What Is Home In Huckleberry Finn

In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, Huck lives in two different settings. One of the settings is on land with the widow and with his father and the other is on the river with Jim. There are many differences of living on land as opposed to living on the Mississippi River. On land, Huck has more rules to live by and he has to watch himself so as not to upset the widow or his father. On the river, Huck didn't have to worry about anything except people finding Jim. He also had to worry about the king and the duke for a while. Even thought there are many differences of the two living styles, there are also some similarities.

Throughout the book, Huck is independent and easy going. He never wants to be kept down or tied to one place. Even though he is the main character, he does not change very much during the book. Even at the end, he refuses a home saying, “She’s going to adopt me and civilize me and I can’t stand it. I been there before.” (Twain, 338.) Huck could have had a home with Aunt Sally, but chose

Huck has only ever known his father as the uneducated drunk that he was in the book. Therefore, when he is out with Jim for such a long period of time, he begins to look up to Jim and his outlook on life. In Document E, in the letter Huck wants to write to Miss. Watson, we see him explain somewhat the adventure him and Jim went on. Specifically, when they were traveling down the river, “...and would always call me honey, and pet me, and do everything he could think of for me, and how good he always was;” (Document E). To me, this not only shows how Huck saw Jim as a father figure, but how Jim treated Huck as his own flesh and blood. Also in Document E, we see Huck decide to help Jim rather than telling Miss. Watson where he is. This exhibits how Huck is okay with the fact that this will always be on his conscience, “‘All right then, I’ll go to hell’--and tore it up,” (Document E). Huck deciding this on his own shows us how he didn’t want anyone to know where Jim was because he wanted him to stay in his life. He also wanted to save Jim so he would still have that father figure in his life. In spite of the fact that Jim has no rights, Huck is able to learn valuable things from this man on their adventure down the

     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

The reason Huck wants to get Jim into a better fix is to save his life so he won’t be sent to jail for a very long time. The reason Huck is able to work through his dilemma is because he is focused on getting Jim all cleaned up. Jim is very free willed though because he feels that nothing will ever get to him, but he will let Huck help him just because they are so close. Huck decides to go ashore to get information, Jim agrees but has Huck disguise himself as 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

He also does not doubt tom?s judgment when he says ?But go ahead, I ain?t got nothing to say? because he does not know any better. On the other hand, Huck gains knowledge while experiencing the journey to free Jim and suddenly Huck encounters a decision that requires much more consideration than anything he has ever thought about. As Huck decides whether or not to turn Jim in to Miss Watson, he says, ?I studied a minute, a sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: ?All right, then, I?ll go to hell?? (Twain 228). Huck now has the ability to think for himself. This important decision goes against what he has always been taught. He thinks his decision thoroughly, unlike before. With his new standards of morality, Huck decides not to turn Jim in. It is apparent that he improves in his aptitude of making choices. Huck?s capability of making decisions alone shows that he is maturing into an independent young man.

Although he predicts society will deem him to be "a low down Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum," he prefers to be shunned and to risk punishment and shame for the sake of freeing Jim (Twain 43). Clearly, Huck's fondness for Jim is evident when Huck intends to send a letter to Miss Watson returning Jim but chooses to rip it to save him instead. Huck responds, "‘I'll right, then, I'll go to hell'- and he tore it up" (Twain 214). Huck accepts his rebellious nature and terrible fate to hell as he escapes from civilized society and into a place driven by his instincts. Jim's desire for freedom puts Huck in a moral dilemma because he must decide whether to follow his innate sense of morality or the restrictive guidelines of society.

Huckleberry Finn provides the narrative voice of Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. Huck’s honest voice combined with his personal vulnerabilities reveal the portrayal of family in the novel. Although many themes and topics can be found in this novel, the topic of family is very important because in the end, Huck’s new family provides peace for the confused, ignorant boy Huck was in the beginning of the novel. Through his travels, Huck accumulates his “floating family”. Through Huck’s adventures, he finds not only people to join his “floating family”, but places that feel like home for Huck as well.

Although Huck is a bit racist to Jim at the beginning of their journey, the negative attitude held by Huck begins to fizzle as their adventure continues on. The more Huck and Jim go through together, the closer the two become. Huck begins to see Jim as a friend and vice versa. By the end of their journey, Huck disagrees with society's idea that blacks are inferior. One example of this is evident when Huck doesn't tell anyone of Jim's whereabouts. Huck doesn't tell anyone because he knows that if he does, Jim will be forced to return to slavery. Instead, Huck chooses to "go to Hell" for his decision. He has shied away from society's acceptance of slavery.

One component of these chapters that I felt was extremely prevalent was the character development of Huck. There were multiple instances when Huck had to make certain decisions that would effect him in the long run, and with most of those decisions came a moral struggle. It seemed as if within these chapters, Huck is trying to find out who he truly is as a person. One example of these moments is in chapter 16 when he is having an internal battle, trying to convince himself that helping Jim gain his freedom is in fact the right thing to do. The quote reads, “I couldn't get that out of my conscience, no how nor no way. It got to troubling me so I couldn't rest; I couldn't stay still in one place…I tried to make out to myself that I warn't to blame, because I didn't run Jim off from his rightful owner” (Pg. 87). In the quote stated above you can clearly see the internal struggle that Huck goes through, trying to find himself along the way. He looks at the situation with 2 different perspectives, one of them being that taking Jim to gain his freedom is immoral and the wrong thing to do, the other being taking Jim to gain his freedom is the right thing to do. Although Jim knows that either way he will feel guilty but he ends up choosing to take Jim's side because of his loyalty. Jim shows his appreciation to Huck by saying things like, "Dah you goes, de ole true Huck; de on'y white genlman dat ever kep' his promise to ole Jim”(Pg. 92), causing Huck

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.

He like the majority of the Deep South’s population was forced to submit to popular religion in the form of Christianity, being racist and not being able to criticize the institution of slavery, as well as acting like a “proper” boy and being civilized with manors, rules, and restrictions. However, he is the polar opposite of the ideals expressed by his society. Huck is forced to reside with Widow Douglas, he describes the experience in the first chapter, “She took me… allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time … I wanted to smoke, and asked the widow to let me. But she wouldn't. She said… I must try to not do it any more.” (Twain, 2). In this particular environment, Huck is forcefully civilized by the Widow Douglas as well as Miss Watson. This essentially shows an indirect form of slavery in which Huck is forced to do as society and his elders dictate regardless of what he believes in which many of us are also subject to. This enslaves him and leads him to decide that he needs to relocate himself as far away from society as possible. Therefore, he forges his death and runs away meeting Jim on the way. This idea of Huck being controlled by society influences him through the novel, for instance he thinks about turning Jim in because it is wrong to steal since Jim is

Often times Huck found himself in a moral dilemma on whether to do what society instilled in him or to do what he thinks should be done. Huck betrayed those feelings of “what society would want” him to do in order to be a good friend to Jim, putting his own self up at risk again for Jim. Jim was being held captive by Huck’s current host and Huck, abandoning his duties of his superior race and being a good Christian, as the Widow called it Huck suddenly has an epiphany “All right then, I'll go to hell!” as he goes to “steal Jim out of slavery” (212). Seeing the situation through Huck’s perspective it gives the reader every little detail that goes into his thought process in his decision making. These types of actions were considered wrong by society at that time and place but Huck sets that all aside and does what he feels is the right thing. Most of the time Huck has to think on his feet making the decision making process even more difficult, like the time when Huck was going to give Jim up as a runaway slave. “Then I thought a minute, and says to myself, hold on, s’pose you’d ‘a’ done right and give Jim up, would you feel better than what you do now? No, says I, I’d feel bad---I’d feel just the same way I do now” (91). Even through Huck’s dialect you can see him argue with himself on what the right thing to is, but he throws out what society would do and does what his heart tells him. Through Huck arguing

Huck makes a good point when he is living with the widow Douglas. Huck didn’t like to be in a civilized home, he wanted to be out doing adventures with Tom Sawyer. Twain