be another person [Jim] that you don't know about who'd be in big trouble" (149). Later Jim's humanity becomes obvious to him. He correctly concludes that he cannot pray "because [his] heart warn't right; it was because ... [he] was letting on to give up sin, but away inside of [him he] was holding on to the biggest one of all" (168-169). After hesitation, his heart completely conquers his mind. He rejects the morals of his society, declaring, "All right then, I'll go to hell" (169).

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.

In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain follows protagonist, Huck Finn throughout his endeavors. This coming of age story displays Huck’s actions that lead to him running away from home. From a young age, Huck is forced to become emotionally and physically autonomous due to his father’s alcoholism. Huck runs away and begins his adventure with fugitive slave, Jim. Together they meet a diverse range of individuals and families. Mark Twain illustrates Huck Finn’s character development by exposing him to different moral systems.

Although he predicts society will deem him to be "a low down Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum," he prefers to be shunned and to risk punishment and shame for the sake of freeing Jim (Twain 43). Clearly, Huck's fondness for Jim is evident when Huck intends to send a letter to Miss Watson returning Jim but chooses to rip it to save him instead. Huck responds, "‘I'll right, then, I'll go to hell'- and he tore it up" (Twain 214). Huck accepts his rebellious nature and terrible fate to hell as he escapes from civilized society and into a place driven by his instincts. Jim's desire for freedom puts Huck in a moral dilemma because he must decide whether to follow his innate sense of morality or the restrictive guidelines of society.

Huck has only ever known his father as the uneducated drunk that he was in the book. Therefore, when he is out with Jim for such a long period of time, he begins to look up to Jim and his outlook on life. In Document E, in the letter Huck wants to write to Miss. Watson, we see him explain somewhat the adventure him and Jim went on. Specifically, when they were traveling down the river, “...and would always call me honey, and pet me, and do everything he could think of for me, and how good he always was;” (Document E). To me, this not only shows how Huck saw Jim as a father figure, but how Jim treated Huck as his own flesh and blood. Also in Document E, we see Huck decide to help Jim rather than telling Miss. Watson where he is. This exhibits how Huck is okay with the fact that this will always be on his conscience, “‘All right then, I’ll go to hell’--and tore it up,” (Document E). Huck deciding this on his own shows us how he didn’t want anyone to know where Jim was because he wanted him to stay in his life. He also wanted to save Jim so he would still have that father figure in his life. In spite of the fact that Jim has no rights, Huck is able to learn valuable things from this man on their adventure down the

Similarly, Huck has flashbacks within his journey; however, there are much fewer flashbacks than there were in Catcher. When Huck decides to write the letter about how he now felt “clean for the first time” when discussing the way that he helped out and befriended Jim. Within this diminutive flashback, Huck remembers all the exciting times that he had spent with Jim, and how they evolved from strangers to best friends. After spending subsequent time with Jim, Huck begins to start seeing him as a fatherly type figure. During these times, it was not accepted that a white person could befriend a slave, and Huck would “go to hell” for this act.

Through the duration of this novel, Huck was constantly in a moral battle with his conscience on whether he should turn Jim in or not. “I was a-trembling, because I’d got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself ‘All right, then, I’ll GO to hell’—and tore it up.” (Twain, 161-162) He is in this dilemma because he was taught that if helped Jim, he would go to Hell, because he is Miss Watson’s “property”, but he cares for Jim too much to turn him in, only for him to be killed or sold shortly after.

In addition, when a group of boatmen came over to question Huck about runaway slaves, he lured them away by lying to them that his sick family was on the raft instead of Jim (89-90). Huck believes that it was the right thing to do, even though he knows that society is against this type of act. Huck and Jim both seem to harbor a father and son relationship, as they both look out for each other. Jim represents the moral compass in Huck’s life as Huck makes his decisions based on his feelings and not from the influence of

To protect Jim, Huck lies to men who are searching for runaway slaves, saying that a white man is on the raft, ill with smallpox. He recognizes that lying about such matters is entirely wrong, as he is raised to believe, and he feels guilty about saying such words, but at the same time, he wonders, “...what’s the use you learning to do right when it’s troublesome to do right and ain’t no trouble to do wrong” (Twain 91). In this moment of thinking, Huck notices that doing what’s right in regards to the teachings of society is troublesome, making him feel guilty. He is uncertain of what the “right” way of dealing with such situations is due to the change Jim is creating in his morality, and because of this change, he feels guilty about not giving Jim up and recognizes that he would feel just as bad if he’d just let the men search for

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

Often times Huck found himself in a moral dilemma on whether to do what society instilled in him or to do what he thinks should be done. Huck betrayed those feelings of “what society would want” him to do in order to be a good friend to Jim, putting his own self up at risk again for Jim. Jim was being held captive by Huck’s current host and Huck, abandoning his duties of his superior race and being a good Christian, as the Widow called it Huck suddenly has an epiphany “All right then, I'll go to hell!” as he goes to “steal Jim out of slavery” (212). Seeing the situation through Huck’s perspective it gives the reader every little detail that goes into his thought process in his decision making. These types of actions were considered wrong by society at that time and place but Huck sets that all aside and does what he feels is the right thing. Most of the time Huck has to think on his feet making the decision making process even more difficult, like the time when Huck was going to give Jim up as a runaway slave. “Then I thought a minute, and says to myself, hold on, s’pose you’d ‘a’ done right and give Jim up, would you feel better than what you do now? No, says I, I’d feel bad---I’d feel just the same way I do now” (91). Even through Huck’s dialect you can see him argue with himself on what the right thing to is, but he throws out what society would do and does what his heart tells him. Through Huck arguing

Despite an ardent view on slavery evident through interactions with Jim, Huck’s slowly shifting view of Jim from that of ignorance to seeming acceptance expresses his ability to stray from flawed societal values to his own developed moral code of conduct. This becomes evident when Huck protects Jim from men who board his raft, by hinting he has smallpox. Although one can see this as compassion for Jim, Huck questions with racist undertones, “s’pose you done right and give Jim up; would you felt better than you do now? No, says I, I’d feel bad” (Twain 127). However, he later affirms himself to “do whatever come handiest at the time.” (Twain 127). At this point, society still influences Huck, but his statement marks his decision to detach from societal values, and eventually allows him to form his own views on Jim. This comes slowly, as Huck cannot shake free from racism.