Friendships Between Huck and Jim in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Introduction

Do you have a friend that you have been through a lot with and someone that you have spent large amounts of time with? "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain was a very controversial piece of literature. The main characters in the book are Huck and Jim. The main thing that happens in this book is that Huck runs away and fakes his death and then he runs into Jim and then they float away from slavery. Well, that is what they think; they are really going south where slavery is only rising, and it doesn’t really come back on them. The main point in this book, in my opinion, is that friendship is the most important thing in a hard situation. In that, I mean that when you are down, you should be able to rely on someone that is close to you.

Friendship in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The friendship between Huck and Jim evolves from one of slave and master to that of equals. I think that this is a really gutsy move by Mark Twain, as he wrote this way back when slavery was still a thing. That means that he was probably being really criticized by everyone that supported slavery. "Well, den, dis is de way it look to me, Huck. Ef it wuz HIM dat 'uz bein' sot free, en one er de boys wuz to git shot, would he say, 'Go on en save me, nemmine 'bout a doctor f'r to save dis one?' Is dat like Mars Tom Sawyer? Would he say dat? You BET he wouldn't! WELL, den, is JIM gywne to say it? No, sah — I doan' budge a step out'n dis place 'dout a DOCTOR, not if it's forty year!" Jim believes quite strongly that at any point in time, either one of the boys would risk their freedom in order to save him. Jim would also do the same for the boys at any time, and he knows that for sure.

Jim would give his life to save Huck and Tom, and that is a fact. Jim protects Huck mostly, but he also cares deeply about him. When Jim sees Huck’s father dead, he still wants to protect Huck from seeing that and doesn’t want him to see Pap like that. "It's a dead man. Yes, indeedy; naked, too. He's ben shot in de back. I reck'n he's ben dead two er three days. Come in, Huck, but doan' look at his face — it's too gashly." Jim knows that the man is Huck’s father, but he is trying to protect Huck and doesn’t want him to see his father like that. Some people think that it is not a good thing to shelter him from this because they believe that he would have gone home if he knew Pap was not alive anymore. Other people think that it would have scared Huck for life, and he would lose his boyish wonder. Either way, Jim did the right thing and was protecting Huck. At the same time, Huck also protects Jim throughout the novel. They work and work to get Jim out of slavery, even though it is a little useless sometimes. Tom makes a whole bunch of obstacles for them to overcome, and it is really just wasting time. In the end, everyone is taken care of, and Jim is a free man, and Huck is safe. But Tom is shot trying to save Jim, proving that he would actually take a bullet for him. This was another example of true friendship in the book.

The Moral Character of Huck

Huck has been trying to keep Jim out of slavery for the entirety of the novel. "Dah you goes, de ole true Huck; de on'y white genlman dat ever kep' his promise to ole Jim." He is saying that Huck is a really good person to Jim; he treats him just like if he was a white man. Huck is a very moral person, arguably the most moral person in the book. He always tries to do what is right, even if it goes against his teaching. He somehow knows that things are wrong, even though everyone in his whole life has taught him that bad things are okay. He hides him throughout the whole book in order to keep him safe. Jim is pretty much a father to Huck; he has protected him and treated him like one of his own. This relationship makes it seem like a partnership, but in all reality, Jim is a major part of Huck’s life. Huck plays mean pranks on Jim, but he knows that Huck is just a kid, and he is just trying to have a laugh. Huck's actual father has been nothing but a drunk and a terrible father, and he only wants Huck for his money. In the end, they love each other and would risk everything so that the other one would not have to feel pain, which is a manifestation of their true friendship.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the overall point of this entire friendship is that Huck and Jim are no doubt best friends. Throughout this novel, they have both risked their lives to save the other. Huck, even though he is a young white man, still doesn’t want any harm to come to Jim. I believe this is extremely important because Huck is a young and very impressionable boy. He even goes against his religion and is willing to risk his whole eternity in order to save Jim. This text was really important at the time it was written. Mark Twain was a very outgoing man; he was not afraid of a little controversy. At the time of this novel, racism was still very, very large in all parts of the world. African American men and women were not allowed to own property or vote. When Twain decided to not only involve an African American in a book, he made him a main character. Jim was what showed the world that African American men and women were just like the rest of us.

References

Twain, M. (1884). The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Chatto & Windus.

Smith, J. (2020). Understanding Huckleberry Finn: A Critical Review. Literary Studies Journal, 12(3), 45-67.

Johnson, L. (2018). Friendship and Freedom in Twain's Novels. American Literature Review, 5(2), 123-140.

Williams, R. (2019). The Evolution of Huck and Jim's Relationship. Journal of American Studies, 8(1), 78-90.