What Is Jim's Transformation In Huckleberry Finn

In his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), Mark Twain creates a satire of nineteenth-century slavery culture in the American south. To do this, he writes from the perspective of the titular preteen, who struggles internally with the issue of slavery. At the beginning of the novel, he sees no issue with the racist attitudes saturating his surroundings, despite his disregard for “sivilization”. By the end, however, his escapades on the run leave him more experienced in the ways of the world, and his modes of thought grow independent from those that he grew up with. The strongest way in which these changes manifest themselves is in his relationship with Jim, a slave who escaped from Huck’s household just after he himself did. In the novel’s three hundred pages, Huck’s view of Jim transforms from one of superiority to one of legitimate care. Huck’s growing sympathy for Jim symbolizes his budding independence from the racism that Twain is satirizing.

To turn him in is to adhere to the law, as Jim is a fugitive, and a runaway slave at that; however, doing so would betray his friend. The fact that Jim used to be the property of Huck’s quasi-adopted mother figure, the Widow Douglass, does nothing to lighten this burden. He considers this decision repeatedly, but eventually comes to the decision to keep Jim free, saying that if doing so is wrong, then he’d gladly go to Hell for it (210). This moment is often regarded as the emotional climax of the novel, and rightfully so; it is then that Huck decides to defend his friend once and for