In the novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain, the characters all value some things specific to his character. Jim and Tom are peculiar characters because they have distinct ways of looking at things. In that Jim values family and friendship, Tom values following the rules, and Huck values the natural world. Jim and his people are regarded by the society at the time to not have feelings. This is evidently not true as Jim specifically shows that he has feelings. Jim has the most feelings for his family, “head down betwixt his knees, moaning and moaning to himself… he was thinking about his family” (Twain 155). This quote shows that Jim felt feelings for his family that he so dearly missed. What Jim had done to his daughter was unfortunate and he knew that felt bad for this. Jim highly values his family and tries to fuel his quest for freedom only to be able to return with his family. “The first thing he would do when got to a free state he would go to saving up money and never spend a single cent, and when he got enough he would buy his wife, which was owned on a farm close to where Miss Watson lived; and then they would both work to buy the two children, and if their master wouldn't sell them, they'd get an Ab'litionist to go and steal them." (Twain 88). From this quote, I can concur that Jim was solely out on the search for freedom in order to live with his family in a free State and that he happened to grow a strong friendship with Huck. Jim has grown to value Huck and the friendship they hold. Even though Jim doesn’t know of what Huck often plans to do with him, I know that this friendship is mutual throughout their time together. Jim quickly grows a friendship with Huck, “ Goodness gracious, is dat you, Hu... ... middle of paper ... ...he width of the river and its magnitude. Huckleberry holds nature in its own realm and regards it when he needs to. He is a nature-man and does things that other people wouldn’t understand. “We was always naked, day and night… and besides I didn’t go much on clothes nohow.” (Twain 118). Huck decides to live his life like a true homeless man and enjoys it because he is living amongst the natural world. Huck values the wilderness so much that he would go out of his way make the experience “right.” The characters have much more they value then what I described, but this is the very essence of what constitutes each one of them as a character. Tom, Huck, and Jim have many things that oppose one another, it seems quite ironic that one another link up so well. This goes to show that opposites do attract. Works Cited "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain
When Huck and Jim first meet each other on the island they are just acquaintances who had little history together but the decision they make to help each other foreshadows their relationship later on in the story. When Jim first finds Huck he states, "Goodness gracious, is dat you, Huck? En you ain' dead—you ain' drownded—you's back agin? It's too good for true, honey, it's too good for true. Lemme look at you chile, lemme feel o' you. No, you ain' dead! you's back agin, 'live en soun', jis de same ole Huck—de same ole Huck, thanks to goodness!" (Twain ). By this time, Jim has heard the news of Hucks “death”, so when they find each other on the island it comes as a surprise to Jim. “People would call me a low-down Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum--but that don't make no difference. I ain't a-going to tell, and I ain't a-going back there, anyways” (Twain ), Huck thought. After Jim told Huck that he was a runaway, Huck promised not to tell anyone, which shows his values and foreshadows their relationship later on in the story. After leaving ...
Jim's character traits are easy to over look because of his seeming ignorance, but in reality Jim possessed some qualities that created a positive influence on Huck. He began by demonstrating to Huck how friends teach friends. His honest compassion also eventually causes Huck to resist the ideas society has placed upon him, and see Jim as an equal-- rather than property that can be owned. Huck knew he was going against society, and of the consequences that he could receive for freeing a slave. "It would get all around, that Huck Finn helped a nigger to get his freedom; and if I was to ever see anybody from that town again, I'd be ready to get down and lick his boots for shame", (269-270). Huck then claims, "All right, then, I'll go to hell…"(272) This shows that Huck was willing to put himself on the line for a slave, because he ceased to view Jim as property and recognized him as a friend. At the beginning of the story Huck would have never done this, but after the many adventures that occur, Jims unconditional love for Huck pierces the shell society placed ar...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain is about the great adventures that Huck finn has with his slave Jim on the Missouri River. The story tells not only about the adventures Huck has, but more of a deeper understanding of the society he lives in. Twain had Huck born into a low class society of white people; his father was a drunken bum and his mother was dead. He was adopted by the widow Douglas who tried to teach him morals, ethics, and manners that she thought fit in a civilized society. Huck never cared for these values and ran away to be free of them. During Huck’s adventure with Jim he unknowingly realized that he didn't agree with society’s values and could have his own assumptions and moral values. Twain uses this realization to show how the civilized and morally correct social values that was introduced to Huck was now the civilized and morally contradicting values.
The novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Samuel L. Clemens, whose pen name was Mark Twain, presents the evils of southern societies during the pre-Civil War period in America. The novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Samuel L. Clemens, whose pen name was Mark Twain, presents the evils of southern societies during the pre-Civil War period in America. Clemens, a well-respected author, "began writing The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in 1876 and, after several stops and starts, completed it in 1883" (19). This novel revolves around the theme of slavery versus freedom, and was published at a time when most southern landowners still "owned" slaves.
His journey to a better person begins when he lies to Jim, a runaway slave, about getting lost in the fog. Huck tells Jim he dreamt the whole thing and Jim becomes upset and ashamed that Huck lied to him and tried to fool him like that. Realizing how hurt Jim is Huck says, “It made me feel so mean I could almost kissed his foot to get him to take it back.” (Twain 86). Instead of treating Jim like a slave, Huck treats him like a human and feels awful about his cruel prank. After this moment of realization, Huck begins to grow in his moral evolution by telling the truth for the first time. Two con artists travel with Huck to a small town and make an innocent family believe that the two frauds are the family’s dead relative’s brothers. Knowing that the two men are being manipulative, Huck’s, “heart ache[d] to see [the family] getting fooled and lied to so.” (Twain 182). Thus, his feeling of remorse and guilt leads him to tell the truth for the first time. Shortly after, Huck starts to gain the same empathy and guilt towards Jim. Guilty about stealing Jim from his owner, Miss Watson, Huck is torn between what is morally right or wrong. For a long time Huck contemplates whether he should return Jim or save him from becoming a slave again. On one hand, Huck can do the right thing and go to heaven, or he can do the wrong thing and go to hell. Finally, after praying
From the battle of survival, through the little sense of loyalty in scams, and finally a continued friendship between Huck and Tom, things start to fall into place. After dealing with doubts and worries through their journey of freedom, a bond is created that will never be broken. Taking on adventures leads to open doors with great opportunities for everyone. Unfortunately, facing society can be extremely difficult because of its indifference. As mentioned previously, Huck decides that going to hell is worth Jim having a free life. Without the key elements of friendship provided in the the book, the story would not be the same. If Huck had decided to not help Jim, the bond and experience would have been broken. Therefore, opportunities wouldn’t have been as large and open for them. Twain does a fantastic job at illustrating the importance of friendships. True friendships are the ones which loyalty, protection, and dedication are
Through the use of protection and sacrifices for one another as well as good morals, these are key points of Huck Finn and Jim’s growing friendship. Mark Twain also uses Huck’s conscience to show his changing attitude towards Jim. Jim would do anything for
Without a doubt, Huck develops into an individual who learns that society is not always right and that he needs to trust his instincts. Twain use of many stylistic features including syntax, diction, mockery, and sarcasm emphasizes the problems that society has. Twain’s overall purpose for his audience is to become more individualistic and not to be guided by the ways of society. People need to make their own decisions based on their values and instincts.
Jim and Huck’s friendship evolves throughout the novel and Huck changes the way he treats Jim. Huck started off this novel by playing practical jokes on Jim with Tom Sawyer. Huck was taught that there is nothing wrong with mistreating blacks. After journeying down the Mississippi river with Jim Huck knows he can’t always listen to society.
...ng emotions which is something that Huck finds incorrect. Throughout the book, Jim’s emotions are showcased which results in Huck’s pity and also his connection to Jim because now he wants to help Jim become a free man and escape the wrongdoings of society.
This realization contradicted what he had been told about slaves, which caused Huck to put the views of his civilization into greater inquiry than he thought primarily. While Huck expands his views on how slaves love their families, he was immensely dissatisfied with the fact that Jim had a desire to “steal his children—children that belonged to a man he didn’t even know; a man that hadn’t ever done him any harm”. Huck still acquired beliefs that suggested Jim’s ambitions to be an extreme violation of moral behavior and beyond a crime; a sin adjacent to God’s requirements.
Huck and Jim's friendship undergoes many twists and turns along with the trip the two take down the Mississippi River. With each adventure their friendship grew stronger and deeper from their encounter with the Duke and the King to the riverboat scene the friendship is built one building block at a time. Throughout the novel Jim makes references to the kindness that Huck shows him, but Huck seems oblivious to their new found friendship. "Dah you goes, de ole true Huck; de on'y white genlman"...(pg. 89) When Jim made this statement Huck realized just how much this friendship meant to Jim.
He realizes that Jim has always been nice to him so he decides to keep a loyal friendship. He begins to notice that Jim has high anticipation for becoming a free man and he hears Jim talk about some of the things he wants to do. Huck takes the road less traveled and does not sell Jim out. Throughout the book Huck and Jim help each other out and begin to have a Batman and Robin type relationship. “I made Jim lay down in the canoe and cover up with the quilt, because if he set up people could tell he was a negro a good ways off”(Twain 51). This quote shows friendship because if Huck did not care about Jim he would have let him stay sitting up and possibly be seen by the townspeople. Because Huck cared about him he told him to lay down and cover up so there was no risk of him being detected. There are many times in the book where Jim helped out Huck and Huck helped out Jim. As they got more and more comfortable around each other there trust and loyalty gets stronger and
... he now realizes that stealing property is bad. Since Huck and Tom, although in a drawn-out manner, free Jim it is implied that he regards Jim as a fellow human being, not a slave. Showing Huck this equality and fostering a friendship between him and Jim could only be done by this kind of physical journey, as the idea of equality was only in its infancy at the time and had not taken root with any southerner.
One of the main themes, and probably one of Twain's favorites, was the rejection of religion. Religion is one of the most constant targets of Twain's satirical pen. In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain portrays contemporary religion as shallow and hypocritical. He criticizes the hypocrisy of conventional religion by comparing it with the true religion of Huck. Twain tended to attack organized religion at every opportunity, and the sarcastic character of Huck Finn is perfectly situated to allow him to do so. The attack on religion can already be seen in the first chapter, when Huck indicates that hell sounds like a lot more fun than heaven. This will continue throughout the novel, with one prominent scene occurring when the "King" convinces a religious community to give him money so he can "convert" his pirate friends. Mark Twain also used the contrast between the characters of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn to illustrate a romantic and realistic imagination. Tom is spectacularly imaginative in the boyish, romantic sense. Tom has filled his head with romantic adventure novels and ideas; this has shaped Tom's worldview and feeds his fantasies, which he is constantly trying to act out. After reading about gangs and highwaymen, Tom decides to build a gang wishing to rob people and become successful highwayman. Tom's gang would kill or ransom the men and get the women to love them. Often times Tom's romantic imagination is not just silly, but downright dangerous. An example of this dangerous romantic imagination was when Huck wanted to free Jim and Tom was enlisted to help. Tom, knowing full well that Ms. Watson had released Jim prior to her death, did not disclose this information to Huck; he wanted to have an adventure helping Jim "escape". During the elaborate escape, Tom wanted Jim to train animals in his prison and have a coat of arms. Tom also sent Jim's captors warning of the upcoming escape attempt. Tom didn't know of the necessity to get Jim out now and not later.