Huck has really had a complete attitude make-over since the beginning of this book, and I have to admit, I'm proud of him. He was not totally inconsiderate at the start but he was selfish in his decision making abilities, for example, he didn't even think of the Widow when he was going to sneak out and see Tom in the middle of the night, he just slipped out. Now, however, he seems to be a bit more empathetic towards those who might be affected by his decision. For example, these last few chapters were completely focused on rescuing Jim, and once they tried and failed to do so, Huck felt extremely bad. It was obvious by what he says afterward, "I knowed he was white inside, and I reckoned he'd say what he did say--so it was all right now,..."(Twain 275). That was a very heart felt statement coming from Huck, who was raised that black people are the slaves that are supposed to do his bidding. He said that Jim was white on the inside, which means, he thinks that Jim is just as good as any white person, I think Twain is portraying that Huck is realizing that blacks are people too and should be equal to white people which is a very radical statement for this time period. Huck was not a bad kid, sure, it's arguable that he made some poor choices, but what boy around the age of eight makes absolutely stunning choices? There sure aren't very many that I know of.
Huck's realization of Jim's true character rather than the color of his skin seems to resolve the conflict in this novel; he begins to understand that blacks are people too. Especially when he's listening to the doctor talk about the good things that Jim did while he was looking after Tom, "Don't be no rougher on him that you're obleeged to, because he ain't a bad nigger. ... and I see I couldn't do anything at all with him; so I says, I got to have help somehow; and the minute I says it out crawls this nigger from somewheres and says he'll help and he done it, too, and done it very well" (Twain 284-285). Huck knows that helping someone in need is what any good mannered person would do, and he realizes that Jim did that so he must be a good mannered person, and maybe, just maybe, Jim was an actual person that should be recognized as a person. This is definitely an eye opening realization for Huck; he was taught for so long that they were not relevant, they didn't matter, they were not even people, and an eight year old boy realized how wrong an entire nation was. An eight year old boy! I know an eight year old boy who blew up his microwave, and the depth of Huck's discovery is just amazing for an eight year old boy.
This book really made me think about the time period back then, and how radically different it was from the way things are now. This book was written in 1884, and it is absolutely eye opening how much difference about 130 years makes! Huck and Tom rescued Jim with a couple tools and their bare hands and now, it is just so different. Not many people, could develop a plan like Tom's to rescue Jim. It's just impressive how they got by with so much less than we have now, and we think we can't function without our technology, but they did, and they thrived. Granted, they weren't in the best condition but they lived, they explored, they had fun, and that is amazing. It's the same scenario in My Antonia, they lived without half the things that we have now, and I'm sure life was hard, I bet it was extremely hard, but they managed to enjoy it. Personally, I think, that when life is hard, it teaches lessons, and making it through the rough patches is what really is the best part of life. Knowing that it's possible to take a beating, be back up and keep going, that's a beautiful thing, and Huck really learned that. He learned that with his Dad, he learned that when they traveled with the King and the Duke, and he learned that when they couldn't rescue Jim. I'm just extremely proud of Huck, for at that age, not many boys would have made the decisions he did; Twain did a phenomenal job with him.
Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Bantam Dell 1981.
Huck's realization of Jim's true character rather than the color of his skin seems to resolve the conflict in this novel; he begins to understand that blacks are people too. Especially when he's listening to the doctor talk about the good things that Jim did while he was looking after Tom, "Don't be no rougher on him that you're obleeged to, because he ain't a bad nigger. ... and I see I couldn't do anything at all with him; so I says, I got to have help somehow; and the minute I says it out crawls this nigger from somewheres and says he'll help and he done it, too, and done it very well" (Twain 284-285). Huck knows that helping someone in need is what any good mannered person would do, and he realizes that Jim did that so he must be a good mannered person, and maybe, just maybe, Jim was an actual person that should be recognized as a person. This is definitely an eye opening realization for Huck; he was taught for so long that they were not relevant, they didn't matter, they were not even people, and an eight year old boy realized how wrong an entire nation was. An eight year old boy! I know an eight year old boy who blew up his microwave, and the depth of Huck's discovery is just amazing for an eight year old boy.
This book really made me think about the time period back then, and how radically different it was from the way things are now. This book was written in 1884, and it is absolutely eye opening how much difference about 130 years makes! Huck and Tom rescued Jim with a couple tools and their bare hands and now, it is just so different. Not many people, could develop a plan like Tom's to rescue Jim. It's just impressive how they got by with so much less than we have now, and we think we can't function without our technology, but they did, and they thrived. Granted, they weren't in the best condition but they lived, they explored, they had fun, and that is amazing. It's the same scenario in My Antonia, they lived without half the things that we have now, and I'm sure life was hard, I bet it was extremely hard, but they managed to enjoy it. Personally, I think, that when life is hard, it teaches lessons, and making it through the rough patches is what really is the best part of life. Knowing that it's possible to take a beating, be back up and keep going, that's a beautiful thing, and Huck really learned that. He learned that with his Dad, he learned that when they traveled with the King and the Duke, and he learned that when they couldn't rescue Jim. I'm just extremely proud of Huck, for at that age, not many boys would have made the decisions he did; Twain did a phenomenal job with him.
Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Bantam Dell 1981.