Huck Finn

The first time when Huck Finn is pulled in conflicting desires is when he finds Miss Watson's runaway slave, Jim, at Jackson's Island. Huck knows that if he doesn't turn the runaway slave in to his owner, "People would call [him] a low-down Abolitionist and despise (him) for keeping mum. " (Twain 43). Then later in the novel when he tries to write to Miss Watson that he knew where Jim was, he doesn't because " she'd be mad and disgusted at his rascality and ungratefulness for leaving her, and so she'd sell him straight down the river again." (Twain 212). The conflict within Huck Finn illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole because during the novel Huck develops affection for Jim are through he is challenging societal norms. When Huck tears up the letter when he remembers the time Jim said that "[he] was the best friend old Jim ever had in the world, and the only one he's got now." (Twain 214)

The novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was written by Mark Twain and published on December 10, 1884. This picaresque novel takes place in the mid-1800s in St. Petersburg, Missouri and various locations along the Mississippi River through Arkansas as the story continues. The main character is young delinquent boy named Huckleberry Finn. He doesn’t have a mother and his father is a drunk who is very rarely involved with Huck’s life. Huck is currently living with Widow Douglas and Miss Watson who attempt to make the boy a more civilized and representable citizen. Later Huck runs away and meets this runaway slave named Jim and they become good friends. As Jim and Huck travel down river in their raft they experience many conflicts.

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.

They see a town and decide Huck should go and see if this town is Cairo. Huck plans to give up Jim when they get to the city but Jim says, “Huck; you’s be de bes’ fren’ Jim’s ever had; en you’s de only fren’ ole Jim’s got now” (Twain 135). Huck struggles with whether or not he will turn Jim in. As Huck is paddling to the shore, he meets a few men who want to search his raft for escaped slaves. Huck concocts an elaborate lie and acts grateful to the men, saying no one else will help them. He convinces the men that his family on that raft has smallpox. The men, deathly afraid of smallpox, leave Huck forty dollars out of pity and leave. Here, Huck actively decides not to turn Jim in. Huck gets closer to realizing that Jim is a person that deserves rights. Huck struggles between what he thinks is right and what society thinks is right. Huck starts to think for himself, branching out from what society has told him to do from when he was a boy. This is a great leap for Huck in his growing maturity and morality.

Jim was the only person Huck had for the majority of their adventure and always had to be dependable on him. In Document F, this is the part where Huck comes up with the plan on how to save Jim from the Phelps’ farm. This primarily shows how Huck saw Jim as his friend, “‘Here’s the ticket. This hole’s big enough for Jim to get through, if we wrench off the board,” (Document F). This shows Huck’s plan to help set Jim free and he wouldn’t be going through this trouble if he thought Jim was worthless. He views Jim more as an equal since he believes that he should be free. In Document B, we see how frightened Jim is that Huck is going to tell where Jim is, however, Huck is thinking the complete opposite. Huck believes that it is right to not tell on Jim, “‘I ain’t agoing to tell, and I ain’t agoing back there anyways.’” (Document B). Since Huck won’t say anything about where Jim is, it shows how he sees Jim more as a friend and trusts him enough to go on an adventure together. Jim and Huck truly get to know each other on their adventure together. They get to share many laughs, smiles and talks. With these talks is where Huck gets to also view Jim as someone to look up

Twain does not let the reader thing badly of Huck for very long, though, having Huck?s true voice shine out by the end of the confrontation. By page 67 Huck is almost loathing to go and turn Jim in, seeing the act as an obligation rather than a moral right. He says, "Well, I just felt sick. But I says, I got to do it-I can?t get out of it." Twain wants the reader to see Huck?s change in judgment. The reader is able to see Huck?s newfound reluctance, brought on by Jim?s words of appreciation. These words bring Huck back to the realization that Jim is a friend, not property. And

Grangerfords are engaged in an age old blood feud against another family, the Shepherdsons. When Buck's older sister elopes with a member of the Shepherdson clan, the vendetta finally comes to a head. In the resulting conflict, Huck witnesses the horrific murder of all the Grangerford males from this branch of the family being shot and killed, including Buck. He is immensely relieved to be reunited with Jim, who has recovered and repaired the raft that got damaged earlier.

According to Harris F. Hansen. “It takes nothing to join a crowd. It takes everything to stand alone.” This quote represents Huck finn because huck chose individuality over conformity. Freedom is more important to Huck than the comfortable home Miss Watson tries to provide him because he is used to being free, makes him feel like an individual, and makes him happy.

One can say that Pap is Huck’s “true father.” However what is the definition of a true father? A “true father” can be described as one who displays paternal qualities, substituting one's biological, less nurturing father. This figure can be anyone that spends time with a child and teaches a child moral values becoming a role model for the child. In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain presents many dominant figures that effect Huck’s life, including Pap, the Duke, the Dauphin, and Jim.

The title of King is given to a person regarded as the finest or most important in its sphere or group. He is meant to be honorable and fair to all people but in Huck Finn by Mark Twain, King means something different entirely. It means a swindler, liar, and thief. King is also described as ¨low-down humbugs and frauds¨ (Twain 125) which is the opposite of what a man should be with a title such as King. Mark Twain uses King to criticize the part of society that lies, tricks and swindles to get what they want.

However, Huck manages to reconnect them. With Jim still sleeping when this happens, Huck decides to play a trick on him by saying "'Gone away? Why, what in the nation do you mean? I hain't been gone anywheres. Where would I go to?'" In response to Jim asking, 'Huck – Huck Finn, you look me in de eye; look me in de eye. Hain't you ben gone away?' (63). By convincing Jim that the whole ordeal was a dream, Huck treats the situation as a joke. Jim, on the other hand, is extremely concerned about what he thought actually happened. Jim's idea of adventure is much more in tune with safety and survival, as opposed to Huck's wanting a more fun and joke filled journey. This evident contrast in Huck and Jim’s ideas about adventure due to their differing circumstances remains even within Huck’s conscience. When reviewing their journey as a whole, Huck ponders Jim’s closeness to freedom. Huck’s mindset about the severity and importance of Jim’s situation lacks when he instead begins to think about how problematic it is that he aided Jim in his escaping. Huck said Jim’s closeness to freedom made him “trembly and feverish” but it made him feel that way too because he was to blame for it. Huck said, “I couldn’t rest; I couldn’t stay still in one place. It hadn’t ever come home to me before, what this thing was that I was doing. But now it did; and it staid with me, and scorched me more and more.”(66). Although Huck is serious when pondering their journey as a whole, his differing conception of the situation at hand prevails. By worrying about his own action in helping Jim escape the slavery and confinement he was previously in instead of focusing on the hardships Jim had to endure portrays how Huck’s grasp on the world differs much from

After a long raft-ride, Huck and Jim are finally about to reach Cairo, which on their arrival would make Jim free. With the smell of freedom, Jim rambles on about how he would buy his wife and then steal his children. This sets off a spark in Huck, igniting his conscience and making him very uneasy. Huck couldn't believe that Jim would steal property from a man that hadn't done him any harm. Huck then begins feeling guilty about helping Jim escape from Miss Watson, since she had never done anything to him and didn't deserve for Jim to be stolen from her. At his departure for the town, on a mission to turn Jim in, Jim leaves Huck with these words. " Pooty soon I'll be a shout'n' for joy, en I'll say say, it's all on accounts o' Huck; I's a free man, en I couldn't ever ben free ef it hadn't it ben for Huck; Huck done it. Jim won't ever forgit you, Huck; you's de bes' fren' Jim's ever had; en you's de only fren' ole Jim's got now". (pg.86-87) Hearing these words, Huck realizes how much Jim's friendship means to him and decides not to turn in Jim. Finally, the last test of Huck's conscience comes when he finds out that the "king" and the "duke" have sold Jim. Huck gets to thinking about how wrong he was to help Jim escape, and decides he should write a letter to Miss Watson. He then changes his mind, seeing that Jim would be worse off as a runaway slave because he would be treated horribly, and Huck

It's 1910 and Maia, orphaned at 13, travels from England to start a new life with distant relatives in Manaus, hundreds of miles up the Amazon. She befriends Finn, a mysterious Indian boy who lives with the local Indians. But they are forced to flee up river when his past life catches up with him. From the author on how this book came about: ‘I had always wanted to write a straight adventure story, but the kind where the adventures were about travelling and finding new ways to live and not being eaten by crocodiles (which is sad but probably not very interesting). Maia, the heroine, is exactly the sort of person I wanted to be but wasn't: brave and resourceful but also sensitive and

The heart of the story begins when Huck meets up with the escaped slave Jim. Huck’s first step to overcoming society’s prejudice and racism occurs when he meets Jim on the island. "I was ever so glad to see Jim. I warn’t lonesome, now" (Twain 36). From this point forward, Jim is not a just a slave to Huck. He is a partner.

Finding it hard to prostrate himself to a black person, Huck displays societal ideas of white supremacy. At the same time, however, Huck continues by stating, “I wouldn’t done that one if I’d knowed it would make him feel that way (Twain 105). This reveals his changing attitude towards Jim, and reflects his ability to respect Jim’s emotions as a fellow human. This compassion for Jim continues to evolve during their journey, however, muddied by Huck’s racism.