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Huckleberry Finn Wealth Analysis

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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 …show more content…

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

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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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1284 Words | 6 Pages

Wealth is an important aspect of life, well for most people, it can be interpreted into power, fame, and most importantly materialistic satisfaction. So, what is wealth in general? Wealth measures the estimation of the value of assets of worth claimed by a man, group, organization or nation. Wealth is dictated by taking the total market estimation of all physical and immaterial assets claimed, then subtracting all debts. A recent study by University professor had shown that the people who owns more money than others, will have a different viewpoint in society.

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788 Words | 4 Pages

This statement still holds true in today's society. Many people see the ownership and distribution of property as a separation in class. The common translation between property and wealth is that one must have a certain amount of monetary value in order to purchase property, therefore, many view property and those who own property as wealthy. Another principle that is largely seen in today’s society is the system of checks and balances on government power.

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679 Words | 3 Pages

Jim’s hiding in the woods to avoid being sold for $800, and separated from his wife and children. He explains to Huck that he needs to make it to the free states so that he can make some money to buy his family’s freedom. The setting is 1840, in the south, where slavery is accepted as a normal lifestyle. Huck is hiding

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496 Words | 2 Pages

First, throughout the book it becomes evident to the reader how selfless Jim is. Jim risks everything he has to save and protect not only the ones he loves but also puts everyone else's needs above his own. In the novel Huck States “He was saying how the first thing he would do when he got to a free state he would go to saving up money and never spend a single cent, and when he got enough he would buy his wife... then they would both work to buy the two children, and if their master wouldn't sell them, they'd get an Ab'litionist to go and steal them.” This quote is evidence of Jim's selflessness because it allows us to see that he risks recapture and torture in order to save his family.

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601 Words | 3 Pages

Huck once again compares himself to Tom and furthers the conclusion that Huck must holds jealousy toward what Tom can do. In conclusion, Mark Twain does an amazing job of showing some of the extremes of pride, greed, and envy in ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’. Nobody ever wants to show their dark side to anybody, but sometimes its just brought out of them and sooner or later consumes

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1339 Words | 6 Pages

Huck goes against the law to help his friend become free, something that if he were to be caught he would be tarred and feathered or thrown in jail. Huck’s loyalty to Jim is a significant sign of true family and Jim's feelings towards Huck reciprocate as Jim says "Pooty soon I'll be a-shout'n' for joy, en I'll say, it's all on accounts o' Huck; I's a free man, en I couldn't ever ben free ef it hadn' ben for Huck; Huck done it. Jim won't ever forgit you, Huck; you's de bes' fren' Jim's ever had; en you's de only fren' ole

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794 Words | 4 Pages

Huck is a very interesting character in many aspects. Huck Finn is pretty rich even though he did not come from a wealthy family. Huck inherited over 6,000 dollars from Tom Sawyer. Huck does not really care about his money. He does not want his pap to know that he has some money, because his dad is a drunk.

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495 Words | 2 Pages

Not everyone is born rich or made to be rich. Odd things happen to everyone’s life. In my culture, every house starts with brothers living together and then separate when they are married. My father was told to live by his own and raise his family however he wants. Things fell apart when you have no sense of how to raise family and you never went to purchase anything before from markets or you have financially hardship right after.

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636 Words | 3 Pages

How could one believe elective abortion isn’t murder? By definition, abortion is the termination of a pregnancy resulting in the death of an embryo or a fetus. “At present, every two seconds about fifty million babies are aborted. Over half of all the women having abortions are in their twenties,” stated Bob Johnson, in his article,” Should Abortion Be Illegal. Abortion should be illegal.

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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

In addition, greed is yet another significant factor to Huck and Jim’s struggle throughout the novel. For example, Huck learns that the Dauphin sells Jim when a stranger says, “Well I reckon! There’s two hundred dollars’ reward on him. It’s like picking up

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2088 Words | 9 Pages

Neither of them (Jim and Huck) is able to make real and remainingeffect over his life: the white boy seared by poverty and abuse and the black man forced into flight by the threat of being sold are patently not in a situation to consider independence viable. Given their life experience, it’s probable that neither boy nor man would be able to understand

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1426 Words | 6 Pages

In the beginning of the story, readers are told that Huck has obtained $6,000 for himself (which was a great amount during the 1800s), yet Jim has very little, if any. The divide between rich and poor hear are coherent and is a theme all throughout the story. Finally, obtaining liberation is the ultimate goal in the novel. It took Huck and Tom a very long time to try to break Jim free, but it was all worth it. We also see freedom when we look at the Mississippi River – it promotes freedom in the story.

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