There are many great supporting characters throughout literature but Jim from the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is an amazing major character that supplies the book with conflict, themes and a lesson all of us could take notes from. In the 1830s and St. Petersburg Missouri, Mrs. Watson’s slave named Jim is a empathetic, superstitious, and strong man was separated from his family through slavery and after hearing about how he was going to be sold to a different master he ran away to escape out of fear for the new master. He ends up on Jackson island and runs into Huckleberry Finn the protagonist. Jim is a major character that encompasses much of the story. He brings up many great and important themes and lessons for the protagonist and the reader. He is like many amazing characters in other stories and has a lot of their good sides and characteristics. Jim is an great character and he shows the reader a window into when people were judged on their appearance, and despite this how character could still carry meaning.
Jim is a major character and serves as Huck’s companion throughout the majority of the book. He can be viewed as a dynamic and round character because of how the book presents him. He can be called dynamic because we only learn of his fatherly side, his trusting nature, and pure compassion through Huck who finds this out by traveling with him down the river. He can be called round because these traits give him more depth as we learn
Jim was with Huck since the beginning and took care of him and cared for him also teaching him lesson on the way. Jim is trying to protect huck from the outside evil of the world. When Jim finds Huck’s dad’s body in the houseboat he would let Huck see the body because he wants huck to be happy “ Come in, Huck, but doan’ look at his face-it’s too ‘gashly’” ( Twain 57). Even though Huck’s dad beat huck all the time Huck still loves his dad.
Jim is constantly concerned of Hucks safety. In chapter 9 when Huck and Jim encounter a dead body, Jim does everything he can to prevent Huck from realizing that it is Pap. Jim seeks Hucks well being so he told him, “doan’ look at his face-it’s too gashly.” Through this action Jim’s character can be seen as a father figure to Huck because he wishes to protect his feelings the way a dad would. Jim also provides Huck with the best protection he can because he is a black slave.
Judging someone for their race, ethnicity, or skin color is never portrayed as the right thing to do. However, these are some of the main themes in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This was taken place before the Civil War, when slavery was still legal. When Huck Finn and Jim meet, even though Jim is a slave, they connect immediately. Their friendship grows stronger and stronger as the novel continues, it got to the point where Jim was not only a friend, but a father figure to Huck.
Huck knows he is Jim’s best friend as evidenced by when Huck said, “I was the best friend old Jim ever had in the world, and the only one he’s got now”(Document E). This quote explains how Huck feels about Jim and how he realizes he’s his best, and only friend. Huck had become very close with Jim during their travels, and he feels not only as an equal with him, but is very good friends with him. Some readers believe that Huck views Jim as a father figure. To start, Huck did not have a very good father in his life, so it would make sense if he would look up to someone like Jim as a father figure.
He would not ever get the treatment Huck did, and Jim’s character was never allowed to grow. Smiley catches the audience’s attention as she recognizes the racist remarks that Twain uses through his character, Huck, and how he forms Jim’s character. Smiley says that, through the book, Twain creates Jim “more and more passive and never minds, just like any good sidekick” (Smiley 460). As Huck and Jim never cross the Mississippi to Illinois, a free state, Jim just stands in Huck’s shadows as he is along for the journey, never getting his own voice in the book to stand up for himself and his freedom.
Huck Finn Comparison The person I am going to compare from Huck Finn is my dad and Huck’s dad. First off Huck’s dad doesn’t want Huck to be well educated because he himself is not educated. Also Huck’s dad does not want him to become civilized or sophisticated. Because he does not want him to be any better than he is.
His journey to freedom consists of meeting new people, discovering other communities, and gaining an inseparable bond with Huckleberry Finn. While he is developing as a character, Jim’s portrayal differs throughout the novel. He also gains a “new son”, Huck, and is
Society makes Huck believe that that is correct, and that is all he believes, until he travels along the river with a slave whom he has befriended named Jim. Initially, Huck sees Jim as only a slave, but that relationship builds until the overriding relationship is achieved, in which Jim is a father-figure in the eyes of Huck. " The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" made history because of its promoting of white people viewing African Americans as equal to themselves, which wasn't common in that day and age. Overall, Huck's outweighing view of Jim is as a patriarch, a sort of dad he never got to
The black man on the back porch is afraid of the rattle snake because it is bad luck, or the innocent little slave is quick to believe everything one tells them at the drop of the hat. These are just some of the many racist stereotypes of the 1840s. A character named Jim is the star African American whom Twain bestoys the mission of being the stereotypical black man to prove a point. He along with his much more pallor companion Huck go on exciting adventures that unfold the events which expose the racist conduct of the time. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain saturates his novel with potent images of acute racism severe enough as to create a satirical mien that exposes the absurdity of prejudice.
Mark Twain emphasizes the theme that a person's morals are more powerful than the corrupt influence of society in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Based on how Huck Finn views the world and forms his opinions, he does not know the difference between right and wrong. In the novel, Huck escapes civilized society. He encounters a runaway slave, Jim, and together they travel hopes of freedom. But along the way, Huck and Jim come across troubles that have Huck questioning his motives.
In this selected passage Huck decides he is not going to send the letter he wrote to Miss Watson with the intention of turning Jim in. Huck initially writes the letter because he is thinking about God and his state of sin, as he believes he is committing a sin by stealing another person’s property. He never sends the letter because he realized how much he trusts Jim and doesn’t see him as his property, but rather as a best friend. Previously he has stayed with Jim because it was easy, but this scene marks the time when he is able to stay by Jim’s side even when he believes it will come at a great personal cost.
The Light of Friendship born on the Mississippi River Throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the relationship between Huck and Jim are the main topic of the whole book. They all had their own personality and characteristics. The relationship between Huck and Jim changes as the story goes on. In the very beginning, it was clear that Huck considers Jim as a slave, on the other hand, Huck did not regard Jim as a normal human like himself.
trying to run away from all of his problems and in the process runs into an escaped slave, Jim. Instead of turning Jim in, Huck helps him on his journey to the north. During the book Huck grows from a immature boy to a more respectable young man. Huck begins to see how different people can be. Throughout the story Huck grows as a character and that is because of the people he meets along the way.
Individuals often say that the right way may not necessarily be the popular way, but standing up for the right thing, despite it being frowned upon, will be the true test of one’s moral character. This relates to the moral growth that Huck Finn experiences throughout his journey. Mark Twain’s controversial novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, can be said to be a compelling story about how one individual, Huck Finn, goes against society’s ideals. Huck’s moral development can be said to be based primarily on those around him, especially Jim. Many instances also influence Huck’s morals, particularly during the raft journey that will change his beliefs and morals.
As a result Huck sees Jim as an equal and a friend. Jim also played a role in the maturing of Huck because, “Clearly Jim’s androgynous roles enables Huck to shape a viable system of ethics and expand his capacity for sympathy, tenderness, and basic goodness” (Wasserstein). As a result of Huck’s perception of Jim changing as Huck matures, the relationship between the two becomes stronger due to Huck realizing Jim is a friend and someone he cares