The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an American classic, it was the starting point for all great American Literature. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been awarded all of these honorable titles because of its abnormal and controversial plot line. During the time period when the book was written, it was unacceptable to view African- American’s as anything other than slaves. They were viewed as inferior to whites and were treated like property, they had no rights. The main character of the book, Huck, disagrees and disobeys these norms and pushes the boundaries of society when he becomes friends with a slave from his childhood; Jim.
In the story, a mild-mannered slave named Jim runs away from Miss Watson, his owner so that he can flee slavery and not be separated from his wife and children. He forms a friendship with Huck (whom isn’t sure if he should tell on Jim or not) as they make their way down the Mississippi River. Twain’s labels come into context when Jim realizes that “slave” was the label he could out run but “African American” was not. Jim spends the entire story running away from being a slave and then he finally realized that he couldn’t stop being African American. When Tom Sawyer is shot, Jim understands that he must sacrifice his freedom to save Tom.
Jim is a runaway slave owned by a white lady named Miss. Watson; while his partner during his adventures down the Mississippi River, Huck is a young boy raised in a slave-owning culture. Jim will have to struggle with Huck’s moral dilemma of whether or not to view Jim as an equal; Twain continues to set Jim
“I was a-trembling because I’d got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it… ‘All right, then, I’ll go to hell’-and tore it up” (Twain 205). In Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a warm-hearted, young teenager living in the 1840’s escapes from his abusive father and sails away on the Mississippi River. He encounters a recognizable, runaway slave named Jim and aids him on his quest to freedom. As the two encounter many hardships and obstacles (such as slave hunters, bandits, and con men), their friendship binds together despite the difference in skin color. The book, Huck Finn, contains three main themes that are still relevant today: friendship, education, and the nature of man.
In the book, Twain shows the readers a great kind of friendship that takes place between a slave and a young white boy. After Huck, the white boy, runs away from his father, he runs into Jim, the slave, and both of them set out on a journey towards their freedom. As they float along the river on their raft, Jim represents a selfless, compassionate father figure who cares for Huck and tells Huck that
In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain draws out the length of chapters 32-41 to evoke a sense of empathy for Jim, who is searching for freedom. Twain uses these chapters as a parable to represent the slow actions that took place in the South after the Civil War due to the South’s unwillingness to change from slavery. Twain focuses on Tom’s lack of urgency in regards to freeing Jim, which corresponds with Southern resistance to anti-slavery movements. When Tom and Huck brainstorm plans to free Jim, Huck suggests stealing the key and getting Jim out of the hut (229-230). However, Tom disagrees and says, “It’s too ‘blame’ simple; there ain’t nothing to it” (230).
Twain’s portrayal of Americans--including common townspeople and Huck’s father--combine with Jim’s ironic false enslavement to shed
In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain’s novel about the slave owning society, goes into deep immense examples of how cruel humans were to each other. Mark Twain, who is a realistic fiction writer, includes satire and humor in his writing, including Representative elements to expand how the reader interprets the story. Although Twain wrote Huckleberry Finn two decades after the Emancipation Proclamation and the end of the Civil War, America—and especially the South—was still struggling with racism and the aftereffects of slavery. He uses many representative characters like Huck and Jim, who both can be debated as the heroes. They both have good intentions and help others.
Twain purposely made Huck the main character, to show that he doesn't believe in slavery or racism. In this book Jim has one of the few functional families in the novel. It's the thought of a permanent separation from his family that prompts him to escape. It's Jim's love for his family that affects Huck so strongly, causing him to realize that a black man is capable of loving his family as much as a white man.
The novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, in the eyes of Mark Twain, the author, explores the reality of slavery in the south long before the Civil War. The plot tells the story of the two main characters, Huck and Jim. traversing along the Mississippi River. Throughout the book, events take place that question Huck’s view, as a white adolescent, towards Jim, an adult runaway slave. Everyone during this time period displays racism, and Huck begins to see that this perception of blacks is corrupted.
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
Jim, a black slave in a journey for freedom, is a representation of compassion, loyalty and determination. Those are the characteristics that are the foundation of his friendship with Huck. The essence of the book does not lay on racism or slavery, but in how despite the situation of the era, a white kid guided by his recklessness and tender heart, builds a friendship with a black slave. This represents how most human beings have managed to set our differences aside, forgetting society’s racial implements. Twain’s book repeatedly establishes a tone of equality and empathy in his novel through the dialogues between the two main characters.
Throughout Mark Twain’s, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, I enjoyed reading the parts about how close Huck and Jim were getting throughout their adventures together. The instant Huck and Jim found themselves both escaping the same pain and never wanting to go back to these pains, I knew that they would overcome the fact that Huck was a young American boy and Jim was an older, middle-aged African American slave. During this time period, a slave and young white boy were not the average type of friends. It was not such a big deal for Jim, since he was already on the bottom of the social pole, but for Huck, it seemed to be in the back of his mind because of the fact that he could be in trouble if he was found trying to escape with a runaway slave. During Huck and Jim’s adventure down the Mississippi River, the two run into men named the Duke and the King.
In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain uses Huck’s conscience and life experiences to illustrate the path of a young boy who is caught in the middle of what he believes ought to be right from wrong. Early in the novel, Huck demonstrates the traits of a young man who is caught up in societies views and behaviors towards slavery. Huck learns through his experiences that African American people; slaves, should be treated as property rather than afford them the same rights and equality he is given. Jim, Huck’s “slave”, means much more to him than just ordinary property. Huck’s moral instinct is to treat Jim with the same respect and moral standards that he feels is right.
Tom’s treatment of Jim reflects a way of thinking that treats black men as toys. Similar to white supremacists, Tom subjects African Americans to dehumanizing and unequal levels despite the freedom that they are entitled to. By the end of the book, Jim is treated simply as equal to whites in all ways. When Jim helps save Tom after he was shot, Huck only hopes that “one or two of the chains” would be removed rather be disappointed with the fact that Jim might no longer be free (Twain 287). Twain ends the novel by dehumanizing Jim, so as a reader, the last
