Is Huck Finn Friend Or Foe

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Friend or Foe? With trust, loyalty, and determination, Huck decides to turn against society and help Jim get what he deserves, freedom. Realizing Huck is risking the possibility of consequences, and “going to hell,” Huck discovers friendship is just as important as freedom. The setting in the book is 1835, unfortunately, slavery and racial discrimination was a problem. Associating with a slave, or especially helping a slave was deep trouble. Huck is stuck between choosing his morals over society versus what his heart is telling him. Going against society is breaking the law and suffering the punishments ahead for Huck, who risks his own freedom. In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain is illustrating through friendships that experiences …show more content…

Once Huck decides to help Jim out, Jim is beyond thankful for a friend like Huck. Jim says, “‘Pooty soon I’ll be a-shout’n’ for joy, en I’ll say, it’s all on accounts o’ Huck, I’s a free man, en I couldn’t ever ben free ef it hadn’t been for Huck; Huck done it’” (Twain 92). With the sacrifice of Huck’s safety, Jim now has the chance to be a free man, creating a wide selection of opportunities for Jim to chose from. On the road to freedom, Huck and Jim take on life adventures that increase the chance of their survival. With Jim’s uncertainty of being sold, he flees the town to take an outing, little does he know the difficulty he’s going to take on. Miss Watson, “... had threatened to sell him down the river. Jim’s escape troubles Huck, but together they enjoy a good life: fishing, eating, smoking, and sleeping” (“The Adventures…” 3). Despite the danger they both could get involved in, Huck and Jim work together to move forward in their trip to reach their goals. Being Mississippi’s most wanted does not make this trip easy, Huck and Jim have to make difficult plans so they are not exposed to the world. Huck says, “But if this woman had been in such a little town two days she could tell me all I wanted to know, so I knocked at the door, and made up my mind I wouldn’t forget I was a girl” (Twain 57). Huck has to disguise himself to protect his identity to gain information from strangers about what is spreading around town. …show more content…

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

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