In the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the relationship between Huckleberry Finn and Jim are heavily influenced by racism and slavery as their friendship puts society against them and brings them closer together as they spend more time together. As Huck and Jim spend time together on the raft we see that Huck treats Jim as a person and doesn’t treat him less of human being while the society he’s in says otherwise. Society and the people he has met on his do not treat Jim as a human being as slavery and racism in embedded in southern religion. Huck has a lapse where he begins to have doubts about whether he should return Jim to his owner and do what society thinks is right or go with he thinks is right and follow his own beliefs. When Huck is with Jim over time he sees Jim as not necessarily above him but as more of parental figure as Jim has more experience and is certainly a better role model than Pap huck biological father and unlike his father is genuinely good natured Jim opens up a new world for Huck, and becomes his companion and a resource of knowledge. After Huck escapes his father and the “sivilized society” he encounters Jim, Miss Watson’s runaway slave. While on Jackson’s island Jim provides useful fables and simple knowledge that aid Huck, “Some young birds come along..
. Jim said it was a sign that it was going to rain… And Jim said you mustn’t count the things you are going to cook for dinner, because it would bring bad luck”(50). Jim’s simple ideas offer a greater aid to Huck, than any that Pap had ever given. When they are out on the water jim is very protective of huck almost as much as parent. Jim builds a shelter on the raft so they don’t get wet in the rain.
. Jim cares for Huck even when they are in they house. They find “a dead man. Yes, indeedy; naked, too. He’s been shot is da back. I reck’n he’s ben dead two er three days.
Come in, Huck, but doan’ look at his face – it’s too gashley”(55). Later in the book it turns out that this dead man is Pap, Jim wishes to save Huck from the pain and stress that would ensue from finding hi own father dead. Jim’s surprising knowledge and resourcefulness protect Huck from the elements, while his compassion and love for the boy require him to guard him against pain. Jim possess the attributes to be a perfect father figure for Huck. Society and the people he has met on his do not treat Jim as a human being as slavery and racism in embedded in southern religion. During many of MissMuch later on in the book, the King and the Duke decide to take Jim to the Phelps family for about forty bucks, Huck ends up having a internal struggle. Should he go with what society believes is morally correct and write a letter to Miss Watson the societies moral solution and write to Miss Watson telling her where Jim is being held, or follow his own beliefs and free Jim from slavery effectively “Sending him to Hell” and having everyone in society criticize him and call him an abolitionist.
He ended up deciding to write the letter to Miss Watson, but end up feeling really bad for what he has done. “It was a close place. I took it up, and held it in my hand. I was a trembling, because I’d got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: All right, then, I’ll go to Hell and tore it up.” Huck saying that he would be willing to go to Hell to free Jim means that his devotion and love towards the him is relentless. After spending time on the raft together, Huck developed a fondness towards Jim.
He believed that Jim was “white inside” He realized that Jim was not any different from a person and the the things that separated whites from blacks. He basically believed that Jim was “white inside”. Huck’s care and appreciation for Jim lets him look past racism and see that the only difference between himself and Jim is the color of his skin.
