Huck And Jim Character Analysis
Although characters can distance themselves from society temporarily, they are never truly free from it. Huck and Jim’s travel on the canoe demonstrates how escaping from the rules of society is incomplete and temporary. Huck’s canoe was literally crushed by the steamboat, and that is what happens to the independence gained by temporary escapes from society. Readers know that Huck is not truly independent on the canoe because every time he has to make a decision, whether during or after, he always thinks of society. After he had helped the robbers, he remarks “I wished the widow knowed about it. I judged she would be proud of me for helping these rapscallions.” So even when he is independent enough to sympathize with the robbers, he also thinks
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Although readers may wish to believe that Huck saves Jim, this is not the reality. Twain clearly does not depict Huck as “the only really independent person--boy or man—in the community,” because Huck is forced to be deceiving when he is among society; this is not independence. Nor is he the only independent person. He is just a weak coward, who lies to society when he cannot bear it. Otherwise, he tries to please other powerful individuals such as when he falls under Tom’s control and does not challenge Tom’s authority. Huck allows Tom to abuse Jim, even though readers thought that Huck and Jim had a friendship based on two equal individuals. His experiences with Jim, the Grangerfords, and Wilkses did not teach him how to be independent; they just encouraged his habit of deceit in society. Due to his lack of willingness to advocate for Jim and Tom, he chooses to stay with Aunt Sally, wanting to please the society around him rather than save his dying friend. Jim’s salvation depends on the arrival of powerful individuals like Tom, who is a bold and an independent child, and the doctor, a man with high social standing. They do not fear telling the truth, which sets them apart from Huck, who decides not to “mix in” once Jim is rechained and simply “hopes” for change to
Although readers may wish to believe that Huck saves Jim, this is not the reality. Twain clearly does not depict Huck as “the only really independent person--boy or man—in the community,” because Huck is forced to be deceiving when he is among society; this is not independence. Nor is he the only independent person. He is just a weak coward, who lies to society when he cannot bear it. Otherwise, he tries to please other powerful individuals such as when he falls under Tom’s control and does not challenge Tom’s authority. Huck allows Tom to abuse Jim, even though readers thought that Huck and Jim had a friendship based on two equal individuals. His experiences with Jim, the Grangerfords, and Wilkses did not teach him how to be independent; they just encouraged his habit of deceit in society. Due to his lack of willingness to advocate for Jim and Tom, he chooses to stay with Aunt Sally, wanting to please the society around him rather than save his dying friend. Jim’s salvation depends on the arrival of powerful individuals like Tom, who is a bold and an independent child, and the doctor, a man with high social standing. They do not fear telling the truth, which sets them apart from Huck, who decides not to “mix in” once Jim is rechained and simply “hopes” for change to