Huckleberry Finn Wealth Analysis

Have you ever wished that you could be rich? Now some might say “Of course!” Who wouldn’t want to have wealth if it was possible? Others may already be rich. The question is what conditions really constitute the label of rich or wealthy? In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain the same question seems to always be coming up. It could even be argued that wealth was truly the driving force behind the entire story. Twain does an outstanding job of bringing up wealth both directly and indirectly. He makes the reader consider what true wealth really is. Wealth is explored through the eyes of Huck, the eyes of Jim, and the force driving the story along. Huck provides us with a unique view of wealth due to his situation and knowledge level. Huck is a young child, so most people wouldn’t expect him to have a great understanding of money. It doesn’t help that he has very little education to aid him in his understanding of money. Twain then twists in 6,000 dollars and an abusive

Jim provides us with his own outlook on wealth due to another unique position courtesy of Twain. When Jim appears in the story he is a slave. Soon after the reader meets Jim he finds out that his owner is planning to sell him. He escapes in order to avoid being sold and finds himself on the run with Huck. Huck has just escaped his father and needs somewhere to go, so they flee together. This escape alone is Jim’s first experience with becoming rich. Since Jim was a slave there is one thing more valuable to him than money. That one thing is freedom, which he has now gained at least partially. He believes he is rich because he owns himself and that is a valuable thing. This idea hasn’t ever presented itself to Huck in the past because he’s not a slave, but that doesn’t mean it is thrown away by him now. In fact the idea begins to become his new definition of wealth now that he has freedom from the people that want to change