Injustices In Huckleberry Finn

Injustices continue throughout the world and for decades slavery was one of the historical injustices in America.. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain introduces a young, savvy boy, Huck, who questions the practice of slavery among a society full of brainwashed adults. Huck does not want to be civilized so he covers his tracks escaping the adults in his life, and befriends a runaway slave named Jim. Jim flees from his owner, Miss Watson, because he worries she is going to sell him. Jim and Huck share their stories and develop an interesting relationship during their adventures. Twain presents Huck’s moral challenges throughout his adventures with a runaway slave to display a non-racist view during a time of slavery. In the midst of

Huck writes a letter to Miss Watson, but regrets writing the letter and dreads what it could do to his new friend Jim. Huck destroys the letter after he comes to a conclusion, “But somehow I couldn’t seem to strike no places to harden me against him, but only the other kind” (Twain 161.) Huck could not bring himself to turn in Jim and knows deep down that it is wrong. Through this change of heart, he reveals a new point of view on slavery in the 19th century. Huck demonstrates not all people are morally corrupt in this time period. After he thought about the letter he decides, “All right, then, I’ll go to hell- and tore it up. It was awful thoughts, and awful words, but they was said” (Twain 162.) Huck perseveres and makes the morally correct decision. The compassion Huck feels for Jim drives Huck’s actions, not the lessons society teaches him on slavery. He concludes that going to “hell,” if that means following his heart and not society’s hypocritical and cruel way of living, is the better option. This moment of judgment depicts Huck’s true break with the world around him. At this point, Huck decides to help Jim escape slavery once and for all and is not pursuing racist thoughts or