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Growth In Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

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In “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, Huck ultimately demonstrates significant change and growth as a result of the events of the novel. Throughout the story, Huck is faced with a number of challenges and moral dilemmas that push him out of his comfort zone and force him to confront his beliefs and values. As he navigates these challenges, Huck undergoes a significant transformation, ultimately emerging as a more compassionate, empathetic, and courageous individual.
One of the key ways in which Huck demonstrates change and growth is in his relationship with Jim, a runaway slave. At the beginning of the novel, Huck is deeply ingrained with the racist beliefs of his society and sees Jim as nothing more than a piece of property (Twain 12). However, …show more content…

At the beginning of the story, Huck is isolated and has few close friends. However, as he travels down the river with Jim, Huck forms a strong bond with the runaway slave, who becomes like a father figure to him. Through their shared experiences and adventures, Huck learns to see Jim as a person, rather than just a slave, and comes to value their friendship. As Huck says, "I warn't expecting to see him [Jim] again by a long sight, but after all I warn't sorry he come back" (Twain 94). This quote shows how Huck's feelings towards Jim have evolved from ambivalence to genuine …show more content…

When Huck first meets the Grangerfords, he is struck by their wealth and refinement, and he is initially impressed by their lifestyle (Twain 35). However, as he spends more time with them, Huck comes to see the dark side of their society, and he is horrified by the ongoing feud between the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons (Twain 50). This experience causes Huck to question the values of society and the corrupting influence of wealth, as demonstrated in the following quote: "I couldn't seem to strike no places to harden me against him, but only the other kind. I'd see him standing my watch on top of his'n, 'stead of calling me, so I could go on sleeping; and see him how glad he was when I come back out of the fog; and when I come to him again in the swamp, up there where the feud was; and such-like times; and would always call me honey, and pet me and do everything he could think of for me, and how good he always was; and at last I struck the time I saved him by telling the men we had small-pox aboard, and he was so grateful, and said I was the best friend old Jim ever had in the world, and the only one he's got now." (Twain 67) This quote shows that Huck has come to understand and appreciate the true value of friendship and loyalty, and he is able to see beyond the superficial differences between himself

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Society makes Huck believe that that is correct, and that is all he believes, until he travels along the river with a slave whom he has befriended named Jim. Initially, Huck sees Jim as only a slave, but that relationship builds until the overriding relationship is achieved, in which Jim is a father-figure in the eyes of Huck. " The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" made history because of its promoting of white people viewing African Americans as equal to themselves, which wasn't common in that day and age. Overall, Huck's outweighing view of Jim is as a patriarch, a sort of dad he never got to

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Huck has always seen Jim as a slave until they crossed paths while going down the river. The two develop a friendship and Huck starts to care about Jim and his well being. Although Huck views Jim as someone he cares about, he still sees him as a slave as well. “ I would do the right thing and the clean thing, and go and write that nigger’s owner and tell where he was,” ( Document E). Huck is in a continuous battle with his inner self when it comes to his views on Jim.

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While on the Mississippi, Huck developed into a heartwarming and courageous character. He learned many morals on the way that brought him to a well matured young man, with a strong personality. When Huck is pondering whether to write Miss. Watson he thinks a lot about Jim and says, “and got to thinking over our trip down the river, and I see Jim before me, all the time, in the day, and in the night-time (Twain 161). Huck’s transformation helped him realize how much Jim truly means to him.

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Suddenly, Huck’s eyes are opened to the shortcomings of people he was previously blind to. Huck reaches the pinnacle of his moral development when he decides that Jim is worth going to hell for, no matter what society may think about a slave’s worth. After much internal turmoil, he decides, “All right, then, I’ll go to hell” (Twain 215). This is a significant point in his changing perception of what is “sivilized”, as he finally decides that the ideals he has been taught are truly not worth it.

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At this point in the story the relationship between Huck and Jim further develops as having Jim as the closest thing Huck has to a real “father figure”. In his life Huck is learning that freedom by allowing himself to have a relationship with Jim. The changes Huck’s character went through was important as it allows for him to understand how being vulnerable with others can benefit him. Freedom at the end of the book for Jim is no longer about fleeing from New Orleans, but rather his perception of freedom is changed to the unimaginable.. escaping slavery while receiving help from a young white boy.

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After getting to know him and traveling for quite some time, Huck and Jim become close friends despite the fact that Jim is a slave. Their friendship got to the point where Huck sometimes forgot that Jim was a slave and that their friendship was unusual and basically forbidden. Although they were very close, it did take time for Huck to trust Jim and not picture him as the disgusting, monster that most people told Huck slaves were his entire life. Huck describes how nice Jim has acted towards him by saying, “I’d see him standing my watch on top of his’n,stead of calling me so I could go on sleeping… I was the best friend Jim ever had;” (Document E).

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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a compelling and adventurous story of a boy named Huckleberry Finn and a slave named Jim, who ran off together. Huckleberry ran away from his drunkard father who locked him away in a house in the woods; while Jim ran away in fear of being sold down the Mississippi River. The two met each other on Jackson’s Island on accident and decided to stick together. Sacrifice becomes a large part of the story as both Jim and Huck make many sacrifices for each other as the story progresses.

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(Twain 117). When Huck finally does awaken he witnesses Jim crying in between his legs and deduces the source is his homesickness specifically for his family. The mere act of Jim putting Huck before himself garners sympathy and aligns with the theme throughout the novel of their growing friendship despite their diverse races. While Huck as the narrator is clearly going to experience more obvious development throughout this novel Jim also creates a bond with his companion.

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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

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In Huck’s life, Loyalty was one thing that changed drastically and for the better. When first meeting Huck, he was a slightly loyal character but meeting Jim changes him into willing to do whatever for someone that matters to him. Once the two men were together for an amount of time Huck became a much more trusting person “Jim, this is nice,” I says. “I wouldn’t want to be nowhere else but here” (Twain 49) Huck is learning to trust people more and make people feel more comfortable.

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1141 Words | 5 Pages

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. Jim, a runaway slave, is the most influential individual when it comes to Huck’s moral development. During the beginning of the novel, Huck’s morals are primarily based on what he has learned from Miss Watson. Huck begins to become wary of such ideals that Miss Watson has imposed on him, and decided all he wanted “…was a change” (Twain 10).

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1202 Words | 5 Pages

Huck thinks about Miss Watson and how he is betraying her by helping Jim escape. Huck encounters slave catchers and he is internally whether to tell about Jim but decides not to and says, “They went and I got aboard the raft, feeling bad and low, because I knowed very well I had done wrong, and I see it warn’t no use for me to try to learn to do right; a body that don’t get started right when he’s little ain’t got no show -- when the pinch comes there ain’t nothing to back him up and keep him to his work, and so he gets beat” (Twain 102). Then later in the novel Jim is sold by some con men for $40 which upsets Huck and causes him to realize he cares about Jim and says, “All right, then I’ll GO to hell” (Twain 225). Huck is defying society’s laws by deciding to help captured Jim. Huck is maturing significantly because his perception of Jim has changed.

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1434 Words | 6 Pages

The Metamorphasis of Wisdom In his article, The Owl Has Flown, author Sven Birkerts suggests that knowledge has lost nearly all of its depth and reading has shifted from vertical to horizontal. The author supports this suggestion by providing the example of Menocchio, a 16th century man who nearly memorized the few books that he owned. He argues that the generations before the 17th century did not have access to the vast number of books that those of the future generations do. This allowed people of the past to take more time to analyze and make inferences about books.

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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.

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1420 Words | 6 Pages

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.

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