Examples Of Heroism In Huckleberry Finn

In the dictionary a Hero is defined as “a person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.” Jim the Runaway Slave perfectly fits this definition. He showed grave courage when he risks his life running away from the land; in which he was enslaved. Along the way he meets Huckleberry and Jim takes Huckleberry along with him on his journey, during this long vigorous journey Jim helps Huck to find himself, and Huck is exposed to Jims admiration and love for all of mankind, Huck is exposed to Jims saintly mannerism and I believe it begins to change Huck’s view on life.
One of the first examples of Jim’s admiration of Mankind and empathy for others is when Jim discovers Hucks Fathers corpse on the boat. Jim showed that he was hero by becoming an heroic figure to Huck, Jim knows about the hostile relationship between Pap and Huck, Huck was constantly beaten, underfed and neglected. In fact the reason why Huck met Jim was because he was escaping Pap’s wrath, ironically Huck leaves one father to find another Father but this time its an unlikely father figure; it’s Jim. However, Jim isn’t biologically tied to Huck Like Pap was, Jim becomes a
This is something that Huck isn’t used to because he’s used to Paps selfishness, and having to take care of Pap when he gets drunk. How ever, Jim is not the same and this is shown on the raft. On the raft there was set shift during the night time, They were suppose to alternate shift so that each could have their own times to sleep and everything would be fair, but as it turns out Jim would always intentionally take Hucks shift just so that Huck could have extra time to sleep. “I went to sleep and Jim didn’t call me when it was my turn, he often that.”pg117. I think this shows how much Jim was unselfish, which is an heroic and noble trait and also how much he cared for