Despite Huck’s prejudiced views on racial inequality, he and Jim manage to forge an unexpected friendship. Huck and Jim’s escapade down the Mississippi River in search of Jim’s freedom from the fetters of slavery are the core of this book. Initially, because Huck views Jim only as “Miss Watson’s big nigger,” Huck did not respect him (8). This changed, however, as Huck revealed in his passages after making fun of Jim. Early in the novel, “Jim is merely the object of a boyish practical joke,” as Tom takes Jim’s hat and hangs it on a branch above his head (Millicent Bell 65). Huck’s next prank on Jim with the rattlesnake caused Huck to feel like “such a fool,” yet there was still very little sympathy for Jim (Twain 51). Later Huck begins to feel …show more content…
Huck, in the early and middle stages of the novel, appears to be modeled after those kids that everybody likes in one on one encounters, but hates them when in a group because they lose themselves. The percentage of the student body that acts the way that Twain is mocking through Huck is not as minimal as one would hope, and showing students the detriment of this way of life to the people around them, although it may be subconscious as it is for Huck to Jim, is another message that still intensely resonates with America. Huck may not have known whether or not Jim was alive when he surfaced after their raft was demolished by a steamboat, but Huck’s way of handling the situation was a little disgraceful. Unaware of Jim’s location, Huck calls Jim’s name a few times, gets no response, and then decides to move on. Huck does not appear to care in the least that his friend could have just drowned, for he is back on the land and onto his next adventure with the Grangerfords and Shepherdsons. While living with the Grangerfords, Huck dismisses Jim from his thoughts almost immediately. Huck stays with this aristocratic family until he finds that Jim is alive and soon after is back on the river, catching up with his friend. His lack of reliability as a friend to Jim is disappointing, but Huck is reacting to the situation thrown at him to the best …show more content…
The novel’s scathing diction may be too extreme for some audiences, but it is absurd to ban this novel from school curricula entirely. This book should be offered in schools where there is a choice to read the novel or not to. Although there are justifiable reasons to remove the book from classrooms, the novel should still be offered for its educational value. Like Aesop’s Fables, where fictional representations yield moral lessons, there is value in teaching The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to students. Aesop’s lessons have reverberated through the classrooms of young children since the times of Ancient Greece, just as Twain’s writings will resonate for the rest of time – only tailored to slightly older students. Huck’s experiences illustrate a time in history that most history books will try to whitewash, the source of another essential lesson within the text. Students of age to be reading this novel are able to comprehend that life was very different in the nineteenth century. Twain addresses civil issues, preaches out against conformity, and emphasizes the power of the individual vicariously through Huck. The novel’s relevance in society today is clear, as the story unfolds to illuminate the value humanity and interpersonal