Huck Finn Analysis

In the world, people are impacted by the society that they live in. Their society shapes them through their actions, thoughts and appearances. As a result of society shaping them, many do not get to follow their own conscious because they feel that they need to conform to society’s standards. In the episodic novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, this issue is present. In one of the episodes throughout the book, Huck battles the decision with following his own plan to free his friend, Jim, from slavery or to conform to his friend, Tom Sawyer’s plan of freeing Jim. Although Huck wants to follow his own moral values to help Jim quickly escape from slavery, when he allows Tom to convince him to conform to society and follow his
As Huck increases his time being spent with Tom, he begins to act like the rest of southern society. He begins to act like a southerner when he says Jim is like his property and relates him to other objects, “What I want is my nigger; or a watermelon; or a Sunday school book;...,” (308). This is the first time that Huck uses the phrase “my nigger” which implies that Jim belongs to Huck. Huck claims Jim as an object or a piece of property and no longer treats Jim with respect because that’s how most southerners see Jim as. In addition to that, Huck also begins to treat Jim like a slave. In one of the scenes in this episode, Huck and Tom made Jim move a heavy grindstone by himself. Huck describes Jim’s work as, “Jim and me laid into that grindstone and walked her along like nothing,” (325). They treat Jim like a slave by making him do all the work of moving a rock for Tom’s sake. Additionally, in this scene, Huck and Jim felt higher than Jim because they aren’t doing any work, which is how most white people during this time felt around people of color. Following Tom’s plan, Tom decides that Jim’s cabin needed to be filled with animals. Jim expresses his feelings towards the animals as, ‘But bless you, honey, I doan’ want none. I’s afeard un um. I jis’’s soon have rattlesnakes aroun’” (326). Jim clearly tells Tom and Huck that he is scared
By Huck conforming to society, there were many negative consequences to his actions. Just like today, society shapes people through their actions, thoughts, and their appearances. For example, many students in the New Canaan public school system feel that they need to dress like other students, otherwise they will be judged or alienated by their peers. In the real world, people do not always make the decisions that they want to make due to their outside