Moral Development In The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain

It is well known that the best kind of endings are the ones where they live ”happily ever after.” However, the truly best endings are those where the character is able to go through a moral reconciliation that changes them for the better. In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, morals play an important role. In the story, Huck Finn is traveling down the Mississippi with an escaped slave named Jim. Huck’s moral development throughout the novel comes from learning to see Jim as a human being rather than a piece of property.

Throughout the novel you can see how society has influenced Huck through his view of Jim. In chapter 15, a thick fog starts to settle on the river separating Jim and Huck. When Huck finds Jim again he decides to play a prank on him. He pretended that Jim had dreamed the whole incident and they had never actually been separated. Jim believes it at first until he sees leaves and a broken oar lying around which lead him to realize that Huck lied to him. When Huck sees that he actually hurt Jim, he starts to see that Jim is more than a slave but a human being
After learning that the king sold Jim to a plantation owner for forty dollars, Huck tries to figure out how to free his friend. He decides to write Miss Watson, “Jim’s owner,” a letter telling her where Jim is and that he is being held for a reward. Huck feels that he’s making the right decision by writing this letter because after all, Jim is a slave. However, something else is tugging at his conscience. He knows that if Miss Watson finds Jim he will be thrown back into slavery which isn’t what Huck wants. Huck decides he’ll take going to hell over putting Him back into his and rips up the letter. Through this resolution, we can see Huck mature when he decides to create morals he thinks are right over the ones society