Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn: A Nonconformist

In Mark Twain’s book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the main character (Huck) befriends a slave (Jim). During the particular time period this book was set in, segregation and racism were still very rampant throughout society. No one displayed emotions towards the slaves or treated them nicely. Huck is one of a few exceptions in this book. The views of society on slavery don’t define Huck’s morals; instead it pushes him to make a difference. Helping free Jim is enough of a difference to make the reader stop and think: why did Huck care so much and why was he so different? There are multiple cases throughout the novel where Huck helps Jim in times of need and even goes so far to call them a team; all of these cases go against society’s standards on the situation. One quote from the book is, “Git up and hump yourself, Jim! There ain’t a minute to lose. They’re after us!” (Twain 62). The ‘team’ aspect found in this quote by Huck saying ‘after us’ was against the standards of that time. Helping Jim in this time of need when he was close to being captured was also against the standards. Another case is when Jim …show more content…
Society’s views on different aspects of a slave’s life didn’t tell Huck what to do. Instead, he pushed to be different and make his thoughts and beliefs known. Huck helped, hid, protected, and empathized over Jim in situations where society would have done nothing. People noticed this in the book (a prime example is Mary Jane Wilks) and thought of Huck differently by this. Huck never failed to attempt to treat Jim as an equal. This can be reflected on modern society by treating others as equals and how any person would treat their best friend. Even if society says a certain group of people needs to be treated a certain way, it doesn’t define any person’s actions. People can independently choose how they want to treat people, and that’s a golden standard of society that needs to be kept