Huck, through Jim's reaction, learns how someone's race does not determine who they are as a person and also that race does not make someone superior or inferior to someone else. Another example of how Jim teaches Huck a lesson is when Huck sees Jim grieving over missing his family. In the story, Huck says, "He was thinking about his wife and his children, away up yonder, and he was low and homesick;...and I do believe he cared just as much for his people as white folks does for their'n" (Twain 166). In this quotation, Huck learns another important lesson concerning race. Huck previously believes that Jim, as well as other African Americans, do not have sentimental feelings like white folks do.
Jim and Huck share their stories and develop an interesting relationship during their adventures. Twain presents Huck’s moral challenges throughout his adventures with a runaway slave to display a non-racist view during a time of slavery. In the midst of
“The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” (Huck Finn is a story of friendship, of overcoming adversity and of doing what your heart tells you, rather than what society says is the right thing to do.) “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” describes the story of a young boy, Huck Finn, and an escaped slave, Jim, traveling down the Mississippi River together. As the story progresses and the characters develop, Huck builds a friendship with Jim and is forced to reevaluate how he perceives slavery. Overcoming adversity Huck’s journey down the river is not only in search of Jim’s physical freedom, but is also in search of his own moral and mental freedom. It is by overcoming such adversity that Huck begins to find freedom and to grow into a wiser and more mature person.
Throughout Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck’s struggle with moral alignment is continuously present. Huck faces the emotional implications of acting against the beliefs of the times as he aids Jim in escaping slavery. Though he offers assistance to Jim, Huck constantly battles with the idea of turning him in. Through this constant struggle Twain creates a contrast between morality – one’s own set of individual moral values, and moralism – the sets of moral values enforced by others. Raised in the Jim Crow south by the slave-owning Ms. Watson, Huck has been brought up on a very specific set of moral values.
A young boy and an older slave go on a journey for both of their freedoms and negate society 's rules. This young boy is named, Huck Finn. He can relate and contrast to all characters and relate to people today. He reflects the main themes found through the book. The author Mark Twain depicts Huck is an intellectual, strong-willed character with a good moral compass.
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.
Although Huck looks down upon Jim, he truly did care about him. He cares about him so much, that he disregarded what his conscience kept telling him. He realizes that his thoughts don’t matter when he said, “It was awful thoughts and awful words, but they was said. And I let them stay said; and never thought no more about reforming” (242) Huck prefers to “go to hell” for Jim if it means he does not have to turn on him. Friendship overpowers society’s
Huck did not expect this but Jim refuses to leave until Tom gets a doctor to help him. Huck is a witness that Jim truly cares about tom and that he is a good friend. This act of kidness suggests Jim cares more about Tom being okay than his own freedom from slavery. Jim does stay by Toms side and Huck went out to get a doctor but Huck says “I knowed he was white inside” (263). I think Huck means by this that he can truly see Jim for who he is and not his skin color because most slaves would not care about a white man being shot because most while males are slave owners.
In Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn, he utilized diction to illustrate the change in Huck’s view on slavery and more specifically, Jim; from believing that all slaves are subhuman and ignorant to befriending and respecting Jim as his equal. Incidentally, one way that Twain used diction to highlight such change in Huck was in his choice and usage of the word “n*****”. Considering this, in Chapter 16, Huck habitually uses the n-word to refer to Jim rather than calling him by his name. Huck also utilizes phrases such as , “Give a n***** an inch and he’ll take an ell.” when attempting to characterize Jim’s behavior. By using the n-word, Huck identifies Jim as part a generalized category of people who are perceived as universally
“All right, then, I’ll go to hell”(214). Huck says this after he rips apart a letter that he was going to send to Miss Watson about her slave Jim that he helped escape. Huck’s entire life consisted of friends and family owning slaves and there being nothing wrong with it. So as Huck joins Jim down the Mississippi it is a huge turning point in that time in history, it was frowned upon and unheard of. Huck struggles to come to terms with himself, it is almost as though he is disappointed that he did that.