Huck Finn Relationship Analysis

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a Mark Twain classic, wonderfully demonstrates pre-Civil War attitudes about blacks held by whites. Twain demonstrates these attitudes through the actions and the speech of Huckleberry Finn, the narrator, and Jim, Miss Watson's slave. These two main characters share a relationship that progresses from an acquaintance to a friendship throughout the novel. It is through this relationship that Mark Twain gives his readers the realization of just how different people's attitudes were before the Civil War. Twain also reveals the negative attitudes of whites toward blacks by the cruel manner in which Jim is treated with such inferiority.

Huck Finn's relationship with slavery is very complex and often contradictory. He has been brought up to accept slavery. He can think of no worse crime than helping to free a slave. Despite this, he finds himself on the run with Jim, a runaway slave, and doing everything in his power to protect him. Huck Finn grew up around slavery. His father is a violent racist, who launches into tirades at the idea of free blacks roaming around the countryside. Miss Watson owns slaves, including Jim, so that no matter where he goes, the idea of blacks as slaves is reinforced. The story takes place during the 1840's, at a time when racial tensions were on the rise, as northern abolitionists tried to stir up trouble in the South. This prompted a

Anyone living in the time period Huckleberry Finn was alive for would be taught that black people should seen as slaves, not people. They were treated like objects and property instead of humans with feelings. Very few people were able see black people for who they really were. Huck eventually met Jim and got to know him as a person, instead of a slave. Huck was able to view Jim as a friend, a father figure, and a slave.

Even though Jim and Huck had a lot of good times, there was some bad times. For example, after Jim was taken back into slavery Huck mabe a plan to get him out but he said, “... it’s a dirty low-down business…” (Document F). This shows that Huck knew Jim was a slave and he knew messing with slaves a very low on the totem pole. Another example, would be when Huck was going to write a letter to Jim’s owner explaining where he was during that time, Huck says, “... everybody naturally despises an ungrateful nigger, and they’d make Jim feel it all the time… “ (Document E). This proves that by the end of the story Huck was thinking of Jim as a slave. However, a few bad moments do not define a

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

book Huckleberry Finn, the 13 year old protagonist defies society's values throughout the novel. In the beginning of the book Huck’s lying and manipulation seems selfish and unemotionally attached, but by the end he emotionally loves and risks his life for a black slave. Huck does this after he connects with Jim, allowing him to view slavery in a new eye. This book is set in the pre-civil war time period when slaves were dehumanized and abused. Growing up in a time like this, children were brainwashed to detach themselves from black people.

Huck's relationship with his friend Jim is always changing but is also never-ending. His perspective on concepts such as racism and societal perspectives become altered and developed throughout his relationship with Jim. Part of his perspective development about society's opinion came to him when he was traveling with Jim. Jim has always been a factor in Huck's life that made him develop his individuality, whether its good or bad development. Huck changes in many ways throughout this relationship, however, Jim did not change much in my opinion. Throughout this chapter, the reader can find many examples of Huck changing and growing throughout this blooming friendship while Jim really is the one initiating all of the changing. In the next section,

Individuals do not typically view their friends as inferior, unworthy of their time and of their friendship. The relationship between Huck Finn and slave Jim in the great American novel poses a complex exception to this observation. Mark Twain’s the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn takes place in Missouri, a slave state, around the 1830s and 40s. It centers around our main character, Huckleberry Finn, and the adventures he endures with his close friend Jim, who is a slave. Throughout the harsh physical journey along the the Mississippi River, Huck undergoes deep internal conflict about whether to help free slave Jim, a sin and cruel thing in the eyes of God and society, or return him to his master, the noble thing to do. The existence of

They ran away together and spent lots of time on the raft together talking and bettering their friendship. For example, Jim helped save Huck at the beginning of the novel when they stayed on the island. Jim believed in superstition and this time it paid off. He saw birds flying in a certain direction and considered that to mean that rain was coming. Therefore, the two made a cave-like home so the rain would not harm them. Jim said during the storms, “Well, you wouldn’t ‘a’ ben here ‘f it hadn’t ‘a’ ben for Jim. You’d ‘a’ ben down dah in de woods widout any dinner, en gittin’ mos’ drownded, too; dat you would, honey. Chickens know when it’s gwyne to rain, en so do de birds, chile” (Twain 58). If it had not have been for Jim, Huck would have died and drowned in the downpour. But, Jim saved Huck from his approaching death by helping him find a place to stay. Another example of Jim and Huck’s positive relationship was when Huck decided to not turn Jim in as a runaway slave. Se-Ann Williams says about Huck, “This was not just a boy running away from home. It was someone who had decided to turn his back on everything "home" stands for, even one of its most cherished beliefs. In this way Twain also allows to let us leave our thoughts of racism behind also and start to see Jim for who he really is, a man” (Williams 1). In other words, Huck had not only left his physical home but had left all the manners, church,

I also find the relationship between Huck and Jim to be an interesting one. There are definitely many elements going on in this relationship. They have grown so close due to all the hardships the two have gone through. One interesting aspect of this relationship is that I feel Huck wants to make Jim more adventurous. When Jim and Huck find the wrecked ship in Chapter 12 Huck states several times that he wants Tom Sawyer. I think that Tom Sawyer will always be Huck Finn’s best friend. Every friend Huck has will be compared to Tom Sawyer at some point, or at least that is what I believe. Huck seems like the person who wants someone to create elaborate plans that they can execute together. Huck wants that innocent playmate so he can feel like

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain paints the story of a developing friendship between two entirely different people which at the time society considered unacceptable and taboo. Huckleberry Finn is a white thirteen year old boy and Jim is a middle-aged black runaway slave. They meet by coincidence while they are both hiding out on Jackson’s Island located in the middle of the Mississippi River, Huck is hiding from the townspeople who think he is dead, and Jim has runaway and is hiding from his owner. Throughout their journey together, Huck and Jim’s relationship goes from them being mere acquaintances, then to friends, then to them having a father and son relationship.

Before the abolition of slavery in 1865, many slaves became close with children because of the considerable amount of time that they spent together. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, “Miss Watson’s big nigger, named Jim” (Ch. 2) becomes a very close figure to Huck. Huck’s biological father, Pap, is abusive, a drunk, and does not take care of him, so he is raised by Widow Douglas. Huck doesn’t like that Widow Douglas is trying to civilize him, so he runs away with Jim. On their journey down the river together, Huck and Jim progressively grow in their understanding of each other’s worth and value, and Jim takes over the role as Huck’s active father figure.

During the time of slavery, there wasn’t much interaction between whites and blacks. Most African Americans in the southern states were under slavery, and had certain limits they couldn’t break. The relationship between Huckleberry Finn and the former slave Jim, was very unique and complex at times. During their trip down the Mississippi, Huck’s conscience was catching up to him. Knowing and embracing the consequences of helping a slave run away, Huck and Jim always stuck together throughout the novel. Throughout Huck’s life, he was raised on racism from his father and the town around him. The Widow he had lived with, had a lot of slaves on their property. One of them, which was Jim. This was always hard on Huck, because he felt like the Widow did a lot for him in his life, and he betrayed her by keeping Jim safe. Also, Huck never had that one meaningful person in his life he could look up too. Jim was filling that position throughout the novel, because Huck had feelings that he thought he would never have for a slave. I believe this element of the story is connected to the idea of being “American” because during this time, slaves often tried to escape. The way Jim had escaped, mimics the stories of the famous Underground Railroad. So, Mark Twain throws in some historical examples that mirrors this trip.

A major theme in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is slavery and our evolvement towards the institution. “In fact, Twain’s novel is often taught as the text that epitomizes this tradition, with Huck held up as its exemplar: a boy courageous enough to stand against the moral conventions of his society. . .” (Bollinger, 32 – Say It Jim) In the beginning of Huckleberry Finn’s relationship with Jim, he has little respect for him and as their journey progresses he

Jim wants freedom from slavery, to reunite with his family, and to make a life for himself and his family in a slave Free State in the North, but this was very difficult in a society full of racial stereotypes and discrimination. Jim also wants to be free from Miss Watson as he had found out that she wanted to sell him. Huck and Jim were very different individuals but they overcome their differences to form a relationship of brotherhood and trustworthiness to escape and be free. Huck and Jim faces lots of obstructions down the Mississippi River. They rafted during the night as daylight created a risk for Jim as he was a runaway slave. They headed north where Jim would not be in danger of being sold in an anti- slavery state. However, on their way they encounter the Duke and Dauphin, con artists who sell Jim. Huck and Jim experience danger, separation, escape from death, and eventually Jim was captured and re-enslaved. Jim’s escape was printed with a picture and reward which declared him as a property worth $200 (Twain, 1999). Jim had to face lots of challenges to fulfill his dream of freedom. Huck meets his adventurous friend Tom Sawyer and they design a plan to help Jim be a free man. Jim, with much risk taking, sacrifices, and hard work, achieves the American dream. Jim was set free from Miss Watson’s slavery according to her will and Jim could reunite with his wife and children. With