Early Influences on Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel about a young boy’s coming of age in the Missouri of the mid-1800’s. The main character, Huckleberry Finn, spends much time in the novel floating down the Mississippi River on a raft with a runaway slave named Jim. Before he does so, however, Huck spends some time in the fictional town of St. Petersburg where a number of people attempt to influence him. Before the novel begins, Huck Finn has led a life of absolute freedom. His drunken and often missing father has never paid much attention to him; his mother is dead and so, when the novel begins, Huck is not used to following any rules. The book’s opening finds Huck living with the Widow Douglas and her sister, Miss Watson. Both women are fairly old and are really somewhat incapable of raising a rebellious boy like Huck Finn. Nevertheless, they attempt to make Huck into what they believe will be a better boy. Specifically, they attempt, as Huck says, to “sivilize” him. This process includes making Huck go to school, teaching him various religious facts, and making him act in a way that the women find socially acceptable.
Huck, who has never had to follow many rules in his life, finds the demands the women place upon him constraining and the life with them lonely. As a result, soon after he first moves in with them, he runs away. He soon comes back, but, even though he becomes somewhat comfortable with his new life as the months go by, Huck never really enjoys the life of manners, religion, and education that the Widow and her sister impose upon him. Huck believes he will find some freedom with Tom Sawyer. Tom is a boy of Huck’s age who promises Huck and other boys of the town a life of adventure. Huck is eager to join Tom Sawyer’s Gang because he feels that doing so will allow him to escape the somewhat boring life he leads with the Widow Douglas. Unfortunately, such an escape does not occur. Tom Sawyer promises much-robbing stages, murdering and ransoming people, kidnaping beautiful women-but none of this comes to pass. Huck finds out too late that Tom’s adventures are imaginary: that raiding a caravan of “A-rabs” really means terrorizing young children on a Sunday school picnic, that stolen “joolry” is nothing more than turnips or rocks. Huck is disappointed that the adventures Tom promises are not real and so, along with the other members, he resigns from the gang.
The Essay on Huck Finn Bad Boy
... them. While Huck represents the 'American bad boy', Tom Sawyer is presented as a FOIL of Huck. Huck does the ... those American-made, were mostly born of Twain's Huck Finn. His was the first American novel to ... feeling so upset about it, he goes and finds a ferry watchman and tells him his ... in all aspects of his character, life experiences, and maturity. Huck doesn't conform to society whatsoever, and ...
Another person who tries to get Huckleberry Finn to change is Pap, Huck’s father. Pap is one of the most astonishing figures in all of American literature as he is completely antisocial and wishes to undo all of the civilizing effects that the Widow and Miss Watson have attempted to instill in Huck. Pap is a mess: he is unshaven; his hair is uncut and hangs like vines in front of his face; his skin, Huck says, is white like a fish’s belly or like a tree toad’s. Pap’s savage appearance reflects his feelings as he demands that Huck quit school, stop reading, and avoid church. Huck is able to stay away from Pap for a while, but Pap kidnaps Huck three or four months after Huck starts to live with the Widow and takes him to a lonely cabin deep in the Missouri woods. Here, Huck enjoys, once again, the freedom that he had prior to the beginning of the book. He can smoke, “laze around,” swear, and, in general, do what he wants to do. However, as he did with the Widow and with Tom, Huck begins to become dissatisfied with this life. Pap is “too handy with the hickory” and Huck soon realizes that he will have to escape from the cabin if he wishes to remain alive.
The Research paper on Chapter Huck Jim Pap Tom
... to flee from his Pap. So there he is alone on the island... … or is he? ? Huck finds Jim after discovering the ashes ... pilot for four years. The narrator is actually Huck Finn himself. Chapter one introduces Huck Finn and the reader gets to know what he ... wait until things begin to unfold. Huck yearns to be free from all authority. His guardian, Widow Douglas, is constantly nagging him ...
As a result of his concern, Huck makes it appear as if he is killed in the cabin while Pap is away, and leaves to go to a remote island in the Mississippi River, Jackson’s Island. It is after he leaves his father’s cabin that Huck joins yet another important influence in his life: Miss Watson’s slave, Jim. Prior to Huck’s leaving, Jim has been a minor character in the novel-he has been shown being fooled by Tom Sawyer and telling Huck’s fortune. Huck finds Jim on Jackson’s Island because the slave has run away-he has overheard a conversation that he will soon be sold to New Orleans. Soon after joining Jim on Jackson’s Island, Huck begins to realize that Jim has more talents and intelligence than Huck has been aware of. Jim knows “all kinds of signs” about the future, people’s personalities, and weather forecasting. Huck finds this kind of information necessary as he and Jim drift down the Mississippi on a raft. As important, Huck feels a comfort with Jim that he has not felt with the other major characters in the novel. With Jim, Huck can enjoy the best aspects of his earlier influences. As does the Widow, Jim allows Huck security, but Jim is not as confining as is the Widow.
Like Tom Sawyer, Jim is intelligent but his intelligence is not as intimidating or as imaginary as is Tom’s. As does Pap, Jim allows Huck freedom, but he does it in a loving, rather than an uncaring, fashion. Thus, early, in their relationship on Jackson’s Island, Huck says to Jim, “This is nice. I wouldn’t want to be nowhere else but here.” This feeling is in marked contrast with Huck’s feelings concerning other people in the early part of the novel where he always is uncomfortable and wishes to leave them. At the conclusion of chapter 11 in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck and Jim are forced to leave Jackson’s Island because Huck discovers that people are looking for the runaway slave. Prior to leaving, Huck tells Jim, “They’re after us.” Clearly, the people are after Jim, but Huck has already identified with Jim and has begun to care for him. This stated empathy shows that the two outcasts will have a successful and rewarding friendship as they drift down the river as the novel continues. Early Influences on Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel about a young boy’s coming of age in the Missouri of the mid-1800’s.
The Essay on Huckleberry Finn Huck Jim Tom
Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn 2 Essay, Research Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn 2 email: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is about Huck a young boy and his journey down the Mississippi river with his slave friend Jim. The setting of Huckleberry Finn is set along the Mississippi River around Missouri and the time period is in the mid 1800 s before ...
The main character, Huckleberry Finn, spends much time in the novel floating down the Mississippi River on a raft with a runaway slave named Jim. Before he does so, however, Huck spends some time in the fictional town of St. Petersburg where a number of people attempt to influence him. Before the novel begins, Huck Finn has led a life of absolute freedom. His drunken and often missing father has never paid much attention to him; his mother is dead and so, when the novel begins, Huck is not used to following any rules. The book’s opening finds Huck living with the Widow Douglas and her sister, Miss Watson. Both women are fairly old and are really somewhat incapable of raising a rebellious boy like Huck Finn. Nevertheless, they attempt to make Huck into what they believe will be a better boy. Specifically, they attempt, as Huck says, to “sivilize” him. This process includes making Huck go to school, teaching him various religious facts, and making him act in a way that the women find socially acceptable. Huck, who has never had to follow many rules in his life, finds the demands the women place upon him constraining and the life with them lonely. As a result, soon after he first moves in with them, he runs away.
He soon comes back, but, even though he becomes somewhat comfortable with his new life as the months go by, Huck never really enjoys the life of manners, religion, and education that the Widow and her sister impose upon him. Huck believes he will find some freedom with Tom Sawyer. Tom is a boy of Huck’s age who promises Huck and other boys of the town a life of adventure. Huck is eager to join Tom Sawyer’s Gang because he feels that doing so will allow him to escape the somewhat boring life he leads with the Widow Douglas. Unfortunately, such an escape does not occur. Tom Sawyer promises much-robbing stages, murdering and ransoming people, kidnaping beautiful women-but none of this comes to pass. Huck finds out too late that Tom’s adventures are imaginary: that raiding a caravan of “A-rabs” really means terrorizing young children on a Sunday school picnic, that stolen “joolry” is nothing more than turnips or rocks. Huck is disappointed that the adventures Tom promises are not real and so, along with the other members, he resigns from the gang. Another person who tries to get Huckleberry Finn to change is Pap, Huck’s father. Pap is one of the most astonishing figures in all of American literature as he is completely antisocial and wishes to undo all of the civilizing effects that the Widow and Miss Watson have attempted to instill in Huck.
The Essay on Huck Finn Life On The River
The difference between life on the river and life in the towns along the river is an important theme in the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Twain uses language to draw the contrast effectively as well as through the atmosphere that has been created, the diction, the punctuation and the figures of speech employed. The two paragraphs, which most effectively display this ...
Pap is a mess: he is unshaven; his hair is uncut and hangs like vines in front of his face; his skin, Huck says, is white like a fish’s belly or like a tree toad’s. Pap’s savage appearance reflects his feelings as he demands that Huck quit school, stop reading, and avoid church. Huck is able to stay away from Pap for a while, but Pap kidnaps Huck three or four months after Huck starts to live with the Widow and takes him to a lonely cabin deep in the Missouri woods. Here, Huck enjoys, once again, the freedom that he had prior to the beginning of the book. He can smoke, “laze around,” swear, and, in general, do what he wants to do. However, as he did with the Widow and with Tom, Huck begins to become dissatisfied with this life. Pap is “too handy with the hickory” and Huck soon realizes that he will have to escape from the cabin if he wishes to remain alive. As a result of his concern, Huck makes it appear as if he is killed in the cabin while Pap is away, and leaves to go to a remote island in the Mississippi River, Jackson’s Island. It is after he leaves his father’s cabin that Huck joins yet another important influence in his life: Miss Watson’s slave, Jim.
Prior to Huck’s leaving, Jim has been a minor character in the novel-he has been shown being fooled by Tom Sawyer and telling Huck’s fortune. Huck finds Jim on Jackson’s Island because the slave has run away-he has overheard a conversation that he will soon be sold to New Orleans. Soon after joining Jim on Jackson’s Island, Huck begins to realize that Jim has more talents and intelligence than Huck has been aware of. Jim knows “all kinds of signs” about the future, people’s personalities, and weather forecasting. Huck finds this kind of information necessary as he and Jim drift down the Mississippi on a raft. As important, Huck feels a comfort with Jim that he has not felt with the other major characters in the novel. With Jim, Huck can enjoy the best aspects of his earlier influences. As does the Widow, Jim allows Huck security, but Jim is not as confining as is the Widow. Like Tom Sawyer, Jim is intelligent but his intelligence is not as intimidating or as imaginary as is Tom’s. As does Pap, Jim allows Huck freedom, but he does it in a loving, rather than an uncaring, fashion. Thus, early, in their relationship on Jackson’s Island, Huck says to Jim, “This is nice.
The Essay on Huck Finn Analysis Jim Section Tom
... The primary relationships of Huck with the Widow Douglas and Miss Watson a well as Huck with Pap and Huck with Jim are established. Throughout the ... can see with his own eyes. In this section Huck's life with the Widow Douglas and her attempts to raise him as a ... he plans his own death and then while indicating that Tom would have been proud, he minimizes this by saying that ...
I wouldn’t want to be nowhere else but here.” This feeling is in marked contrast with Huck’s feelings concerning other people in the early part of the novel where he always is uncomfortable and wishes to leave them. At the conclusion of chapter 11 in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck and Jim are forced to leave Jackson’s Island because Huck discovers that people are looking for the runaway slave. Prior to leaving, Huck tells Jim, “They’re after us.” Clearly, the people are after Jim, but Huck has already identified with Jim and has begun to care for him. This stated empathy shows that the two outcasts will have a successful and rewarding friendship as they drift down the river as the novel continues. Early Influences on Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel about a young boy’s coming of age in the Missouri of the mid-1800’s. The main character, Huckleberry Finn, spends much time in the novel floating down the Mississippi River on a raft with a runaway slave named Jim. Before he does so, however, Huck spends some time in the fictional town of St. Petersburg where a number of people attempt to influence him.
Before the novel begins, Huck Finn has led a life of absolute freedom. His drunken and often missing father has never paid much attention to him; his mother is dead and so, when the novel begins, Huck is not used to following any rules. The book’s opening finds Huck living with the Widow Douglas and her sister, Miss Watson. Both women are fairly old and are really somewhat incapable of raising a rebellious boy like Huck Finn. Nevertheless, they attempt to make Huck into what they believe will be a better boy. Specifically, they attempt, as Huck says, to “sivilize” him. This process includes making Huck go to school, teaching him various religious facts, and making him act in a way that the women find socially acceptable. Huck, who has never had to follow many rules in his life, finds the demands the women place upon him constraining and the life with them lonely. As a result, soon after he first moves in with them, he runs away. He soon comes back, but, even though he becomes somewhat comfortable with his new life as the months go by, Huck never really enjoys the life of manners, religion, and education that the Widow and her sister impose upon him. Huck believes he will find some freedom with Tom Sawyer.
The Essay on Huckelberry Finn Huck Jim Tom
... a brief moment. The road back approaches when Tom, Huck, and Jim are fleeing for their lives. They " re almost in the clear when ... A series of events lead to Huck's father, Pap, kidnapping Huck and taking him far away from the Widow Douglas to a place where ... no one could find them. Huck shows himself ...
Tom is a boy of Huck’s age who promises Huck and other boys of the town a life of adventure. Huck is eager to join Tom Sawyer’s Gang because he feels that doing so will allow him to escape the somewhat boring life he leads with the Widow Douglas. Unfortunately, such an escape does not occur. Tom Sawyer promises much-robbing stages, murdering and ransoming people, kidnaping beautiful women-but none of this comes to pass. Huck finds out too late that Tom’s adventures are imaginary: that raiding a caravan of “A-rabs” really means terrorizing young children on a Sunday school picnic, that stolen “joolry” is nothing more than turnips or rocks. Huck is disappointed that the adventures Tom promises are not real and so, along with the other members, he resigns from the gang. Another person who tries to get Huckleberry Finn to change is Pap, Huck’s father. Pap is one of the most astonishing figures in all of American literature as he is completely antisocial and wishes to undo all of the civilizing effects that the Widow and Miss Watson have attempted to instill in Huck. Pap is a mess: he is unshaven; his hair is uncut and hangs like vines in front of his face; his skin, Huck says, is white like a fish’s belly or like a tree toad’s.
Pap’s savage appearance reflects his feelings as he demands that Huck quit school, stop reading, and avoid church. Huck is able to stay away from Pap for a while, but Pap kidnaps Huck three or four months after Huck starts to live with the Widow and takes him to a lonely cabin deep in the Missouri woods. Here, Huck enjoys, once again, the freedom that he had prior to the beginning of the book. He can smoke, “laze around,” swear, and, in general, do what he wants to do. However, as he did with the Widow and with Tom, Huck begins to become dissatisfied with this life. Pap is “too handy with the hickory” and Huck soon realizes that he will have to escape from the cabin if he wishes to remain alive. As a result of his concern, Huck makes it appear as if he is killed in the cabin while Pap is away, and leaves to go to a remote island in the Mississippi River, Jackson’s Island. It is after he leaves his father’s cabin that Huck joins yet another important influence in his life: Miss Watson’s slave, Jim. Prior to Huck’s leaving, Jim has been a minor character in the novel-he has been shown being fooled by Tom Sawyer and telling Huck’s fortune.
Huck finds Jim on Jackson’s Island because the slave has run away-he has overheard a conversation that he will soon be sold to New Orleans. Soon after joining Jim on Jackson’s Island, Huck begins to realize that Jim has more talents and intelligence than Huck has been aware of. Jim knows “all kinds of signs” about the future, people’s personalities, and weather forecasting. Huck finds this kind of information necessary as he and Jim drift down the Mississippi on a raft. As important, Huck feels a comfort with Jim that he has not felt with the other major characters in the novel. With Jim, Huck can enjoy the best aspects of his earlier influences. As does the Widow, Jim allows Huck security, but Jim is not as confining as is the Widow. Like Tom Sawyer, Jim is intelligent but his intelligence is not as intimidating or as imaginary as is Tom’s. As does Pap, Jim allows Huck freedom, but he does it in a loving, rather than an uncaring, fashion. Thus, early, in their relationship on Jackson’s Island, Huck says to Jim, “This is nice. I wouldn’t want to be nowhere else but here.” This feeling is in marked contrast with Huck’s feelings concerning other people in the early part of the novel where he always is uncomfortable and wishes to leave them.
At the conclusion of chapter 11 in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck and Jim are forced to leave Jackson’s Island because Huck discovers that people are looking for the runaway slave. Prior to leaving, Huck tells Jim, “They’re after us.” Clearly, the people are after Jim, but Huck has already identified with Jim and has begun to care for him. This stated empathy shows that the two outcasts will have a successful and rewarding friendship as they drift down the river as the novel continues. Early Influences on Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel about a young boy’s coming of age in the Missouri of the mid-1800’s. The main character, Huckleberry Finn, spends much time in the novel floating down the Mississippi River on a raft with a runaway slave named Jim. Before he does so, however, Huck spends some time in the fictional town of St. Petersburg where a number of people attempt to influence him. Before the novel begins, Huck Finn has led a life of absolute freedom. His drunken and often missing father has never paid much attention to him; his mother is dead and so, when the novel begins, Huck is not used to following any rules.
The book’s opening finds Huck living with the Widow Douglas and her sister, Miss Watson. Both women are fairly old and are really somewhat incapable of raising a rebellious boy like Huck Finn. Nevertheless, they attempt to make Huck into what they believe will be a better boy. Specifically, they attempt, as Huck says, to “sivilize” him. This process includes making Huck go to school, teaching him various religious facts, and making him act in a way that the women find socially acceptable. Huck, who has never had to follow many rules in his life, finds the demands the women place upon him constraining and the life with them lonely. As a result, soon after he first moves in with them, he runs away. He soon comes back, but, even though he becomes somewhat comfortable with his new life as the months go by, Huck never really enjoys the life of manners, religion, and education that the Widow and her sister impose upon him. Huck believes he will find some freedom with Tom Sawyer. Tom is a boy of Huck’s age who promises Huck and other boys of the town a life of adventure. Huck is eager to join Tom Sawyer’s Gang because he feels that doing so will allow him to escape the somewhat boring life he leads with the Widow Douglas.
Unfortunately, such an escape does not occur. Tom Sawyer promises much-robbing stages, murdering and ransoming people, kidnaping beautiful women-but none of this comes to pass. Huck finds out too late that Tom’s adventures are imaginary: that raiding a caravan of “A-rabs” really means terrorizing young children on a Sunday school picnic, that stolen “joolry” is nothing more than turnips or rocks. Huck is disappointed that the adventures Tom promises are not real and so, along with the other members, he resigns from the gang. Another person who tries to get Huckleberry Finn to change is Pap, Huck’s father. Pap is one of the most astonishing figures in all of American literature as he is completely antisocial and wishes to undo all of the civilizing effects that the Widow and Miss Watson have attempted to instill in Huck. Pap is a mess: he is unshaven; his hair is uncut and hangs like vines in front of his face; his skin, Huck says, is white like a fish’s belly or like a tree toad’s. Pap’s savage appearance reflects his feelings as he demands that Huck quit school, stop reading, and avoid church. Huck is able to stay away from Pap for a while, but Pap kidnaps Huck three or four months after Huck starts to live with the Widow and takes him to a lonely cabin deep in the Missouri woods.
Here, Huck enjoys, once again, the freedom that he had prior to the beginning of the book. He can smoke, “laze around,” swear, and, in general, do what he wants to do. However, as he did with the Widow and with Tom, Huck begins to become dissatisfied with this life. Pap is “too handy with the hickory” and Huck soon realizes that he will have to escape from the cabin if he wishes to remain alive. As a result of his concern, Huck makes it appear as if he is killed in the cabin while Pap is away, and leaves to go to a remote island in the Mississippi River, Jackson’s Island. It is after he leaves his father’s cabin that Huck joins yet another important influence in his life: Miss Watson’s slave, Jim. Prior to Huck’s leaving, Jim has been a minor character in the novel-he has been shown being fooled by Tom Sawyer and telling Huck’s fortune. Huck finds Jim on Jackson’s Island because the slave has run away-he has overheard a conversation that he will soon be sold to New Orleans. Soon after joining Jim on Jackson’s Island, Huck begins to realize that Jim has more talents and intelligence than Huck has been aware of. Jim knows “all kinds of signs” about the future, people’s personalities, and weather forecasting.
Huck finds this kind of information necessary as he and Jim drift down the Mississippi on a raft. As important, Huck feels a comfort with Jim that he has not felt with the other major characters in the novel. With Jim, Huck can enjoy the best aspects of his earlier influences. As does the Widow, Jim allows Huck security, but Jim is not as confining as is the Widow. Like Tom Sawyer, Jim is intelligent but his intelligence is not as intimidating or as imaginary as is Tom’s. As does Pap, Jim allows Huck freedom, but he does it in a loving, rather than an uncaring, fashion. Thus, early, in their relationship on Jackson’s Island, Huck says to Jim, “This is nice. I wouldn’t want to be nowhere else but here.” This feeling is in marked contrast with Huck’s feelings concerning other people in the early part of the novel where he always is uncomfortable and wishes to leave them. At the conclusion of chapter 11 in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck and Jim are forced to leave Jackson’s Island because Huck discovers that people are looking for the runaway slave. Prior to leaving, Huck tells Jim, “They’re after us.” Clearly, the people are after Jim, but Huck has already identified with Jim and has begun to care for him.
This stated empathy shows that the two outcasts will have a successful and rewarding friendship as they drift down the river as the novel continues. Early Influences on Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel about a young boy’s coming of age in the Missouri of the mid-1800’s. The main character, Huckleberry Finn, spends much time in the novel floating down the Mississippi River on a raft with a runaway slave named Jim. Before he does so, however, Huck spends some time in the fictional town of St. Petersburg where a number of people attempt to influence him. Before the novel begins, Huck Finn has led a life of absolute freedom. His drunken and often missing father has never paid much attention to him; his mother is dead and so, when the novel begins, Huck is not used to following any rules. The book’s opening finds Huck living with the Widow Douglas and her sister, Miss Watson. Both women are fairly old and are really somewhat incapable of raising a rebellious boy like Huck Finn. Nevertheless, they attempt to make Huck into what they believe will be a better boy. Specifically, they attempt, as Huck says, to “sivilize” him.
This process includes making Huck go to school, teaching him various religious facts, and making him act in a way that the women find socially acceptable. Huck, who has never had to follow many rules in his life, finds the demands the women place upon him constraining and the life with them lonely. As a result, soon after he first moves in with them, he runs away. He soon comes back, but, even though he becomes somewhat comfortable with his new life as the months go by, Huck never really enjoys the life of manners, religion, and education that the Widow and her sister impose upon him. Huck believes he will find some freedom with Tom Sawyer. Tom is a boy of Huck’s age who promises Huck and other boys of the town a life of adventure. Huck is eager to join Tom Sawyer’s Gang because he feels that doing so will allow him to escape the somewhat boring life he leads with the Widow Douglas. Unfortunately, such an escape does not occur. Tom Sawyer promises much-robbing stages, murdering and ransoming people, kidnaping beautiful women-but none of this comes to pass. Huck finds out too late that Tom’s adventures are imaginary: that raiding a caravan of “A-rabs” really means terrorizing young children on a Sunday school picnic, that stolen “joolry” is nothing more than turnips or rocks.
Huck is disappointed that the adventures Tom promises are not real and so, along with the other members, he resigns from the gang. Another person who tries to get Huckleberry Finn to change is Pap, Huck’s father. Pap is one of the most astonishing figures in all of American literature as he is completely antisocial and wishes to undo all of the civilizing effects that the Widow and Miss Watson have attempted to instill in Huck. Pap is a mess: he is unshaven; his hair is uncut and hangs like vines in front of his face; his skin, Huck says, is white like a fish’s belly or like a tree toad’s. Pap’s savage appearance reflects his feelings as he demands that Huck quit school, stop reading, and avoid church. Huck is able to stay away from Pap for a while, but Pap kidnaps Huck three or four months after Huck starts to live with the Widow and takes him to a lonely cabin deep in the Missouri woods. Here, Huck enjoys, once again, the freedom that he had prior to the beginning of the book. He can smoke, “laze around,” swear, and, in general, do what he wants to do. However, as he did with the Widow and with Tom, Huck begins to become dissatisfied with this life.
Pap is “too handy with the hickory” and Huck soon realizes that he will have to escape from the cabin if he wishes to remain alive. As a result of his concern, Huck makes it appear as if he is killed in the cabin while Pap is away, and leaves to go to a remote island in the Mississippi River, Jackson’s Island. It is after he leaves his father’s cabin that Huck joins yet another important influence in his life: Miss Watson’s slave, Jim. Prior to Huck’s leaving, Jim has been a minor character in the novel-he has been shown being fooled by Tom Sawyer and telling Huck’s fortune. Huck finds Jim on Jackson’s Island because the slave has run away-he has overheard a conversation that he will soon be sold to New Orleans. Soon after joining Jim on Jackson’s Island, Huck begins to realize that Jim has more talents and intelligence than Huck has been aware of. Jim knows “all kinds of signs” about the future, people’s personalities, and weather forecasting. Huck finds this kind of information necessary as he and Jim drift down the Mississippi on a raft. As important, Huck feels a comfort with Jim that he has not felt with the other major characters in the novel.
With Jim, Huck can enjoy the best aspects of his earlier influences. As does the Widow, Jim allows Huck security, but Jim is not as confining as is the Widow. Like Tom Sawyer, Jim is intelligent but his intelligence is not as intimidating or as imaginary as is Tom’s. As does Pap, Jim allows Huck freedom, but he does it in a loving, rather than an uncaring, fashion. Thus, early, in their relationship on Jackson’s Island, Huck says to Jim, “This is nice. I wouldn’t want to be nowhere else but here.” This feeling is in marked contrast with Huck’s feelings concerning other people in the early part of the novel where he always is uncomfortable and wishes to leave them. At the conclusion of chapter 11 in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck and Jim are forced to leave Jackson’s Island because Huck discovers that people are looking for the runaway slave. Prior to leaving, Huck tells Jim, “They’re after us.” Clearly, the people are after Jim, but Huck has already identified with Jim and has begun to care for him. This stated empathy shows that the two outcasts will have a successful and rewarding friendship as they drift down the river as the novel continues.
