Decision Making In Huckleberry Finn

In Mark Twain’s satirical novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a clever, youthful boy embarks on a perilous journey with a runaway slave, on which he discovers the meaning of true friendship and finds the courage to suffer hell’s fury in order to save the runaway. The boy, Huck Finn, develops a close relationship to the runaway slave, Jim, throughout the novel, forcing him to make a difficult decision to either help his friend Jim or go to hell, as he had been taught. Twain’s depiction of Huck’s internal, moral conflict pertaining to Jim throughout the novel and how he rejects popular beliefs to defend his own conclusions represents the human decision making process. Humans first consider who their primary concern in a decision should
As he grows closer and closer to Jim, Huck becomes more and more inclined to help Jim because he “acts strictly through his sense of commitment to his friends” (Bollinger). Although he may regret it for just a moment when reflecting, Huck prioritizes the needs of his friends above the desires of society when faced with a difficult because his bond with Jim was much tighter than his bond with society, like humans, who all want to help their friends find success. Huck begins to rebel against society by to avoid turning Jim in. When stopped by slave catchers, Huck even lies to them about the color of Jim’s skin, even though “the words wouldn’t come” at first (Twain 68). When the slave catchers first ask about the color of Jim’s skin, Huck hesitates to answer because he wants to help Jim, but he also finds it very difficult to disobey society’s expectations. Many humans are faced with this problem today and, like Huck, are forced to make decisions between a friend or their reputation among their peers. Huck’s rationale behind his choices represents the reasoning behind all humans’ decisions because everyone wants to help those close to them, despite the fact that many not because of peer