'In Defense Of Huck's Honest Abe'

At an impressive six foot four, Abraham Lincoln towered over the majority of people he met. A lawyer, a statesman, and the sixteenth president of the United States, Lincoln was quite familiar with rhetoric and politics. He earned the nickname “Honest Abe” through his integrity regarding money as a store clerk and his ethics as a lawyer. Lincoln garnered much respect as a man of truth and diplomacy, winning the 1860 presidential election as the Republican candidate. In Lincoln’s time, slavery was legal and abundant, predominantly in the South, to support its agricultural-based society and economy. However, “Honest Abe” actively fought against the ghastly keystone piece of society. Though Lincoln received heavy criticism and severely reduced
Once Huck and Jim reunite after losing each other in the fog, Jim reveals that Huck is his best and only friend, and the one person the world who treats him with genuine kindness. Unfortunately, at the same time Huck reflects on how criminal his actions are for helping a runaway slave and stealing Miss Watson’s property. Within Huck’s mind, a war wages between saving a friend and following the rules. As Huck is interrogated by some bounty hunters, he is forced to choose a side in his mind. Huck is unable to adhere to society’s questionable rules, and so he lies to the bounty hunters about Jim, saying, “‘He’s white’… ‘because it’s pap that’s there, and maybe you’d help me tow the raft ashore where the light is. He’s sick―and so is mam and Mary Ann’” (Twain 141). Under pressure, Huck hesitates. He cannot follow through with turning Jim in to appease society’s regulations because it so starkly contrasts his own morals. Jim calling Huck his best friend humanizes Jim, which forms a pit in Huck’s stomach and he loses all his brawn he had mustered up to turn Jim in. Huck is just trying to do the right thing according to the law and return Miss Watson’s property, but he feels conflicted because what society wants does not match what his own ethics tell him. Huck is given a chance to
While Huck and Jim struggle to rid themselves of the sordid King and Duke, the King and Duke themselves concoct a crooked plan of their own; they lure Huck away and then sell Jim for a measly forty dollars. Missing his companion, Huck is at a loss. This forces Huck to sit down and reflect hard on the situation. At first, Huck decides to write to write a letter to Miss Watson so his conscience is clear to pray and Jim may be returned to where he belongs. But this does not sit right with Huck as he remembers all the compassion that Jim has shown him. Unable to commit himself to condemning Jim, Huck angrily rips up the letter and exclaims, “‘All right, then, I’ll go to hell’” (Twain 331). As Huck remembers all the kindness that Jim treated him with―laughing and singing with him, taking his night watches, always acting with care towards him―a veil is lifted off his eyes. Huck realizes that Jim is a man who loves, breathes, and lives just like any other human being on the planet. As he evaluates society’s perception, Huck understands that to try and free Jim, a slave, is to doom oneself. Yet Huck knows that it is the right thing to do. So, he decides to free Jim regardless of the cost; he willingly commits himself to hell to save Jim.