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Huck and Jim's Relationship

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Huck and Jim's Relationship
Elliot Hall
English 1A Huck and Jim’s Relationship

Throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck and Jim’s relationship changes a lot. Huck's attitude towards Jim changes from him thinking that Jim is just property and an ignorant slave that is below him, to feeling that Jim is his good friend and equal to him. Huck was raised in an environment that made slaves out to be just property and not people slaves were owned objects, who couldn't think for themselves, not actual people with feelings and thoughts. For example the pranks that Huck pulled on Jim, they reflect Huck's view towards Jim. After the part where Jim and Huck get separated in the fog, Huck actually thinks that Jim is stupid enough to believe that none of it had happened, and that Jim had imagined it all. Jim calls Huck out on this, criticizing Huck for his lack of sensitivity. Originally Huck had trouble lowering himself to Jim’s level and realizing that they were equal no matter their color or origin. Later though, Huck’s attitude changes. As Jim and Huck experience a lot of things together, Huck learns to respect and care for Jim as a person, and as an equal. His attitude towards Jim has changed from him feeling Jim to be below him and less of a human, to being his equal. At the end of the book he almost saw Jim as a fatherly figure. Near the end of the book Huck figures out that Jim had sort of played him to get free. When Jim found pap’s dead body he told Huck not to look at it because he didn’t want Huck going back home and not helping him. This was wrong of Jim and this shows how Jim was really just using Huck for the first part of the book. Huck forgives him in the end of the book and all is
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