Adv of Huck Finn Analyzing Jims Character

Jim in Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

Broadly speaking, the character of Jim in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, represents the role of slavery in the society of the 1840's. Slavery and the struggle for freedom are the central concerns of both Huck and Jim as they make their way through the adventures depicted by the novel. For Jim the threat of slavery is physical, as he is a Negro and an escaped slave. Huck wishes to escape the kind of social and mental slavery imposed upon him by Miss Watson and the Widow Douglas. This slavery is also mental. His father on the other hand, having subjected the boy to physical abuse, represents physical slavery imposed on the boy. It is in these circumstances that Huck and Jim represent freedom to each other, together with the motivation to relentlessly escape slavery in the face of overwhelming odds.

Jim's role in Huck's life is thus central to the boy's search for his own freedom, and also to the satisfying conclusion of the novel. By providing Huck with the means to find mental, emotional and physical freedom and protection, Jim ensures for himself the means of his own eventual freedom and protection. Jim becomes the most important part of Huck's life by becoming the parent figure that nobody else could sufficiently be for the boy. He does this by providing not only freedom, but protection for Huck.

Jim then provides for Huck's physical safety and well-being through food and shelter. Whereas Huck's biological father was too drunk to even so much as maintain his cabin against the elements, Jim builds a makeshift but warm and adequately protective shelter on the raft. He furthermore contrasts himself with Huck's father by providing a constant supply of food. Jim also plays the role of parent by providing Huck with protection against the dangers facing him from people who would threaten him, such as the King and Duke, or those who would imprison, such as Miss Watson and the Widow Douglas.

Jim is furthermore crucial in the decision Huck makes later and thus in the outcome of the novel by being a true friend to Huck. He listens eagerly to all Huck has to say, without prejudice or condescension. In conversation he is thus more free and easy with Jim than even with Tom Sawyer, who did nothing but mock him when he talked. In this way Jim is an important element in Huck Finn's development as a human being, and in the maintenance of his emotional well-being. This growth in Huck then also shows when the time comes to make a decision for or against Jim's freedom.

Jim obviously also has a positive effect on Huck Finn's morality. Instead of the hypocritical Christianity favored by miss Watson and the Widow Douglas, the morality that Jim emphasizes is not attached to any religious creed. Instead Jim's morality is human in its purest form. According to the collective morality then established by Jim and Huck, friends are not to be harmed, and they are to be protected even at the cost of one's own safety. Jim lives up to this moral paradigm, while Huck follows the clear example provided. It is thus ironic that, while Jim represents wickedness and depravity to the "civilized" world, his integrity actually stands in sharp contrast to the hypocrisy prevalent at the time.

It is this integrity that has a greater effect on Huck than all the beatings and all the sermons that Huck had been subjected to before. And it is this integrity that ensures Jim's freedom, and that also brings to light the hypocrisy of a society posing as good Christians while they are violating every commandment of love established by Christ. Thus, in an almost absurdly short span of time, Huck learns the true meaning of friendship from a runaway slave. This is a friendship with a depth that he could never experience with Tom, who is the product of the very society criticized by Twain. Instead it takes distance from society to truly see how morally corrupt the system has become.

Thus, at the end of the novel, it is Jim's integrity and the depth of his friendship and kindness to Huck that saves him. Huck is in fact about to submit to his sense of social values. Yet when he finally comes to the critical point where a decision has to be made to turn Jim in, Huck cannot do it. Jim's moral integrity and strength of character have communicated themselves to Huck. These values have become integral parts of Huck's character.