Huck And Jim Character Analysis

In the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, a special bond is formed between Huck and Jim. At first, Huck treats Jim like he is property and a fool because Huck is raised in a society where people belittle the humanity of slaves and treat them as if they are nothing. But by the end, it appears as if Jim is somewhat of a father figure to Huck while Pap, Huck’s father, is not. As the book progresses, Huck’s prejudiced point of view towards Jim vanishes, so much that he considers Jim as his equal. Because Huck thinks of Jim as an imbecile in the beginning, he does not care if his feelings are hurt. The prank he pulls on him where he places the dead rattlesnake near Jim’s bed so its mate can bite him really shows how Huck really has no respect for Jim. Even though it is just a prank, Jim is physically and emotionally hurt. In a way, Huck ignores this because his mentality is that slaves have no humanity and are not capable of having emotions. Another instance is when Huck tricks Jim and says that the drifting apart in the river was all in his imagination when it is

Jim saves Huck when he reveals that Pap is the dead man in the floating house. Jim protects Huck because he is considerate and thinks that no twelve year old should see his father 's dead body, so he prevents Huck from seeing Pap. According to Twain, Jim says, “ ‘Doan’ you ’member de house dat was float’n down de river,en dey wuz a man in dah, kivered up,en I went in en unkivered him an didn’ let you come in? Well, den, you kin git yo’ money when you wants it, kase dat wuz him’ ” (293). This shows that Jim cares about Huck so much he does not want him to be affected by this in any way. In fact, Jim has more father-like attributes than Pap has ever had, which makes Jim more of a father figure for Huck. Because of this, Huck realizes that there is no need to hold any prejudice towards Jim and to accept him as his