The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain

     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

Huck’s captivity is just another impairment that hinders him in moving along with his maturity, but more importantly shows Huck’s desire for a free will that is out of society’s control.

Huck’s major turning point was when he decided not to tell on Jim. Huck tore up the letter he was going to send to Miss Watson. It was during Chapter 31 when Huck decided he cannot listen to what society believes, which is that niggers are worthless and trash. He would rather go to jail than to send Jim back into slavery. In the past, Huck has been arguing against what he learned versus what he was experiencing. Huck was taught that niggers and slaves were bad, however, throughout the adventure, Huck begins to realize niggers, such as Jim, were kind and caring. Blacks have feelings just like white people do. When coming to the conclusion not to tell on Jim, this shows that Huck cannot accept society’s rules. He would rather challenge what society endorses and their values than betray his true feelings. In addition, Huck reached his conclusion because of the adventures he had with Jim on the raft and the Mississippi River. After writing the letter, Huck begins to feel relieved because he doesn’t have to worry about his “wrong” doings. However, Huck begins to think about Jim and the adventure they had together. Huck also realizes that if Miss Watson received the letter, she would sell Jim anyway. Based on the strong relationship Huck and Jim developed throughout this novel, Huck began to accept Jim as a father who cares for him. Therefore, this causes Huck not to give Jim back to “sivilized” society. He knew he cannot let Jim

Huck knows what is acceptable in society, but he constantly finds his conscience pulling him in the opposite direction. For instance, when Huck contemplates the fact that he is traveling with a runaway slave, he resolves to turn Jim in because of that is what society tells him is the right thing to do. He is paddling out to shore when Jim tells Huck that he was his best friend and the first white man to ever keep a secret for him. This deeply affects Huck and he realizes that he cannot turn Jim in, even when he runs into an assemblage of men searching for slaves that have run away. Twain is especially critical of slavery in Southern society in this novel. When Jim tells Huck he plans to earn enough money or find a way to steal his children away from their owner, Huck pities the slaveholder saying, “Here was this [slave] which I had as good as helped to run away, … saying he would steal his children- children that belonged to a man I didn’t even know; a man that hadn’t even done me no harm.” Huck is not a bad person; he is simply blinded by his time. Twain is pointing out the social irony of a man having to steal his children because a white man owned them.

“Huckleberry Finn” should be taught in schools for its powerful depictions of racism that it presents. Many believe Twain over uses the “N” word and argue that it is not politically correct to do so. These people focus on the use of this word to be so offensive, that it all together ruins the work. “Here was a free nigger there from Ohio—a mulatter, most as white as a white man. He had the whitest shirt on you ever see, too, and the shiniest hat; and there ain’t a man in town that’s got as

Huck is appalled with himself, and feels like a criminal, even though he is acting courageously from the reader’s point of view. Huck thinks less of himself for breaking the rules of society. Subconsciously, Huck feels no remorse for his actions; however, the influence of others causes him to feel like a

“I tried to make out to myself… I couldn't get around that, noway." (p.82) Here we see that Huck is debating with himself trying to determine whether or not the choice to help Jim escape was right or wrong. While he tries to rationalize his actions by claiming he wasn’t the one who made Jim run, his conscience attempts to push his southern values onto him. This conflict between Huck and his conscience demonstrates how Huck wants to help Jim, but also doesn’t want to go against the southern morals that were ingrained in

Before, Huck felt guilty about even helping Jim escape from Miss Watson and run away to his liberation. He felt like he was sinning and was stuck in a moral battle with himself until his revelation. His attitude towards helping Jim changes when he says, “You’ll say it’s dirty, low-down business; but what if it is? I’m low down; and I’m a-going to steal him, and I want you keep mum and not let on. Will you?”

Huck lives through many situations of remorse and guilt. One of which, he feels as if the world could go on without him. He wants to fake his death but thinking in his mind, “why me, I couldn’t get that out” (Twain 66), he did not know why even though he would be dead, thoughts would be present. Like other situations, such as putting the money in the coffin, Hick felt as though it was his fault and was guilty about placing it. An effect of this, he “could write back to Mary Jane” (135), and she could get the money that he placed. Events such as this show the increase in maturity that Huck takes. He feels guilty about lying and terrible with being

Huck wanted to learn about religion, but he could never bring himself too it because of his lack of interest. He also did not believe in it because Miss Watson told him that whatever he prayed for, he would get. “But it warn’t so. [...He] tried it. [...He] tried for the hooks three or four times, but somehow [...he] couldn’t make it work” (ch3). Huck viewed the slaves in a different light. He did not just see them as objects to be owned and sold. He knew he could not do whatever he pleased with them because to him, unlike the majority of society, they were actual people with feelings and emotions. When Jim ran away from Miss Watson, even though Huck knew him to be “most ruined for a servant, because he got stuck up on account of having seen the devil and been rode by witches” (ch2), he still gave him a chance and treated him as if he were anyone else to go along with him on his adventures. He believes what he is told until he finds that it actually is not the case. Even though the rest of society wanted him to and would have turned Jim in, Huck’s kind heart told him that the people were wrong and to do what he thought was morally right. Authority was also a challenge for young Huckleberry. He disobeys his father which is a young boy’s largest role model as well as authority figure. Pap tells him to “looky here--mind

Huck was raised to believe it is bad to affiliate or aid a slave. This situation placed Huck in a constant moral battle with what he perceived as ‘right and wrong’. One example includes the scene where Huck was presented the opportunity to reveal Jim to slave hunters on their journey to Cairo. The two men directly asked Huck, “Is your man white or black?” (89). Huck delays responding due to his pulling conscience and ironically blames his

Huck is on the right path in becoming a faithful friend to Jim. He finds himself struggling to be his support system. He feels divorced from the outside world. As expected, his heart is confused in deciding what is morally and ethically appropriate. His conscience pushes him to reflect on the effects of society and how it incites behavior like his: reckless and unforeseen. This situation made him “trembly and feverish…because [he] begun to get through [his] head that [Jim] was most free… and [he Huck] was to blame” (Gerald and James 100). As a white male, he is expected to turn it runaway slaves of color. Nevertheless, he has no personal desire to follow these expectations. Rather, he chooses to protect Jim, even if he undoubtedly fears to

He seeks to evaluate his own perspective, society’s perspective, and attempts to find out through religious means although he doesn’t know what to say. Huck’s own experience made him think about these options unlike other people who would just be fine with selling Jim. Huck never really had any person whom he could rely on after he fled away from his abusive father. The relationship between Huck and Jim allowed for them to know and understand each other on a deeper level. Mark Twain might have shown this on purpose as an indirect way to tell his audience that after slaves were freed, they weren’t different than white people, and had the same feelings and

Huck was taught by the world that slavery was right. It was the way of life and the way it was supposed to be. "All right, then, I'll go to hell." (206) Even though he thought this way he still knew the kind of man Jim was and disregarded what he knew to be right and wrong to save Jim

As the plot begins to truly take hold, the reader meets Jim, one of the Widow’s slaves. Huck had a healthy respect and fear for Jim. The respectful view of the slave, however, wasn’t something that most people shared. For example Huck went to Jim for advice about his father from his magic hair ball. While the magic hairball might seem like a bit of joke, Huck having the courage to ask advice from what others might call a lower class person shows his trust and admiration of Jim. In fact, I would go as far as to say at this point in the text, Huckleberry has more respect and trust for Jim than his own father. This says a lot because Jim and colored people like him were widely considered inferior to their white counterparts. However, for the