Adventures Of Huck Finn Significance Essay, Research Paper

In the society that Huckleberry Finn lived in everybody was to believe that

whites were superior to blacks. So as Huck and Jim go further down the

Mississippi River, Huck is trying to determine what is wrong and what is right.

Incidents where he was questioning what was right and wrong were, when they got

split up on the raft, helping Jim escape and the letter to Miss Watson. Huck is

playing a joke on Jim pretending that the raft never got away from the canoe and

they got separated in the fog. Huck convincing Jim that he was just dreaming. So

Jim starts telling Huck about this ?dream?. When he?s finished, Huck shows

him that it really did happen, and that he?s just been the butt of a joke. Jim

reacts very emotionally. He says he was ready to die when he thought he?d lost

Huck, and that anyone who would play such a prank on a friend is trash. Such

talk like this from a black person to a white person could have that black hung.

Instead of hanging him, Huck apologizes to Jim. The significance is that most

white folks don?t apologize to black folks. It didn?t matter what the white

folks did to the blacks but some how the blacks deserved it. Huck didn?t have

to apologize to Jim but something deep inside told him to. As they are getting

closer to Cairo, Huck is realizing what he has got himself into by helping a

slave escape. When Jim is talking about getting an Abolitionist to help him

steal his children- children that belong to someone Huck doesn?t even know-

Huck freezes with fear. Now his conscience tells him to do the right thing

according to society, turn Jim in. Huck leaves the boat giving Jim an excuse

about seeing how far Cairo is but is really going toturn him into authorities.

As Huck is leaving Jim calls out and saying something along the lines as Huck

being the only white gentleman who ever kept his promise to old Jim. This

comment really got to Huck and actually unnerved him a little. On the way to the

shore Huck is stopped by two men looking for runaway slaves. He decides to tell

these to men that he is traveling with a white man. The significance of this is

that Huck is willing to lie to save Jim. This is very unusual considering that

it is a white lying for a black. And that a teenage boy who is still growing up

and learning what is right and wrong is lying. Jim has been identified as a

runaway slave and was sold. Because of this, Huck sits down and thinks where he

is, how he got there, and what he should do next. He believes that once again he

has fallen short of society?s standards. So to make up for this bad behavior

he decides to write Miss Watson a letter telling her where Jim is, believing

that Jim would be happier with his family and other people he knows. But then

decides to tear up the letter because he believes that Miss Watson, and everyone

else who knows Jim, would never again treat him well, now that he?s tried to

run away. The significance is that Huck is willing to go to hell for Jim.

Through out this whole story Huck is faced with doing ?right or wrong?. Huck

has convinced himself that he has done a serious wrong because he helped Jim

escape and did not turn Jim into authorities or return him to Miss Watson. He

blamed himself for these wrongs in society standards. He thought that since it

was wrong in society that meat that it was wrong morally.