Essay On Huckleberry Finn Friendship

Huckleberry Finn is the most conscientious character in his book. He helps criminals out when their life 's in danger. He tries to save a whole family from being broken up by con artists. Huckleberry even gives up his image and respectability, and his chance of going to heaven, just to free his friend Jim when he was trapped. However, are Huck and Jim actually friends? Does Huck really care about Jim’s feelings, his comfort and pleasure, his confidence? One might think someone as caring and selfless as Huck could make moral progress, and toss aside the labels pinned onto Jim by everyone he encounters. Unfortunately, Huck cannot, and he never can for the whole book. So, why doesn’t Huck free Jim as soon as he could? Huck doesn 't free Jim …show more content…
The exact quote has Huck narrating, “It was 15 minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger; but I done it, and I warn’t sorry about it afterwards, neither.” The fact that Huck has to say, “but I done it, and I warn’t sorry about it afterwards, neither,” shows that he would normally have either not done it, or regretted saying sorry afterwards. This is unusual, because Huck normally feels very bad after doing anything wrong, and tries to make up for it, such as when he leaves the robbers behind on the boat in chapter 13, or when he and Jim make sure to “borrow” just enough food for them to live on in chapter 12. Yet here, Huck has trouble just deciding to say sorry. Still, the quote says, “humble myself to a nigger,” instead of just saying,”humble myself,” or, “humble myself to Jim.” In the previous examples there were no mentions of any, “niggers,” but just white people. Huck may be a very conscientious person when it comes to white people, but for Jim, the opposite occurs. The fact that Huck was able to say sorry to Jim shows how much he likes Jim, but is that very impressive? Huck had to, “work himself up” to say sorry to Jim, his friend and companion, and yet he immediately feels bad for the criminals on the boat, and the people who he didn’t know in the cities. How can Jim be Huck’s friend and companion if he cares more about …show more content…
Huck wanted to save Jim when he got sold by the imposter duke and king for 40 dollars, as he says, “And for a starter, I would go to work and steal Jim out of slavery, and if I could think up anything worse, I would do that too.” Even if he thought that it was a bad thing to, “steal Jim out of slavery,” Huck thinks Jim is his friend, and he likes being with Jim. One good example of this is when Huck has just escaped from the Grangerford and Shepherdson families, and he is very tired and stressed. Jim is there for him in his time of need, as he says, “I hadn’t had a bite to eat since yesterday, so Jim he got out some corn-dodgers and buttermilk, and pork and cabbage and greens, there ain’t nothing in the world so good when it’s cooked right, and whilst I eat my supper we talked and had a good time… we said there warn’t no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don’t. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable in a raft.” When Huck feels low and hungry, Jim is there with food and companionship, and he makes Huck feel that, “there warn’t no home like a raft, after all.” When it comes time for Jim to need companionship, Huck is all but there for him. When Jim is trapped in the Phelps’ shed later in the book and Huck and Tom try to make freeing him more difficult, Huck describes, “Jim found so much fault with it… which made it