Huck Finn And Pap's Relationship Analysis

In the novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, Huck, a young boy on his arduous venture toward adulthood, experiences a multitude of emotions concerning the principles of how the “inferior” race is to be treated. Twain uses Huck’s experiences on land, on the raft, and with the people he encounters every day as a tool to display the racial tendencies of the Antebellum South.

Twain exposes Pap’s relationship with Huck to show one example of the hypocrisy that white people hold toward the black race. Huck’s turmoil relationship with Pap frequently leaves him to be the subject of Pap’s fury. Pap’s return to Huck’s life achieves little in regard to Huck’s well being, but that does not stop Pap from whisking Huck away from a healthy

Huck and Jim both decide to flee from terrible situation and they run into one another at Jackson’s Island. At first Jim is freaked out by Huck because he believes that Huck had been killed and has come back to haunt him. Soon he realizes that Huck is real and reveals his secret, after convincing Huck to promise not to tell, about him running away. Huck is shocked to hear the truth and knows that “people would call [him] a low down Abolitionist and despise [him] for keeping mum—but that don’t make no difference” (37) because he promised to keep his word. Huck believes, and rightfully so, that he will be hated if he keeps quiet, showing the hold racism has over Huck. After traveling for a little while with Jim, Huck decides to go into town to find out what has happened since he disappeared and stumbles into Judith Loftus who tells him “the nigger run off the very night Huck Finn was killed. So there’s a reward out for him—three hundred dollars. And there’s a reward out for old Finn too—two hundred dollars” (48). The disparity between the incentive for Pap and Jim shows the racist ideals of the South. Twain inserts this difference to showcase that all of society is continually swayed by the racist hold. After some time, Huck encounters the Duke and the King who concoct a plan to travel with

Huck underestimates Jim’s capacity to contribute to society on numerous occasions. After Huck explores the shipwreck and nearly runs into a horribly dangerous situation, Jim explains that the adventure was not the brightest idea because Huck could have been hurt. Huck ponders the situation and eventually concludes that Jim “was right; he was most always right; he had an uncommon level head, for a nigger” (65). When Huck calls Jim a “nigger” he immediately reverts Jim to a position of less than. Huck leans on the racial stereotype that black people are ignorant, and therefore should not have valued opinions. Some time later, Huck and Jim encounter a terrible fog where they loose each other. They continually shout out to one another in hopes of reconnecting, but eventually they both retire. When the fog is cleared, Huck finds Jim asleep and decides to play a trick on him. Jim wakes and immediately begins to cry for joy at the sight of Huck, but Huck convinces Jim that there was never a storm and that Jim dreamt the whole thing. Jim stresses about his vivid dream until he realizes that Huck was lying to him. Jim chastises Huck and makes him feel worthless for treating Jim so badly. Huck felt terrible, but it took him “fifteen minutes before [he] could work [himself] up to go and humble [himself] to a nigger” (73). Huck struggles with