Is Huck Finn Friend Or Foe

1392 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Themes of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Friend or Foe? With trust, loyalty, and determination, Huck decides to turn against society and help Jim get what he deserves, freedom. Realizing Huck is risking the possibility of consequences, and “going to hell,” Huck discovers friendship is just as important as freedom. The setting in the book is 1835, unfortunately, slavery and racial discrimination was a problem. Associating with a slave, or especially helping a slave was deep trouble. Huck is stuck between choosing his morals over society versus what his heart is telling him. Going against society is breaking the law and suffering the punishments ahead for Huck, who risks his own freedom. In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain is illustrating through friendships that experiences …show more content…

Once Huck decides to help Jim out, Jim is beyond thankful for a friend like Huck. Jim says, “‘Pooty soon I’ll be a-shout’n’ for joy, en I’ll say, it’s all on accounts o’ Huck, I’s a free man, en I couldn’t ever ben free ef it hadn’t been for Huck; Huck done it’” (Twain 92). With the sacrifice of Huck’s safety, Jim now has the chance to be a free man, creating a wide selection of opportunities for Jim to chose from. On the road to freedom, Huck and Jim take on life adventures that increase the chance of their survival. With Jim’s uncertainty of being sold, he flees the town to take an outing, little does he know the difficulty he’s going to take on. Miss Watson, “... had threatened to sell him down the river. Jim’s escape troubles Huck, but together they enjoy a good life: fishing, eating, smoking, and sleeping” (“The Adventures…” 3). Despite the danger they both could get involved in, Huck and Jim work together to move forward in their trip to reach their goals. Being Mississippi’s most wanted does not make this trip easy, Huck and Jim have to make difficult plans so they are not exposed to the world. Huck says, “But if this woman had been in such a little town two days she could tell me all I wanted to know, so I knocked at the door, and made up my mind I wouldn’t forget I was a girl” (Twain 57). Huck has to disguise himself to protect his identity to gain information from strangers about what is spreading around town. …show more content…

From the battle of survival, through the little sense of loyalty in scams, and finally a continued friendship between Huck and Tom, things start to fall into place. After dealing with doubts and worries through their journey of freedom, a bond is created that will never be broken. Taking on adventures leads to open doors with great opportunities for everyone. Unfortunately, facing society can be extremely difficult because of its indifference. As mentioned previously, Huck decides that going to hell is worth Jim having a free life. Without the key elements of friendship provided in the the book, the story would not be the same. If Huck had decided to not help Jim, the bond and experience would have been broken. Therefore, opportunities wouldn’t have been as large and open for them. Twain does a fantastic job at illustrating the importance of friendships. True friendships are the ones which loyalty, protection, and dedication are

Show More
Related

  • Journal Entries on Huckleberry Finn

    1035 Words  | 3 Pages

    Jim gives Huck a gateway into his private life when he tells Huck this story. Huck listens quietly and respectfully to this story, which shows him warming up to Jim. The story shows Jim’s homesickness, and how he greatly misses his family. It also shows a much less forgiving and more emotional side of Jim’s character. Jim forgave Huck for all of the pranks he pulled on Jim, though Jim would not forgive himself for a mistake years ago. If both characters had not run away together, they would not have the type of relationship they share now. It would be heavily frowned upon if Huck and Jim had this type of relationship while still at their homes because of the racism of people in the south. Huck is still open to new ideas, which is why he becomes friends with Jim.

    Read More

  • Huck And Jim's Relationship

    803 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jim and Huck’s friendship evolves throughout the novel and Huck changes the way he treats Jim. Huck started off this novel by playing practical jokes on Jim with Tom Sawyer. Huck was taught that there is nothing wrong with mistreating blacks. After journeying down the Mississippi river with Jim Huck knows he can’t always listen to society.

    Read More

  • Hucklenberry Finn Huck and Jim

    1488 Words  | 3 Pages

    Jim's character traits are easy to over look because of his seeming ignorance, but in reality Jim possessed some qualities that created a positive influence on Huck. He began by demonstrating to Huck how friends teach friends. His honest compassion also eventually causes Huck to resist the ideas society has placed upon him, and see Jim as an equal-- rather than property that can be owned. Huck knew he was going against society, and of the consequences that he could receive for freeing a slave. "It would get all around, that Huck Finn helped a nigger to get his freedom; and if I was to ever see anybody from that town again, I'd be ready to get down and lick his boots for shame", (269-270). Huck then claims, "All right, then, I'll go to hell…"(272) This shows that Huck was willing to put himself on the line for a slave, because he ceased to view Jim as property and recognized him as a friend. At the beginning of the story Huck would have never done this, but after the many adventures that occur, Jims unconditional love for Huck pierces the shell society placed ar...

    Read More

  • Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

    965 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the greatest American novels ever written. The story is about Huck, a young boy who is coming of age and is escaping from his drunken father. Along the way he stumbles across Miss Watson's slave, Jim, who has run away because he overhead that he would be sold. Throughout the story, Huck is faced with the moral dilemma of whether or not to turn Jim in. Mark Twain has purposely placed these two polar opposites together in order to make a satire of the society's institution of slavery. Along the journey, Twain implies his values through Huck on slavery, the two-facedness of society, and represents ideas with the Mississippi River.

    Read More

  • Alienation of Huckleberry Finn in the Advertures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

    1178 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain is about the great adventures that Huck finn has with his slave Jim on the Missouri River. The story tells not only about the adventures Huck has, but more of a deeper understanding of the society he lives in. Twain had Huck born into a low class society of white people; his father was a drunken bum and his mother was dead. He was adopted by the widow Douglas who tried to teach him morals, ethics, and manners that she thought fit in a civilized society. Huck never cared for these values and ran away to be free of them. During Huck’s adventure with Jim he unknowingly realized that he didn't agree with society’s values and could have his own assumptions and moral values. Twain uses this realization to show how the civilized and morally correct social values that was introduced to Huck was now the civilized and morally contradicting values.

    Read More

  • Huck Finn Morality

    942 Words  | 2 Pages

    In chapter 16, Huck goes through a moral conflict of whether he should turn Jim in or not. “I was paddling off, all in a sweat to tell on him; but when he says this, it seemed to kind of take the tuck all out of me (89).'; Right off from the beginning, Huck wanted to turn Jim in because it was against society’s rules to help a slave escape and Huck knew it. But when Jim said that “Huck; you’s de bes’ fren’ Jim’s ever had; en you’s de only fren’ ole Jim’s got now (89),'; made helped Huck to grasp the concept that there is a friendship in the making. Even though Huck didn’t turn Jim in, he is till troubled by his conscience when the slave catchers were leaving because he knows it is wrong to help a slave. Still Huck cannot bring himself forward to tell on Jim, thus showing that his innate sense of right exceeds that of society.

    Read More

  • Huck Finn Argumentative Essay

    1212 Words  | 3 Pages

    Huck and Jim obviously have a very strong friendship and it's only proved more as the book goes on. Huck obviously cared for Jim and was willing to accept him even though he was a runaway slave. He lied quit a few times to protect Jim from being captured and taken back to Mrs. Watson. At one point in their adventure, Huck Finn had to lie to a group of men that were looking for runaway slaves. They insisted upon checking to see if Huck’s companion was actually white. He tells them, “It's the--the--Gentleman, if you'll only pull ahead, and let me heave you the headline, you won't have to come a-near the raft--please do”(Twain 96). Huck let the men believe that everyone on the raft had smallpox. This finally convinced the men not to come any closer and ultimately saves Jim from a horrible

    Read More

  • Essay On Racial Satire In The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

    776 Words  | 2 Pages

    The novel is set in the antebellum south, and throughout the course of Huck Finn we see Twain poke fun at the injustices of race relations by exploiting the importance and power of friendship. Twain develops a friendship between a White boy by the name of Huck, and a “runaway” Black slave named Jim. “Dah you goes, de ole true Huck: de on’y white genlman dat ever kep’ his promise to ole Jim.” (Twain Pg. 90) This quote satirizes the views of many White people in the Antebellum South. During this time period when many Blacks were enslaved, and those not enslaved were treated as slaves, it was extremely unusual for a Black person and a White person to be friends at all. It would be unheard of to see the two conspiring, and further - unthinkable that they may have a strong and lasting friendship built on trust and loyalty. Twain contrasts this racial standard by establishing and demonstrating the power and importance of friendship, no matter the color or social status of the persons involved. Huck and Jim defy civil law by becoming the best of friends, thereby letting morality nullify law to illustrate the fundamental moral injustices of race relations in the Antebellum South

    Read More

  • An Analysis of the Most Important Scene Presented in Mark Twain’s Text Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

    1127 Words  | 3 Pages

    “She was going to live so as to go to the good place. Well, I couldn’t see no advantage in going where she was going, so I made up my mind I wouldn’t try for it.” (Finn, 12) From the moment Huckleberry Finn is introduced in Mark Twain’s text Tom Sawyer, it is beyond evident that he is a boy that is not like most in this society. Huck comes from one of the lowest levels of the white society in which he lives. The truth of the matter is that this is not at all Huck’s fault. His low place in society stems from the fact that his father is an excessive drunk, that disappears for large periods of time, and when he does surface, he spends almost all of that time alternating between being jailed and abusing Huck. Therefore, Huckleberry Finn has become a bit of a ruffian himself, spending a majority of his time homeless, floating along the river, smoking his pipe and running a small gang with one of his only friends, Tom Sawyer. Throughout the course of this text, we watch as Huck transforms from this mindset of very little capacity for competent judgment and a very narrow minded concept of what is right and what is wrong to one of very broad minded perspective with an incredibly complex idea of the differences between rights and wrong. Within Mark Twain’s text Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huckleberry undergoes a series of very intense events that ultimately lead to a complete change in the development of his character.

    Read More

  • Moral Development in the Adventures of Huckleberry Fin by Mark Twain

    770 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the classic novel of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn written by Mark Twain we see a lot of moral development with the main character Huckleberry Finn. Throughout the story Huck’s friendships greatly influence his moral identity. Throughout the series of events that unfold upon our main character, Huck Finn, we see huge moral leaps in the way he thinks that are influenced by that friendships he makes on his journey. He starts the book as a young minded individual with no sense morals other than what has been impressed onto him and ends up as a self empowering individual. Through the friendships he makes with Tom Sawyer, Jim, and the Duke and King we see big moral leaps with Huck.

    Read More

  • The Significance of the Physical Journey in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

    1530 Words  | 4 Pages

    ... he now realizes that stealing property is bad. Since Huck and Tom, although in a drawn-out manner, free Jim it is implied that he regards Jim as a fellow human being, not a slave. Showing Huck this equality and fostering a friendship between him and Jim could only be done by this kind of physical journey, as the idea of equality was only in its infancy at the time and had not taken root with any southerner.

    Read More

  • Huckleberry Finn's Journey to Morality Through Societal Emancipation

    1853 Words  | 4 Pages

    Mark Twain once described his novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, as “a struggle between a sound mind and a deformed conscience”. Throughout the novel, Huck wrestles with the disparity between his own developing morality and the twisted conscience of his society. In doing so, he becomes further distanced from society, both physically and mentally, eventually abandoning it in order to journey to the western frontier. By presenting the disgust of Huck, an outsider, at the state of society, Mark Twain is effectively able to critique the intolerance and hypocrisy of the Southern South. In doing so, Twain asserts that in order to exist as a truly moral being, one must escape from the chains of a diseased society.

    Read More

  • The Adventures Of Huck Finn

    1632 Words  | 4 Pages

    What would you do if you knew one of your friends was in trouble? Would you save them or would you try to avoid the situation and let someone else deal with it? That is the exact problem that Huck Finn is faced with in the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. It is a novel about the friendship between a young boy, named Huck and a black slave, named Jim. Throughout the plot Huck and Jim form a bond which proves that color should not stand as a barrier between the friendship of two people by completing endless adventures and always sticking together. The author, Mark Twain, grew up in one of the fifteen slave states and this clearly influenced his writing in the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Growing up of the banks of the Mississippi River he experienced much racism and witnessed how cruel society could truly be (Merriman) and this affected him deeply. The novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, supports the theme that friendship in found in unexpected places.

    Read More

  • Character Differences Between Huck And Jim

    1062 Words  | 3 Pages

    The way Huck and Jim encounter each other on the island, draws parallels in their similar backgrounds. Huck is torn between a life of manners and etiquette and a dangerous life a freedom, and while Jim at an impasse because he is being sold into slavery farther away from his home and away from his family. Each choice, for both characters comes with a cost so they both decide to runaway, in an attempt to assert some control over their lives. After spending much time together, the pair establish a connection which at times Huck feels guilty about since it violates everything he was raised to believe. At a certain point, Huck considers turning Jim in by, writing a letter, but after recalling the goods times they shared, Huck exclaims, "All right, then, I 'll go to hell!” (Twain) and quickly tears up the letter. Twain depicts Huck and Jim 's eventually friendship as a source of emotional strife for Huck and Huck constantly has to decide whether to abandon Jim and turn him in or abandon his religious beliefs and stay with Jim. The ripping up of the letter that would have turned Jim in symbolizes the choice Huck 's has selected. For this moment onward, Huck is dedicated to keeping Jim from being sold back into slavery and has no intent on going back on his choice. While there are times, Huck pays attention to the color of Jim 's skin he believes that

    Read More

  • Friendship in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

    557 Words  | 2 Pages

    Huck and Jim's friendship undergoes many twists and turns along with the trip the two take down the Mississippi River. With each adventure their friendship grew stronger and deeper from their encounter with the Duke and the King to the riverboat scene the friendship is built one building block at a time. Throughout the novel Jim makes references to the kindness that Huck shows him, but Huck seems oblivious to their new found friendship. "Dah you goes, de ole true Huck; de on'y white genlman"...(pg. 89) When Jim made this statement Huck realized just how much this friendship meant to Jim.

    Read More

More about Is Huck Finn Friend Or Foe

Open Document