Huckleberry Finn Passage Analysis

In Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck fights against the influence of others and his own beliefs to help himself and Jim survive. The king selling Jim to the Phelps’ forces Huck to decide whether to help Jim or continue floating up the Mississippi River. Huck’s decision to help free Jim despite the psychological, physical, and moral danger supports the structure of the novel by choosing friendship over slavery and showcases Huck’s changing views influenced by the things he experiences throughout the novel.
After nearly sending a letter to Miss Watson, the discovery of Jim’s capture forced Huck to decide whether he considered Jim a friend or a piece of property. Huck experiences psychological danger when he contemplates how close he became to Jim during their escape. This decision plagues Huck to the point that he “was a

The King selling Jim to the Phelps’ questions Huck’s original belief of white southerners being superior to colored people. Huck questions whether the South’s ideology is actually significant, asking “what’s the use you learning to do right, when its troublesome to do right and ain’t no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same?” (Twain 85). Throughout the novel, Huck begins to reconsider his opinion on the South's’ segregation, but hesitates to pick a side because he believes that right and wrong both provide the same outcome. Choosing to help Jim escape from the Phelps’ forces Huck to finally pick his conscious over his upbringing. Huck’s decision to help free Jim symbolizes a greater decision that rejects the acceptance of slavery. Twain uses this scene to show Huck’s growth from the beginning of the novel to this point. Huck’s personality and views towards slavery accent the message Twain is trying to convey that even the rough, uncivilized southerners recognized the cruelty of