Why Is Huck Finn Wrong

Huck Finn, the main character, is a literary device developed by Mark Twain to

alleviate racism in the 1800s. Huck has been adopted by the widow Douglas. She

wants to save Huck because his mother is dead, and his father is the town drunk.

Huck’s friend, Jim, is Miss Watson’s runaway slave. Jim’s plan is to sail a raft up the

Missisippi, and over to the Ohio river toward the northern abolishionist states. 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

Huck has faked his death, leaving the appearance

that he has been chopped to pieces in his Pa’s cabin.

As they travel on their raft, Jim explains to Huck why slavery is wrong, although

Huck has been brought up to believe slavery is right. Huck struggles with whether

or not to turn Jim in. They hide on an island, and Huck dresses up in girl’s clothes

he finds in a cabin. While Huck is trying to get food for the trip from a nearby

farmhouse, someone tells the lady who is being kind to him because she thinks he’s

a nice little girl, that a runaway slave has killed Huck Finn! They’re gathering up

townspeople to go hunt him down. Huck escapes after the lady figures out he’s a boy

in disguise, and runs for his life. He finds Jim, tells him a posse is chasing him, and

that they should travel at night to avoid being caught.

Huck and Jim find a wanted reward poster for the capture of Huck’s

Jim wants Huck to keep running, but Huck’s having a

good time with his new friends and refuses to go, until he sees Jim getting whipped

by the overseer. Huck tells him he’s sorry and that he wants to help him, just before

the family is attacked by the Shepardson’s. Huck’s newfound friends are killed in

battle over their daughter running off with a Shepardson boy. So Huck escapes with

Jim during the confusion.

They meet some swindlers who want to turn Jim in for ransome. Huck explains

that he is the person who Jim is suspected of murdering. So they decide to keep

Huck and Jim as their servants.

The Swindlers, who are very good actors, hear that a very wealthy fellow has

passed on before his brothers arrival to see him, so they decide to pose as his

brothers to take his inheritance. Huck poses as their English valet. Jim dresses up as

their Swahili servant.

The real bothers eventually arrive, resulting in the swindlers being tarred by an

angry mob. Jim and Huck run to escape on a steamship, but Huck is shot. Jim carries

him back to save him from bleeding to death, so the mob decides to hang him. They

are saved at the last minute, because Huck has secretly told Lady Rebecca of