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Huck Finn Passage Analysis

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In this selected passage Huck decides he is not going to send the letter he wrote to Miss Watson with the intention of turning Jim in. Huck initially writes the letter because he is thinking about God and his state of sin, as he believes he is committing a sin by stealing another person’s property. He never sends the letter because he realized how much he trusts Jim and doesn’t see him as his property, but rather as a best friend. Previously he has stayed with Jim because it was easy, but this scene marks the time when he is able to stay by Jim’s side even when he believes it will come at a great personal cost.
The duke and the king are not a good example for humanity. After Jim and Huck thought they were free, the Duke helped the King sell Jim back to slavery for forty dollars. Huck cannot enjoy his freedom knowing that Jim is not free. Huck was thinking about sending the letter to Miss Watson but he could …show more content…

This transition is the result of the extended period of time that the two spend together, which allows Huck to look past the differences that he has been taught to observe for his entire life and view Jim for what he is; a fellow man. By the end of this passage, Huck’s resolve to do right by Jim is so strong that he is willing to suffer eternal damnation rather than betray Jim.
Perhaps Huck’s most important statement in this passage is “Alright then, I’ll go to hell”; here he decides he’s willing to go to hell for eternity rather than causing Jim to return to his life as a slave. At first Huck just thought of Jim the property of another person, a good to be bought and sold regardless of any evidence that he was a human being. As they travel together, this viewpoint is gradually weakened by examples of Jim’s humanity, culminating in a model shift that goes against everything Huck has been taught about the societal status of a

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By the end of the book, he had started to realize that he really did care about Jim. Huck is writing Miss Watson a letter towards the end of the book talking about where Jim is and how she can get him back. After writing the letter, Huck starts to think about the good times he had with Jim and says that “...somehow I couldn’t seem to strike no places for me to harden against him, but only the other kind.”(213). This was the most powerful part in the book for me because after thinking of all the good that Jim has brought him, he tears up the paper and says “All right, then, I’ll go to hell”(214). In Huck’s mind, he had the choice to send the letter and go to heaven or to try to save Jim and go to Hell for doing the wrong thing as far as the widow taught him.

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Huck starts to seriously consider turning Jim in. While he does not believe in slavery, he is deeply disturbed by the idea of Jim stealing his children away from their owner. Despite the paternal bond between Jim and his children, Huck does not believe he should have the right to them, since they are owned by someone else. Huck literally states that he thinks lower of Jim for this, saying, “I was sorry to hear Jim say that, it was such a lowering of him,” (Twain). This is ironic, since Huck’s father was given rights to him purely based on blood but he believes Jim should not be allowed custody of his children based purely off of his social standing.

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935 Words | 4 Pages

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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2438 Words | 10 Pages

Jim then ends up in New Orleans on a farm owned by Silas Phelps. Huck, trying to be the helpful, brainstorms a plan to better Jim’s life. As Huck goes through this process, he becomes the epiphany of Confucius’s character quote; “Earnest in practicing the ordinary virtues, and careful in speaking about them, if, in his practice, he has anything defective, the superior man dares not but exert himself; and if, in his words, he has any excess, he dares not allow himself such license” (ReligFacts.com). At first Huck delineates a plan to write a letter to Jim’s former slave owner, Miss Watson, and tell her where Jim was. But he concluded that Miss Watson would probably have been angry with Jim and sell him off into slavery, so he decided not to.

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867 Words | 4 Pages

Jim was a resident at the Miss. Watson’s home as a slave. Huck, who had been raised in the South, was expected to believe that all blacks are inferior; therefore, he believed that Jim could not be his equal. The only things lesser than trash in the eyes of 1830s Southerners, were blacks. In document E, Huckleberry believes the one wickedness was helping a slave [Jim] escape from slavery. He had even began to write a letter of Jim’s whereabouts to his owner, Miss. Watson.

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1266 Words | 6 Pages

Huck decides to act on his morals rather than be held captive by society; Huck believes that he has to act in the best interest of Jim and does not consider what society believes is acceptable behavior. By stating that he will “go to hell,” Huck reiterates what he promises Jim in the beginning- that he rather be a “low down abolitionist”; these statements combined supports his feelings to protect Jim from society. When Huck and Tom get back to the house, Huck states, “...it don’t make no difference whether you do right or wrong, a person’s conscience ain’t got no

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440 Words | 2 Pages

But Huck also feels like he can not turn Jim in because deep down he knows that Jim’s life will be better not being a slave. This shows that Huck battles between himself whether to follow society’s rules or his own morlas. When Huck chooses to not turn Jim in as a runaway slave, that makes it evident that he matures or so it

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1429 Words | 6 Pages

This is clear when he, “went on thinking.” Huck begins to reminisce about all the good times he had with Jim, and it is very apparent he held them very close to his heart. This is clear with Huck stating, “how good he always was,” when referring to Jim. Huck also begins to connect how important he may have been to Jim, when Huck says, “ 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.” Huck now has a momentous decision, determining whether or not he will follow the morals he has viewed as good, or those he knows truly for himself.

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884 Words | 4 Pages

Huck has been burned with the idea that he is to blame for Jim’s escape. Huck ultimately feels guilty because he knows he has not done wrong but he has no reason not to believe what society thinks because he was only taught one way. Huck imagines an alternate scenario, thinking “s’pose [he]’d’ a’ done right and give Jim up, would [he] felt better... No…[he'd] feel bad” (91). Huck is aware that the right decision based on society is to give up Jim.

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193 Words | 1 Pages

He thinks he can save Jim if he writes a letter to Miss Watson to give Jim his job back but then decides not to because Miss watson would be really upset at him because he ran away and lots of other people would give Jim a lot of rude looks. Huck wants to do good but he knows the only way to save Jim is to do something bad. 3. Why is it important that Huck says, "All right, then, I'll go to hell"?

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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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733 Words | 3 Pages

Huckleberry Finn is ashamed to be labeled as an abolitionist and is willing to forgo his own beliefs and his only friend in order to be accepted. Huck’s transformation is the pinnacle point of the novel. Jim is appearing to be sold by Dauphin and Huck has lost all hope. He is feeling guilty because he sinned and stole someone's “property,”thus he writes a letter exemplifying where Jim is and who owns him at the moment to Dauphin. He writes this letter in order to be able to pray because Huck is feeling very alone and he feels that God is the only one with him.

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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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1083 Words | 5 Pages

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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787 Words | 4 Pages

Huckleberry Finn 's journey is far more than a journey up the Mississippi - it is a journey from boyhood to adulthood. How did the decisions he had to make during the journey help him to mature, and what were the two or three most important lessons he learned during the journey? In the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, we watch Huck grow from boyhood to manhood. He faces many obstacles on his journey but never ceases to overcome them.

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