Huck Finn's True Father

Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn focuses on the exploits and moral growth of an abused, poorly educated southern teenager, Huck Finn, as he travels down the Mississippi River with a runaway slave, Jim. As the novel progresses, Huck begins recognize and respect Jim’s humanity. Lionel Trilling proposes that Jim is Huck’s true father. Lionel Trilling is incorrect: Jim, in Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, cannot serve as Huck’s true father because although Jim treats Huck as a son, he remains a slave who defers to Huck and whom Huck struggles to view as a person. Twain’s Jim, a runaway slave, treats Huck Finn like a son, truly loving Huck and caring for him. Throughout the novel, Jim reveals his

Because of his status as a slave, Jim cannot to make final decisions as to his and Huck’s actions. When Huck wants to board a sinking steamboat, the Walter Scott, Jim urges him against it, arguing that boarding the steamboat is nothing more than an opportunity to be captured or hurt. Despite Jim’s opposition, Huck decides to board the steamboat, taking Jim with him. By boarding the steamboat despite his desire not to board it, Jim reveals his subordinate status; Huck ultimately decides what Jim will or will not do. Because he must yield to Huck’s desires, Jim cannot serve as a father to Huck, as a father figure must be able to assert some control over his son. Jim defers to Huck again when Huck prepares to steal him from the Phelps. Huck and his friend Tom force Jim to write on the bottom of tin plates, keep snakes and rats as pets and create a coat of arms, acts that Jim believes are pointless. However, Jim submits to Tom and Huck’s wills because he believes that as white people, they are superior to him. Instead of rejecting Tom and Huck’s foolish schemes, Jim yields, proving that he cannot serve as Huck’s father because he sees himself as less than Huck and constantly submits to Huck’s desires. Thus, Jim cannot serve a Huck’s “true father” as while he treats Huck as a son, he, a slave, must continually bow to Huck’s