Power Roles between Jim and Huck in Mark Twain´s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

[he] could a paddled ashore and told somebody" (151). He believed that this was as bad as stealing. He decided he would go in town and give Jim up, but when it came time to do it, he could not bring himself to give Jim up. Jim had become too important to him. Later in the novel, Huck again faced this dilemma about whether or not to give Jim up. This occurred after the king and duke had sold Jim to Mr. Phelps. Huck decided to write a letter to Miss Watson, Jim's owner before he escaped, telling her where her runaway slave was. He again felt awful about allowing and even helping Jim to escape from her, and he believed that "people that acts as [he'd] been acting about that n***** goes to everlasting fire" (365). However, then he started thinking about his friendship with Jim and how good Jim had been to him through the whole voyage. He realized how much Jim actually meant to him . He then decided, once and for all, that he would not give Jim up, "and never thought no more about reforming" (368).

In this section, insight into the character of Jim is portrayed. Jim comes across as sincere and trustworthy. The loyalty of Jim and Huck to each other begins to be seen. An example of Jim’s loyalty is seen when Jim is overjoyed to find Huck is still alive after they are separated in the fog. During this section, it begins to be apparent that Jim would be willing to sacrifice to be sure that Huck is safe but Huck does not yet return those feelings. During this section, Huck’s moral dilemma about helping a slave escape begins to surface. The fact that the relationship is strengthening is revealed when Huck lies about having smallpox on their raft in order to prevent Jim from being caught as a slave. Huck again assumes several identities during this section, which reveal much about him. On the raft, Huck is very mature and responsible. He becomes the son of a

In the middle of the book, Huck starts to distinguish what is the right thing to do. He starts to think if all the things he was doing before with Jim and Tom were too mean and stupid to do. One specific example is when he decides to steal the money that the king and duke have, “I got to steal that money somehow; and I got to steal it some way that they wont suspicion I done it." (Twain 133) After Huck stole the money Huck and Jim didn’t feel bad at all, and knew that they did the right thing after all. He learns that not everyone can be scammed on, that the real life is important and that you can’t do anything stupid like that. He sees eye to eye with Jim and realizes that he cant have someone taken advantage of just because of their

In the beginning Huck never really knew what a true friend was, and then he went on a journey with Jim, a runaway slave. For a while, Huck has thoughts about turning in Jim and having him sent back to Miss Watson. However, he always remembers how nice Jim is to him. Huck said that he would not tell anyone that Jim had runaway and in return Jim was willing to protect and help Huck. Jim would even give up his sleep just because he wanted to let Huck continue to sleep. That was not the only thing Jim did for Huck either. When the house floated by and the two saw a body laying inside it dead, Jim went in to see what was in the house and found that it was Huck's father that was dead. Jim covered the body so Huck did not realize that his father had been killed. Through just these two actions made by Jim, Huck learns one of the most valuable life lessons: true friendship.

Jim, who becomes Huck's friend as he travels down the Mississippi river, is a man of intelligence and consideration. "An understanding of Jim's character is by no means a simple matter; he is a highly complex and original creation, although he appears at first sight very simple" (Hansen, 388). Jim has one of the few well functioning families in the novel. Although he has been estranged from his wife and children, he misses them dreadfully, and it is only the thought of a lasting separation from them that motivates his unlawful act of running away from Miss Watson. Jim is rational about his situation and must find ways of accomplishing his goals without provoking the fury of those who could turn him in. Regardless of the restrictions and constant fear Jim possesses he consistently acts as a gracious human being and a devoted friend. In fact, Jim could be described as the only existent adult in the novel, and the only one who provides an encouraging, decent example for Huck to follow. The people that surround Huck who are supposed to be teaching him of morals, and not to fall into the down falls of society are the exact people who need to be taught the lessons of life by Jim. Jim conveys an honesty that makes the dissimilarity between him and the characters around him evident.

As a team completely isolated from society, Huck and Jim are an unlikely pair formed perfect; the king and the duke, who are exceptionally similar in terms of their personalities and pursuits, are seemingly natural partners, but are more individual than joined. Huck and Jim are of entirely different social standings, yet both are able to form an unbreakable bond. Huck is a young, white male who is seemingly above Jim on the social ladder, though much younger, and Jim is a runaway slave who Huck could have turned in for his own benefit. During the river/raft scene, Huck discovers how much he needs Jim as a moral companion for his own happiness and protection. Huck solely uses “we” to refer to himself and to Jim, thus suggesting that Huck does not see himself and Jim as two individual people, but rather one pair. Huck and Jim’s dedication to each other also breaks down all social and racial walls built by society that they have chosen to leave. The two speak to and treat each other as equals, and no judgment of racial inferiority is imposed by Huck to Jim, despite that Huck was brought up with racism and cynicism. Huck says that he and Jim “was always naked, day and night” (178); nakedness is the most vulnerable state of all humans, as one’s

Huck's maturity grows with the same issue later on. When approaching Cairo, the point where Jim can become free, Huck decides that he has done something terribly wrong by not turning Jim in and decides he is going into town to tell on him. However, in a split second, while encountering some slave hunters, Huck decides against it and continues to protect Jim. This episode is particularly significant because even though Huck was "feeling bad and low, because [he] knowed very well [he] had done wrong" (91) he still made a conscious decision to do what he felt was right rather than what society thought was right.

     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

Another example that indicates hypocrisy in the civilized society in the novel is the biased punishment of crimes according to the society’s rules and regulations. This is shown by the non-judgment of the Duke and the King regardless of the fraudulent schemes that both con artists involved in the community. Huck and Jim rescue the Duke and the King and offer them their raft. The first scheme begins when both criminals present fake identities to Huck and Jim. The Duke introduces himself as the English Duke’s son, also known as the Duke of Bridgewater whereas the King presents himself as the Lost Dauphin as well as Louis XVI’s son and France’s designated King (Twain, 144-145). Additionally, one of the con artists, the Duke, takes advantage of Jim’s race and position as a runway slave and prints leaflets that offer $200 reward to any person that manages to catch the runaway slave. The Duke is

When the King goes to feel out one of the towns to see if the people of that particular town has heard of the fraud of a show that he and the Duke had been putting on Huck is planning his and Jim’s escape. Huck at this point knows that the King is actually going into the town to look for more people’s houses to rob. The Duke is visibly agitated for some reason and Huck senses it. When Huck and the Duke go into the town to look for the King he is obviously drunk. Huck runs as soon as he sees an opportunity to lose the King and the Duke. Huck thinks he and Jim are finally free only to find that Jim is gone. When Huck realizes Jim is gone and he cannot find him he actually cries. We see the emotional attachment and bond that Jim has formed with Jim. When Huck comes across a young boy who tells him of how a runaway slave was caught and he learns that he was caught because the Duke and the King tricked them. Following this encounter Huck is upset. The first reason he seems upset is because he was turned in by the hands of people he thought he was helping but the most ironic reason for his anger

We see this become an example when they help each other out by doing what they can do while the other can not, and one for such is Huck dressing as a girl to hear what is happening in their former town. Huck is the one doing this because he is white, not because he is more skilled in remembering or any of the sorts. Though Jim is someone for Huck to look for guidance, and deciding what they should do. He uses Jim’s superstitions many times. One for instance was when they decided where to stash their canoe and supplies. “Jim says if we had the canoe hid in a good place, and had all the traps in the cavern, we could rush there is anybody was to come to the island, and they would never find us without dogs. And besides, he said them little birds had said it was going to rain, and I didn’t want the things to get wet?” (50). This became a turning point, as Huck seeks advice from Jim. This common goal of not getting caught helped this change undergo, as they see that hiding the canoe would make the searchers believe the place was

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

Just as Huck does make some changes, so does Jim. At first Jim is willing to accept the “king” and the “duke.” But, after having to deal with all their schemes and the way they tie him up and are rude, Jim wishes they were gone. He tells Huck, “I doan’ mine one er two kings, but dat’s enough. Dis one’s powerful drunk, en de duke ain’ much better.” (Twain, 158.) While he didn’t mind them at first, he realizes what they are really like, and is beginning to dislike them.

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

Huck’s views regarding black people come into question when Huck and Jim run away together. Their experiences together let them become closer to each other and let Huck recognize Jim as a human being with real feelings. Huck starts to view Jim as a caring individual when they are on the raft. This is a scene taken from when Jim and Huck were working together on the raft and Jim was trying to protect them both from the rain, “Jim took up some of the top planks of the raft and built a snug wigwam to get under in blazing weather and rainy, and to keep the things dry. Jim made a floor for the wigwam, and raised it a foot or more above the level of the raft, so now the blankets and all the traps was out of reach of steamboat waves” (Twain, pg 64). In this part of the novel, Huck seems to be all Jim has, and Jim is also all Huck seems to have, and they work together to build a place that the waves cannot reach them. Their feeling of friendship is born through working together and protecting each other. Even though Huck and Jim are having new experiences together, Huck’s conscience is still going back and forth about the idea of freeing a slave. This quote is taken from when Huck