Thomas Payne
Honors American Literature B-Set
Ms.Cassetta
13 October 2014
The Real Hero Heroes are present in almost every piece of literature. They come in a plethora of shapes and sizes. They can be a living thing, an inanimate object, or even a thought. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel written by Mark Twain in the late 1800s and takes place along the Mississippi River. At a glance, one first looks at the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn seems to cast that the hero of this story is Huckleberry Finn because the book bears his name. Jim, Huck’s slave companion, is an unlikely hero in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because he is a black slave, but his true heroic nature becomes apparent through the bonds he forms with …show more content…
With Jim’s improper English and his very superstitious attitude, at first glance, Jim appears to be nothing but a slave bumpkin. Some of the first things that come out of Jim’s mouth indicate that he has had no education because when he speaks it sounds like “Dog my cats ef I didn’ hear sumf’n” (Twain 13). The way he speaks is a definite indicator that Jim is uneducated and does not possess a firm handling on the English language. Because of Jim’s poor English, readers begin to assume that Jim is just a country bumpkin, which could be a reason for readers to believe that Jim is not eligible to be considered a hero in the novel. However, Jim begins to build as a character as the novel progresses. At the end, Jim is seen as a compassionate man because of all the things he has done for Huck. One begins to forget his/her initial perception of Jim and starts to see him as a compassionate human being rather than a slave lout. This compassion comes from the connection he makes with Huck all through their …show more content…
Jim’s main goal when he gets on the raft with Huck is to sail down to Cairo, where he cannot be sold into slavery, in order to get a job and buy his family out of slavery. He sacrifices his dream when they get lost in the fog and have no clue where they are, but Jim knows they are well past his destination. Jim understands the he is the only person Huck has; therefore, as a father, he cannot leave Huck all alone. Which causes Jim to sacrifice his dream of freeing his family in order to protect Huck. Jim is the true hero in this novel because Jim runs away because he is about to be sold by his master and he did not want to be split from his family forever. He sacrifices his the dream for a boy that talks down to him and acts superior just because they are different races. Jim sacrifices his freedom constantly in the end of this novel. Trapped in the Phelps’ shed, he puts up with the ridiculous things he has to do in order to escape the “right way” like “all of the books” Tom has read (257). The process of escaping takes two weeks when it really have only taken a few days or even hours. Jim knows that Huck and Tom are his only chance of escaping and if Jim wants to escape, he has to sleep with rats and snakes in the shed with him in order to satisfy Tom. Once Jim finally escapes, the Phelps find out and begin to shoot at Huck, Jim, and Tom, and Tom “had a bullet in the calf of his leg” (289). When this happens, Jim takes matters
Honors American Literature B-Set
Ms.Cassetta
13 October 2014
The Real Hero Heroes are present in almost every piece of literature. They come in a plethora of shapes and sizes. They can be a living thing, an inanimate object, or even a thought. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel written by Mark Twain in the late 1800s and takes place along the Mississippi River. At a glance, one first looks at the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn seems to cast that the hero of this story is Huckleberry Finn because the book bears his name. Jim, Huck’s slave companion, is an unlikely hero in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because he is a black slave, but his true heroic nature becomes apparent through the bonds he forms with …show more content…
With Jim’s improper English and his very superstitious attitude, at first glance, Jim appears to be nothing but a slave bumpkin. Some of the first things that come out of Jim’s mouth indicate that he has had no education because when he speaks it sounds like “Dog my cats ef I didn’ hear sumf’n” (Twain 13). The way he speaks is a definite indicator that Jim is uneducated and does not possess a firm handling on the English language. Because of Jim’s poor English, readers begin to assume that Jim is just a country bumpkin, which could be a reason for readers to believe that Jim is not eligible to be considered a hero in the novel. However, Jim begins to build as a character as the novel progresses. At the end, Jim is seen as a compassionate man because of all the things he has done for Huck. One begins to forget his/her initial perception of Jim and starts to see him as a compassionate human being rather than a slave lout. This compassion comes from the connection he makes with Huck all through their …show more content…
Jim’s main goal when he gets on the raft with Huck is to sail down to Cairo, where he cannot be sold into slavery, in order to get a job and buy his family out of slavery. He sacrifices his dream when they get lost in the fog and have no clue where they are, but Jim knows they are well past his destination. Jim understands the he is the only person Huck has; therefore, as a father, he cannot leave Huck all alone. Which causes Jim to sacrifice his dream of freeing his family in order to protect Huck. Jim is the true hero in this novel because Jim runs away because he is about to be sold by his master and he did not want to be split from his family forever. He sacrifices his the dream for a boy that talks down to him and acts superior just because they are different races. Jim sacrifices his freedom constantly in the end of this novel. Trapped in the Phelps’ shed, he puts up with the ridiculous things he has to do in order to escape the “right way” like “all of the books” Tom has read (257). The process of escaping takes two weeks when it really have only taken a few days or even hours. Jim knows that Huck and Tom are his only chance of escaping and if Jim wants to escape, he has to sleep with rats and snakes in the shed with him in order to satisfy Tom. Once Jim finally escapes, the Phelps find out and begin to shoot at Huck, Jim, and Tom, and Tom “had a bullet in the calf of his leg” (289). When this happens, Jim takes matters