The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the story of a young boy’s adventures on the Mississippi River escaping the society and being “sivilized” by Widow Douglas and Miss Watson. The river is Huck’s freedom; the river represents the difference between nature and society. It is quiet and peaceful place where Huck is able to think; the river is a place to escape to. Huck’s first decision is to stay and be abused by his father or escape. I believe Huck did not want to stay but I also think he was craving an adventure of his own. Although Huck is uneducated, he is still clever, and he proves this when he fakes his own death.
He says to himself that Tom would be proud of his accomplishment, but then he diminishes this thought by saying Tom would have done it better. Throughout Huck and Jim’s journey, Huck makes up new identities to better the chances of freedom. Examples of these are the following: first he portrays a young girl and visits a home to get information of Jim and his successful getaway, and another is when he leads the men he meets to believe his father has smallpox. Huck faces a moral predicament of aiding a slave to freedom. He is unsure of the correct thing to do.
He knows that society thinks helping a slave is wrong, but he knows that he would feel worse if he turns Jim in when he had the chance. This is shown when Huck says to himself, “S”pose you”d done right and give Jim up; would you feel better than you do now? No, says I, I”d feel bad- (Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 69). Huck begins to views Jim as a real human being after he sees Jim talk so passionately about his family. Jim’s loyalty toward Huck is made aware when Jim is thrilled to see Huck again after they were separated in the fog.
Their friendship begins to show after Huck lies about having smallpox to avoid Jim being caught. Huck is forced to decide what is right and what is wrong when Jim is captured by the Phelps. When Huck says, “All right then, I”ll go to Hell,” and risks his soul to save Jim, it shows Huck’s natural heart and the growth from an immature boy to a young man (Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 162). Although Huck has matured throughout the novel, the end of the novel leaves Huck in the same place as he was in the beginning; he still wants to escape civilization and society.
