The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
“The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is a book written by Mark Twain in the late 19th Century. It is considered a timeless classic. It tells of a poor white boy running away from brutal parents, and of an intelligent African American man who attempting to escape from bondage and free his family from slavery, and it shows how these two men, Huck and Jim, very different individuals overcome their differences to a certain bonds of brotherhood and loyalty. Moreover, the book actually is a sequel to Mark Twain’s earlier work, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”. The main character in this latter book is Huckleberry Finn, who used to be a helper to Tom Sawyer in the earlier novel. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is told in the perspective of Huckleberry, or “Huck” Finn. Huck Finn begins by explaining how he and Tom Sawyer had found a lot of treasure that they shared together in the earlier novel.
As the storyline begins, Huckleberry Finn is being hosted by a widow simply known as Widow Douglas, and her sister, Miss Watson. The two women try to civilize Huck Finn, but the boy resists these attempts. In actual fact, Huck Finn finds the lifestyle at Widow Douglas’ home a bit cramping, and he yearns for more adventures. At a certain stage, Huck’s dad, Pap Finn, shows up and takes Huck Finn to his own home. Pap’s appearance is mainly driven by the wealth that Huck Finn has, and he tries to control the boy. But Huck’s free spirit reasserts itself, and he frees from his dad by faking his own death. Huck goes to a nearby island called Jackson Island.
In Jackson Island, Huck meets a former slave called Jim. Jim had also run away from his former home when he discovered that he was about to be sold away. At...
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...omes more familiar with Jim’s humble nature, he develops affection for him, and actually regards him as a friend. The effect becomes most evident when the two boys actually scheme together on how to foil the plans of the two shysters, “The Dauphin” and “The Duke”.
Towards the end of the book, Jim has grown more accustomed to Huck’s wild nature, although he still retains his conservative nature. Jim’s moderate nature also shows up when he goes along with Tom Sawyer’s elaborate, but essentially nonsensical plan, to rescue him from bondage in Aunt Sally’s house. And when Tom finally reveals that he knew, all along that Jim was actually a free person, Jim doesn’t react aggressively. Instead, he accepts the forty dollars from Tom gratefully. Huck, on the other hand, retains his wild nature to the end, and even declares that he would go away and seek more adventures.
In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain paints the story of a developing friendship between two entirely different people which at the time society considered unacceptable and taboo. Huckleberry Finn is a white thirteen year old boy and Jim is a middle-aged black runaway slave. They meet by coincidence while they are both hiding out on Jackson’s Island located in the middle of the Mississippi River, Huck is hiding from the townspeople who think he is dead, and Jim has runaway and is hiding from his owner. Throughout their journey together, Huck and Jim’s relationship goes from them being mere acquaintances, then to friends, then to them having a father and son relationship.
	Huck’s attitude for Jim is racist which is seen when he decides to play a trick on Jim during their voyage. After Huck plays his trick his attitude toward Jim begins to change, "It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger; but I done it, and I warn't ever sorry for it afterward, neither" (Twain 72). The dialogue throughout the book between Huck and Jim illustrates that Jim is more than property and that he is a human being with feelings, and hopes for a better future.
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...
Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the greatest American novels ever written. The story is about Huck, a young boy who is coming of age and is escaping from his drunken father. Along the way he stumbles across Miss Watson's slave, Jim, who has run away because he overhead that he would be sold. Throughout the story, Huck is faced with the moral dilemma of whether or not to turn Jim in. Mark Twain has purposely placed these two polar opposites together in order to make a satire of the society's institution of slavery. Along the journey, Twain implies his values through Huck on slavery, the two-facedness of society, and represents ideas with the Mississippi River.
When the middle of the novel comes around Huck begins to distinguish what is right and wrong in life and begins to mature and do the right thing. He shows this when he chooses not to partake in the scam that the King and the Duke are playing on the Wilks family. Instead he takes the money back from the King and Duke to hide it because he believes it is only fair to the family. "I'm letting him rob her of her money...I feel so ornery and low...I got to steal that money somehow; and I got to steal it some way that they wont suspicion I done it" (Twain 133) This shows that Huck is starting to see the line between games and real life.
When Tom said he “wanted to resk it” and “tie Jim to the tree for fun,” Huck disliked the idea of disturbing Jim after getting away unnoticed, proving that Tom is more daring than Huck. When everyone in Tom Sawyer 's Gang questioned the purpose behind their plans to rob and murder, Tom replied that “it 's in the books...”, implying that Tom has read multiple books as opposed to Huck who is barely literate. Twain manipulates their characters so that Tom is the more bold, outgoing, and socially-rounded when compared to Huck. However, Twain does not outline all the differences between Tom and Huck for naught. They help highlight special characteristics about Huck that show his character 's positive contribution to the novel. Such characteristics include his kindness and sense of
Huckleberry Finn, “Huck”, over the course of the novel, was faced with many obstacles that went into creating his moral compass. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn begins with Huck, a 12 year old boy heavily swayed by society and by Tom Sawyer, a fellow orphan. His opinions and depiction of right and wrong were so swindled to fit into society’s mold. Throughout the story Huck Finn’s moral compass undergoes a complete transformation in search of a new purpose in life. Huck was raised with very little guidance from an alcoholic father, of no mentorship. He was forced to live with Widow Douglas and with Miss Watson’s hypocritical values. Upon learning of God and Heaven from Widow Douglas, he remarks that he is unable to see the benefits of going
In lieu of his escape, Jim emphasized his feelings of becoming a free man. Jim said it made him all over trembly and feverish to be so close to freedom (p. 238). Huck came to the realization that Jim was escaping for a far different reason than he, and began to see this “nigger’s” freedom as his own fault; he was an accomplice. Huck’s conscience became plagued by the fact that Jim was escaping the custody of his rightful owner, and he was doing nothing to stop this. In Huck’s eyes, Jim was essentially the property of poor old Ms. Watson, who didn’t do anything less than teach Jim his manners and his books. Altogether, Huck felt that he was doing wrong by concealing this, and felt miserable to say the least.
Huck Finn’s childhood is plagued by violence and cruelty. He is kidnapped from Widow Douglas’s home by Pap who hides him in his cabin, isolating the young child. Initially, Huck is delighted to live in the uncivilized area, but soon realizes that his father has “got too handy with his hick’ry” inviting verbal and physical abuse (Twain 25). Huck accepts the...
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.
Huck Finn thinks about his father in an unusual way. Huck does not like his father, which makes sense because his father is a greedy drunk, however Huck still looks up to his father as a role model. Pap is not a good role model for Huck because of his history of abusing Huck and his random disappearances. When Pap tries to gain custody of his Huck, the judges side with him just because he is the father. This is shown when Huck says “The judge and the widow went to law to ge...
Mark Twain, a famous American writer-satirist wrote many books highly acclaimed throughout the world. For his masterpiece, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the literary establishment recognized him as one of the greatest writers America would ever produce. This novel is about a teenage boy by the name of Huck Finn whose father is an alcoholic. Because of his violence, Huck runs away and finds a runaway slave Jim. Instead of turning Jim in, Huck goes against society and makes a decision to help Jim break free from slavery. As they travel together, Huck learns more and more about Jim and starts to understand that the common stereotype of black people is wrong. Huck sees there is no difference between Jim and any white man he knows except for skin color. Risking his life and overcoming many difficulties on the way, Huck succeeds in freeing Jim. Focusing on racism, alcoholism and mob mentality, Mark Twain uses his enthusiastic style of writing and satirizes the three traits throughout the novel.
Mark Twain’s masterpiece The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn through much criticism and denunciation has become a well-respected novel. Through the eyes of a thirteen-year-old boy, Huckleberry Finn, Twain illustrates the controversy of racism and slavery during the aftermath of the Civil War. Since Huck is an adolescent, he is vulnerable and greatly influenced by the adults he meets during his coming of age. His expedition down the Mississippi steers him into the lives of a diverse group of inhabitants who have conflicting morals. Though he lacks valid morals, Huck demonstrates the potential of humanity as a pensive, sensitive individual rather than conforming to a repressive society. In these modes, the novel places Jim and Huck on pedestals where their views on morality, learning, and society are compared.
Huckleberry Finn’s conscience and morality about regarding Jim as a friend changes throughout the novel as their bond with each other increases. In most parts of the story,Huck has internal conflict about whether or not he should turn Jim in,but Huck keeps thinking about how bad he would feel afterward. In chapter 8,Huck finds that Jim is a runaway. Jim explains to Huck that he overheard Miss.Watson talking about how she was going to sell Jim to a slave trader in New Orleans for $800 which would separate Jim from his family. Plus,he and Jim are traveling together for the same reason;freedom. Huck is escaping his own home life from the Widow Douglas and his abusive father believing that they're keeping him from being who he wants to be.
To escape this miserable fate, Huck soon fakes his own death and rides a stray canoe to Jackson’s island, where he later meets Jim, a runaway slave of Douglas’s, ironically. The two coexist for a time, but eventually catch wind that search parties are being sent for both of them, so they decide to board a stray raft and float down the river, away from St. Petersburg. The two hope to stop at the mouth of the Ohio River, where Jim can travel north to become a free man. They encounter many an interesting sight as well as close call along the way: a sinking steamboat with hostile robbers aboard, a group of slave-hunters in a thick fog (which causes them to float past the mouth of the Ohio), and a steamboat which splits their raft as well as their company with one another, as Huck ends up washing...