Negative Influence Of Huck Finn

Ever since its publication over a hundred years ago, controversy has swarmed around one of Mark Twain’s most popular novels, Huck Finn. Even then, many educators supported its dismissal from school libraries. For post Civil-War Americans, the argument stemmed from Twain’s use of spelling errors, poor grammar, and curse words. In the politically correct 1990’s however, the point of argument has now shifted to one of the major themes of the book: Racism. John Wallace once said of the book, “It’s the most grotesque version of racist trash” ever written. Were Twain’s archetypal characters and use of vernacular language an assertion of his own racist views, or a critique of the injustice of

In chapter eight Huck is delighted to find Jim camping on the island he’d been hiding on, only to be shocked when he finds out Jim had run away. Jim tells Huck how he overheard Miss Watson discussing selling him for $800 to a slave trader up in New Orleans (75) and instead of going back to town and turning Jim in, Huck invites Jim to run away with him. At first, refusing to turn Jim in could have been Huck ignoring societies laws for the sake of not outing himself as not dead like everyone believes he is, but when he makes the offer of letting Jim on the journey with him it’s him showing courage to help someone who had been kind to him in his time of staying with Miss Watson.

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

Huck rushes back to the island and demands that Jim be ready to run with him, meaning that Huck has risked his own freedom to save Jim. “Git up and hump yourself, Jim. They’re after us,” Huck finds out they are looking for Jim on Jackson’s Island and he rushes back to let him know (Twain 63). Huck could’ve easily ran and left Jim, but he didn’t. This is the first time where Huck begins to change and value Jim as a companion and friend. Huck realizes the value of Jim, outside of being a slave, and risks his own freedom in order for Jim to remain free. Huck realizes that Jim is a good and true friend and that lying is what will keep them safe and together in the society that they are living in. “He’s sick--and so is Mam and Mary Ann,” Huck lies to the men who want to search the raft for slaves (Twain 90). He says his family has smallpox which is what drives the slave searchers away. Huck knows they must lie about their intentions and who they are in order to be successful. This also proves how awful society was, they would have taken away Jim, no questions asked, and it just simply becomes easier to hold their tongues. This is when Huck first begins to protect Jim and defy society once again. Huck later hurts Jim’s feelings by playing a cruel trick on Jim and feels bad. Huck knows white people aren't supposed to, but he apologizes to a slave

     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

Society would expect that Huck should turn in Jim for being a runaway slave as soon as the two boys met. However, Huck promises Jim that he will not turn him in, which would be considered obscene at the time. The two runaways grow close, and Huck is willing to go as far as to lie in order to keep Jim from getting caught and turned in by others. For instance, when Huck and Jim meet the Duke and King, the con men question the runaways. Huck, in effort to prevent Jim’s cover from being blown, is willing to lie for Jim during the thorough questioning. “Goodness sakes! Would a runaway nigger run south?” (Twain 126). The bond created between Huck and Jim was so strong that the companionship allowed Huck to go against what was expected of him in society, in order to help his friend. Huck intentionally lies to white men in order to prevent his friend, a former slave, from getting into trouble. Society in the 1800’s, would have expected Huck to tell the truth, which ultimately would have resulted in Jim’s inevitable demise. Huck’s journey allowed him to see past skin colour, and which social norms are meant to be

There are many pivotal moments where Huck must decide to stay with Jim or turn him in. Huck feels stuck: “My conscience got to stiring me up hotter than ever, until at last I says to it, ‘Let up on me- it ain’t too late, yet- I’ll paddle a shore at the first light, and tell’” (Twain 83).

In chapter 8, Jim confesses to Huck that he ran off. Though Huck is initially shocked, he agrees to listen to Jim without telling on him. Huck reassures Jim that “people would call me a low down Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum--but that don’t make no difference.”

Growing up before the civil war in the midst of slavery, Huck felt forced to be dishonest about his identity many times in order to protect himself and Jim, a runaway slave. The author, Mark Twain, used his interactions with characters in order to show that when he was dishonest, it led him to do the right thing, even though he had to lie to do so. There were many instances where Huck was challenged to do what society thought

Huck Finn knows that he is going to hell for helping a run-away slave escape and become a free man. Huck tries to find every reason that he should turn Jim in and even tries praying about him doing the right thing, but there is no use in it because Huck does not have the will to turn Jim in. At one point Huck writes a letter to Miss Watson telling her that he has her slave but he thinks it over and says to himself “All right, then, I’ll go

His whole life has been taught that “niggers” are property and are not meant to be free but In his heart he knew helping Jim was the right thing to do, no matter what anybody else says. “both Huck and Jim are depicted as characters who are capable of learning from their own mistakes, empathizing with others, and acting on the behalf of others” (Evans). As the journey down the river continues they run into two con men. These men pretend to be the Wilks brothers in order to rob this family of all of their possessions. Huck couldn’t see them do this poor family wrong. He spends some time really contemplating telling one of the girls, Mary Jane, the truth about these liars (Twain 175). He knows inside that it is the right thing to do but he doesn’t want to put himself at risk. He plans out every little detail of how he is going to tell her and how he is going to expose these men (Twain 175-178). His actions result from his sympathy for others and his conscience and show major growth as the story continues.

Twain uses Huck to make decisions based on this hypocritical slave-owning, Christian lifestyle. Huck must choose to either aid a runaway slave named Jim or return him to Miss Watson, while the white society of the South would expect Huck to return Jim to Miss Watson. Huck and Jim 's friendship makes this a significant decision because Huck is morally conflicted. Jim is his friend, but he is also the property of Miss Watson. An excerpt from Magill 's Survey of American Literature puts the situation in a right perspective exclaiming “Jim is property before he is man, and Huck is deeply troubled, surprisingly, by the thought that he is going to help Jim, not only because he sees it, in part, as a robbery, but more interestingly, because he sees his cooperation as a betrayal of his obligation to the

Throughout the beginning of the novel, Huckleberry struggled with his friendship with Jim a lot due to what society said about black people. Huck faces the challenge of deciding if he should tell someone about Jim. He is indecisive because Jim states that Huck is the only friend he has ever had; Jim then proceeds to say that Huck is the only trustworthy white person that he has met as well. This puts a sense of guilt in Huck and he states, Huck wanted to reveal Jim to the white men, but he struggles internally. This demonstrates that Huck is starting to question his decisions, and he is determining whether he should change or not. By going through this trial, Huck Finn will now be able to go through death and rebirth.

From the first, Huck is willing to violate the rules of society. Jim implores Huck not to tell anyone that he has run away. "People would call me a low down Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum – but that don’t make no difference" (Twain 38). In the beginning, Huck doesn’t turn Jim in to the authorities for two reasons. One is that he has very little respect for the authorities. Another is that it is not convenient for him to turn Jim in. Without Jim, Huck would be alone. And he does not want to have to deal with that again; he would rather have a partner. So in the beginning, Huck does not step far beyond the views of race issues that society holds.

This is when Huck gets lonely, he may have Jim but he needs to know what is going on in society and the town. Huck comes up with an idea of how he is going to get himself in town and not be recognized by anyone he knows. He is going to dress up as a woman. Huck says, “..couldn’t I put on some of the old things and dress up like a girl?” (Page 65) This is when Huck tells Jim the idea of him going into town dressed as a girl. Jim agrees with the idea and believes that nobody will recognize him, not even in daylight. Huck couldn’t just throw on some clothes so he took the day walking around practicing to act as a girl. This quote was Huck’s starting point of getting sucked back into society. He couldn’t be away for too long without getting curious about the inside world. It shows that Huck is getting bored but he still wants to keep to himself by hiding his identity. This is important because of the great lengths Huck went through to find his way into town.