Huckleberry Finn Equality

In the United States, the ideology that all men are created equal founds the basis for our constitution and our rights as citizens. Although this idea is so crucial in the relationship between the government and the public, it’s interpretation has changed dramatically in recent years to be more inclusive and to include that “all” rather than just white men. In the novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, a young boy named Huck sets off on a journey on the Mississippi river alongside a runaway slave named Jim. The journey provides insight into Huck’s internal struggles of freeing Jim or giving into the southern mindset of keeping blacks in bondage. Many times on the journey, Jim’s safety and freedom is placed in jeopardy, however,

Towards the end of novel, Jim is once again apprehended yet Huck must overcome a far greater obstacle than his own internal struggle; He must overcome this will of his friend, Tom Sawyer, who does everything in his power to prevent Jim’s freedom. Twain uses Tom’s dominance over Huck to emphasize that southern society created a systematic form of oppression in America to ensure the cycle of racism. Through the refusals of Tom, Huck is unable to create a plan to free Jim thus allowing Tom to take control over the situation. Whilst discussing the possible escape plans to free Jim, Huck proposes a simple method of liberation by the removal of a board over an already made hole. He is swiftly denied by Tom who expresses his opinion on the matter, “I should hope we can find a way that's a little more complicated than that, Huck Finn” (Twain 177) Typically, if one were to create an effective plan of any kind, they would look for the most simplistic, effective strategy to insure its execution. In the case of Tom Sawyer, there lack of care felt towards Jim’s safety. He views Jim’s quick and effective escape as a waste of time which he would rather stretch out into an adventure. Given Tom’s lack of temperament and maturity in comparison to Huck who

In the offer of Huck’s simple solution, he brushes off the idea as if he’s done this many times over and knows how fun it can be. His selfishness stresses his dismissiveness of the situation and convolutes the simplicity to stretch out the game for as long as he can, to keep Jim enslaved for his person benefit. Tom takes advantage of Huck's trust in his supposed leadership as they are old friends but by doing so, he leaves Jim to rot. By allowing Jim to stay locked up, Huck allows the cycle of slavery and racism to continue and is prevented from stopping this by Tom. Huck continues to propose possible escape plans while increasing their complexity but is egged on by Tom to create more confusion and problems to solve. When describing the possibility of sawing Jim out of the cabin and resembling his fo-murder, Tom continues to reject his ideas, ”It's real mysterious, and troublesome, and good... but I bet we can find a way that's twice as long” (177). Once again, readers are met with Tom’s convoluting nature. Despite his supposed acceptableness of Huck’s proposition, he continues to demand for a