Huck's Journey In Huckleberry Finn

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is a fictional novel set in the early 1800’s before the Civil War. The story follows the daring endeavors of young Huck Finn as he tries to escape his drunk father and the life he’s living under Widow Douglas and Miss Watson’s roof. As he travels down the Mississippi River with Jim, a runaway slave, Huck realizes the importance in addition to the hardships of their friendship. Throughout the novel, Huck is pulled in conflicting directions by two obligations to turn Jim in and to keep him safe. On his journey he learns through their adventures that friendship rises above the pressures of a society.

One of Huck’s obligations is to turn Jim in as a runaway slave, as that would be the right thing

At this point in their journey, Huck is tempted to tell on Jim and get him sent back home. He feels as though Jim’s hopes for freedom have gone over his head and that he doesn’t want Jim to be disappointed if they don't find the city of Cairo where Jim would be a free man. In fact earlier in the novel, on page 88, Huck is reconsidering his whole decision to help Jim in the first place. Huck tries to reassure himself by reasoning, “I tried to make out to myself that I warn’t to blame, because I didn’t run Jim off from his rightful owner, but it warn’t no use… you knowed he was running for his freedom”. Huck is contemplating how he could defend himself if he gets caught, however it’s pointless because he knows that he has done something wrong from the viewpoint the white society. He even admits that he could’ve easily stopped Jim from

When Huck first finds Jim on the island, he tells Jim that he won’t rat him out and told him, “I said I wouldn’t, and I’ll stick to it. Honest injun, I will. People would call me a low-down Abolitionist”(43). Even though he knows he’s putting himself at risk, Huck promises Jim that he won’t reveal his secret. However, now he’s obligated to keep Jim safe, which is something difficult to do during their adventures. While they are sailing down the river, they come across two slave hunters who spot their canoe. Instead of turning Jim in, Huck makes up a story that his dad is sick with smallpox in the canoe, which scares the slave hunters away (91). Huck could’ve easily just turned Jim in, but instead he risks his life to face the slave hunters and trick them away. This shows how Huck cares for Jim and wants him to get his freedom. Yet another controversial situation arises when Huck is about to send the letter. He reflects, “I was trembling, because I’d got to decide, forever, betwixt two things… ‘All right, then, I’ll go to hell’- and tore it up”(214). By ripping up the letter, Huck makes it clear that he has turned against the ideals of society to help Jim, no matter the cost. The fact that he’d go to hell in the process of helping a slave signifies how Jim’s friendship is more important to him. In these cases, Huck follows through with promises he made Jim at the