Lucas Venette Miss Glass English III Honors February 28, 2018 Jim: More Than a Slave Everyone wants a father figure, but the person who takes on the role of being a father is not always who is expected. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Jim, an African American slave, is a father figure to Huck, a young white boy. Jim acts as a father by protecting Huck from dangers and risks during their journey. Jim is also a father to Huck by teaching him lessons about right and wrong.
All along his society and upbringings have told him that slavery is rift and stealing is wrong. Huck begins to love Jim because he taught him how to be a better human being, and they soon become inseparable. Huck finally views him or as a slave but equal to everyone else in
In Mark Twain’s book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain uses literary devices, to display the theme of friendship. Mark Twain uses Huck and Jim to symbolize how strong their bond is even though they are from two different worlds.
So, when Huck picks up Jim, a recently escaped slave, and heads up the Mississippi River, he gets nervous when Jim begins to talk about how he will soon be free and plans to buy, or even steal, his wife and children. This was during a time where Huck would be committing a crime by helping a slave escape. He has a difficult time deciding to be loyal to his friend and let Jim continue up the rest of the way up north so that he can be freed, or to turn Jim in as an escaped slave. Huck fears getting in trouble, but he also is very torn because of the relationship that he now has with Jim. Huck’s askew sense of sympathy and morality are conflicting each other.
In this moment of reflection, Huck is therefore able to remove the stigma society places on him being friends with Jim because of their races; he is able to think for himself without the fear of society’s influence or thought on his choices. When Huck wakes up in the
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. Although there are numerous instances where Huck’s moral growth can be seen, the individuals around such as Jim, will influence his moral growth greatly.
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. There was a couple of times where Huck realized that what he was doing was not only wrong, but illegal, and wondered if he should do the right thing, but decided against it. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck sees Jim as a slave, friend, and a father
Smiley says that throughout the entire story “Twain really saw Jim as no more than Huck’s sidekick”, as "Jim is never autonomous never has a vote, always finds his purposes subordinate to Huck's, and, like every good sidekick, he never minds” (Smiley). Yet, we see in Huck’s moral dilemma, how he understands how great and amazing of a person that Jim is when they were “floating along talking, and singing, and laughing”, that he finally defeats the concept of Jim being just a ‘sidekick’ or a slave (HF. Chp 31). Huck truly sees Jim as his equal when he commits his entirety to saving Jim, getting mad that to society, Jim amounted only to “forty dirty dollars” (HF. Chp 31).
Huckleberry Finn is a story about a rambunctious young boy who adventures off down the Mississippi River. “The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain demonstrates a situation where a Huck tries to find the balance between what is right and what is wrong. Huck faces many challenges in which his maturity will play a part in making the correct decision for himself and his friend Jim. Huck becomes more mature by the end of the novel by showing that he can make the correct decisions to lead Jim to the freedom he deserves. One major factor where Huck matures throughout the novel is through his experience.
In Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck and Jim bond closely to one another, regardless of the fact that they belong to different ethnic groups. Huck, a coming-of-age teenage boy, lives in the Southern antebellum society which favors slavery. At the beginning of the book, Twain claims that “Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; and persons attempting to find a plot will be shot” (Twain 2). Ironically, through his experiences with Jim, the uncivilized Huck gradually establishes his own moral beliefs, although sometimes struggling against the influence of society.
Naturally, as his bond with Jim cultivates, Huck unknowingly treats him as a human. Through Huck’s sensibility, he states, “It didn’t take me long to make up my mind that these liars warn’t no kings nor dukes at all … I hadn’t no objections, ‘long as it would keep peace in the family; and it warn’t no use to tell Jim, so I didn’t tell him” (Twain 125). Correspondingly, Huck gains a consideration for Jim and his personal feelings, which he expresses nonchalantly through motley aspects of their journey.
Jims simple dialect causes the reader to think Jim just doesn’t want huck to see a dead body, meanwhile if the reader would look more in depth they would see that the dead body is actually Huck 's father. Also Jim 's simple language causes the reader to think of Jim as a stereotypical uneducated Slave, who has no humanity because he hasn 't been taught it. This is quite the opposite because Jim is protecting Huck from a traumatic experience. In an article by Kent Rasmussen he says, "Modern readers may have trouble understanding some of Huckleberry Finn 's vernacular
He is not going to listen to what anyone has to say to him and he is going to help his friends. When Huck is hiding Jim, there comes a time when two slave catchers ask if there are any slaves on board. Huck is able to convince them there is only his sick father on board. In reality, Jim is hiding in the bedroom. Huck questioned the rules of his society and went with his instincts and did not turn Jim into the
What type of friendship do you have with your friend? In this world there are many types of relationships including mutualistic, commensalistic, and parasitic. Mutualistic is a relationship that both people benefit. Commensalistic is a relationship where one person benefits and the other isn’t harmed but they also don’t benefit. Lastly, parasitic is when one person benefits and the other is harmed or even dies. In the movie, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn written by Harper Lee, the relationship between Huck and Jim is mutualistic. Huck and Jim always stick together.
Friends by Circumstances In a person’s life, relationships form through experiences, interactions, and emotions, but are limited by the conscience. A dog and master relationship never becomes a different relationship due to the unorthodox thinking a dog could surpass his inferiority to his master. An example of a relationship formed by the conscience is the friendship of Huck Finn and Jim is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Despite critic Lionel Trilling’s observation saying, Jim is Huck’s true father, it is incorrect because Jim is only Huck’s friend due to their trips on the raft, Jim and Huck’s past, and their consciences.