What Is Jim's Role In Huck Finn

Throughout the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Jim acts as a father figure towards Huck Finn and always takes care of him. He protects him, is loyal, and is always forgiving. These are all very important defining qualities of Jim and shapes the role that he plays in Huck’s life. Although Huck has a father, he is always drunk and abusive so there is essentially no role model or parent. Jim fills this role immensely and acts like the father Huck never had, through thick and thin and even when Huck is making fun of him or scaring him. The entire time that Jim is with Huck, their relationship grows and they form an even larger bond. During the novel, Jim is always protective of Huck and shields him from anything that may harm him.

Whenever Huck would trick him or play a joke on him, he would also forgive him and usually Huck would feel bad about what he’d done. When Huck pulls the trick on Jim in the fog where he falls off the raft and then finds his way back, Jim is thrilled and says "Goodness gracious, is dat you, Huck? En you ain' dead—you ain' drownded—you's back agin? It's too good for true, honey, it's too good for true. Lemme look at you chile, lemme feel o' you. No, you ain' dead! you's back agin, 'live en soun', jis de same ole Huck—de same ole Huck, thanks to goodness!" (Twain 99) When Huck tries to convince him that he dreamt it all, he realizes that it is a joke and becomes very annoyed with Huck and he actually apologizes to Jim. Although he is displeased with Huck, he is thankful that he is alive so they can continue the journey towards freedom. This shows a fatherly characteristic of forgiveness because fathers forgive their children for things they do wrong and then they learn from their mistakes. This is relevant towards this part of the novel because once Huck realizes his mistake, he knows that he shouldn’t mess with Jim’s feelings seeing how much he is taking care of