Huck Finn Jim and Huck: A Relationship

Huck Finn Jim and Huck: A Relationship in Spite of Race As Leslie Gregory points out in "Finding Jim," Twain used the "minstrel mask" as a stereotypical platform upon which to base one of the central characters of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

And yet behind the "mask" is a very human and humane man, who, in spite of a tendency towards superstition, acts as a kind of father figure to Huck, revealing to the boy the proper path to manhood -- just as Huck promises to take Jim on the path to freedom. This paper will show how their relationship is symbiotic though charged with racial tension at times. Huck begins the novel with a "misconception" of Jim's personhood (Gregory).

Although this misconception is not as cruel as Tom's (Tom has no scruples about playing tricks on Jim), Huck's conscience is informed by his society (and certainly by his Pap). For instance, Huck recollects one of Pap's sayings, "Give a nigger an inch and he'll take an ell" (Twain 123), when struggling over what to do with Jim. Sayings like these are among the reasons Huck feels like he has to turn Jim in to the authorities when he learns that Jim is a runaway slave.

Huck shows, however, that he is conflicted with regard to Jim -- for as he goes to inform on Jim, he realizes that what seems right in the eyes of society isn't always right and that what seems wrong to some might just be right according to a higher law. Huck draws this conclusion in a comical way when he states, "All right, then, I'll go to hell" and determines to free Jim from slavery once more (Twain 297).

Huck believes that by freeing Jim he is damning himself according to society's law, but the voice of his conscience is clearly guided by a higher moral code and it is this moral code that Huck ultimately adheres to. It steers him away from his early misconception. Jim helps Huck to see the rightness of this higher moral code by showing to Huck how he (Jim) is just as human as Huck.

For instance, Huck pulls a prank on Jim at one point as they float down the river, making Jim think a near catastrophe was all a dream. But when Jim realizes that Huck has played a prank on him, he shows how deeply it has hurt his feelings: "Trash is what people is dat puts dirt on de head er dey fren's en makes 'em ashamed" (Twain 119). Huck "humbles" himself "to a nigger" (Twain 120).

Although the language might not reflect it, it is a turning point in Jim and Huck's relationship: both have met on a level of mutual respect. Gregory states that Huck at this moment "is surprised at Jim's capacity to possess such strong, 'human' feelings." This instance and others like it show Huck looking behind the "minstrel mask" and seeing Jim as more than just a black slave. He sees him as a man, a human being.

Furthermore, by writing Jim in such a way, Twain subverts the audience's attitudes and allows them to grow in sympathy towards Jim,.