The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (vol. II)

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Jim and Huck find themselves constantly travelling between two worlds: the raft life and the shore life. On the raft, away from society, Jim and Huck live as close friends who spend their days in peace and happiness. Only when the two characters come ashore to the riverbank, to society, that violence and problems arise. Throughout this work, the reader watches as Huck’s view of Jim changes. The shift is not one from slave to free but from slave to human. Jim’s unending loyalty and love for Huck ultimately trump certain social norms Huck has been taught to believe. Late in the novel Huck remarks, “I knowed he [Jim] was white inside.” Huck’s description of Jim being white inside is in actuality a recognition of Jim’s humanity. The shift occurs because of the influence of the most basic of human emotions: love. Jim’s love for Huck wears away at the social norms which have been programmed into Huck. Therefore, perhaps the best reading of Twain’s work would be: In the newly reunited Union we must recognize that we are all travelling on one raft to a new destination in which mutual tolerance and love must be precedent. It is only our interactions with the old order of “civilized” society which breeds violence and difficulty.