Jim's Journey In Huckleberry Finn

In Mark Twain's satirical novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn published in 1885, Huck finds himself thrown into various wild ventures. While he often enjoys himself, it comes at the expensive of Jim, a former slave striving to escape to freedom along with Huck. Jim is either left alone in the wild, put in dangerous situations or used to add entertainment and amusement to Huck's journey. The reader is often left troubled, wondering where Jim is or if he is even alive. Twain uses the way Jim is often thrown to the side during Hucks travels to draw attention to the attitudes toward and treatment of African Americans often found in 1845.

One of the many times Huck left Jim behind was when he was with the Grangerford family. Huck was having a great time with them, greatly due to the excitement of the feud between the Grangerfords and another family close by. Huck easily settled in among the family, with no worries for his shelter, food, or clothing. He barely thought of Jim at all-- which was an extreme contrast to Jim’s reaction when one of the Grangerford family slaves brought Huck to where Jim was hiding out. “He nearly

That wasn’t the case for Jim-- it was a matter of freedom or capture, and he is consistently used for entertainment at his own expense. This causes the reader to feel a growing discomfort, in which Twain wants the reader to reflect on society and on themselves. Our society, including Huck, are marked by extreme selfishness. While we may be having a grand time, it’s quite possibly coming at the expense of another. On a broader scale, Twain wants the reader to reflect on the unfair treatment of African Americans. This theme is relevant even today. Twain wants us to look into ourselves, how we abuse our power- our privilege- and how racism is an issue that involves white people too. His message is that a change needs to occur on a wide scale level, and within ourselves, for the