In the novel Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Huck goes through
many adventures on the Mississippi River. He escapes from Pap and
sails down the Mississippi with an escaped slave named Jim. Huck goes
through the moral conflict of how wrong it is to be helping Jim escape
to freedom. Eventually Huck decides he will help Jim and actually
steals him from a farmer with the help of Tom Sawyer, a friend.
Eventhough Huck and Jim are trying to sail to the Ohio River which
leads to freedom, they pass it in the dark.
Over the course of the novel Huck's opinion of Jim changes. In the
beginning of their voyage, Huck feels he shouldn't be helping Jim to
freedom and almost turns him in to slave catchers Twain 87 "I was
paddling off, all in a sweat to tell on him; but when he says this
(that Huck is his one and only friend) it seemed to take the tuck all
out of me.".
The cover of the first edition of Adventures of Hu...
Illustration of Jim and Huckleberry Finn, by EW Ke...
Traditional raft, from 1884 edition of Adventures ...Huck begins to enjoy having Jim's company, and when Jim
is sold by the Duke and the King, Huck breaks down and cries while
asking the Duke where Jim is Twain 208 "'sold him' I says, and begun
to cry; 'why he was my nigger, and that was my money. Where is he?-- I
want my nigger.". Then Huck steals Jim from the Phelps farm
(eventhough he was already set free by Miss Watson's will). Huck Finn
changes as we go through the story because Jim is really almost his
slave and he grows to like having Jim wait on him.
In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain depicts Southern life and society
in the 1870's. The main point that Twain makes is that Southern life
is not as glorious as it's made out to...