Notes on “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay

Though the novel is entitled The Adventures of huckleberry Finn and the story is told by huckaback, the gravestone reference book in the novel is Jim The Adventures of huckabackleberry Finn has two get wind casings, one and unless(a) is the slave Jim, the an other(a)(prenominal) the protagonist huckaback. Jim and huck could each be considered the key characters for different reasons, Jim as he is the principal(prenominal) good simulation of the typical slave (slavery universe the most important theme of this novel) and huckaback for he is the main storyteller.Jim is an important character in The Adventures of huckleberry Finn, and with extinct him the novel would be ineffectual. However The Adventures of huckleberry Finn is a novel rough the adventures of the protagonist Huck, and it is more likely that the key character of this novel is Huck because we see every function from his view. In a novel which is pen as a satiric social comment upon the s unwraphern states of the States Jims role as the manifestation of slavery must be a key one.Incidents in which Jim interacts with other characters and their reactions to him are meant to symbolise the wider participations opinions on slaves and the practice of slavery. Jim, is a heroic normal in a book whose main characters consist of liars, cheats and scoundrels. Jim al rooms does the respectable thing if he can, he always feels empathy for others fifty-fifty if those mess show no such emotions for him. The incident at the end of the novel when he saves gobbler and risks what he believes to be his own freedom is a case in point.We empathise with Jim because even though other characters suggest that his feelings are least(prenominal) important, whose life is lesser, whose existence is trivial, he manages to stay cheerful, and even kind to those who shroud him in this manner. This quality betrays him even more heroic, for he is a figure who turns the other cheek, and is kind to others no ma tter what. Jim doesnt lie or cheat, or steal or gamble and looks down on these activities. Jim is neer bitter, he never complains, and never expects Huck to return or even notice what he does for him.However this is no to say that Huck is not heroic himself, his support for Jim, a black man, who Huck has been taught is inferior and as important as a pack horse is astounding, and displays that Huck is fast enough and heroic enough to make the harder choice and choose his center of attention over his conscience. An example of Huck choosing his heart occurs just after Jim has been exchange by the King and the Duke for forty dollars, Huck believes he has been forced to make a choice between Jim and heaven. He chooses Jim with the words All undecomposed then, Ill go to hell.It is Jims escape and the subsequent affright of his re-capture that provides the reason for himself and Huck to leave the island and travel down the river where most of their adventures occur. Without Jim str addle would lack a reason for Huck to travel down the river and catch what he experiences, without Jim this would be little more than a story about a boy who fakes his own death, and then lives on an island. Add to this the incident that Jim is the leader during the travel down the river. He is the one who knows all the signs of weather, either good or bad, it is he who makes their journey its success and ensures their lives.Jim is the maturest out of himself and Huck. Hucks im maturity date is shown when he puts the rattlesnake in Jims dormancy bag, or when he plays a trick on Jim during the fog. Jims maturity is displayed by his reaction to the incident when Huck plays a trick on him during the fog. Without Jim the novel would be innefectual because Hucks development would be boney without him. champion prime example of Jims importance occurs when Huck comes snuggled to fully realising that Jim is a real person too and the colour of his clamber does not diminish his humanit y.Huck has realised that Jim is a human and that he should not play tricks on him or regard him as stupid, nigh the end of the novel Huck says I knowed he was unclouded privileged, Huck is expresing his realisation that Jim is a human in the plainly way he knows by making Jim white. Hucks realisation is comfortably brought across to us just after he has hidden in the fog, and returned to Jim, Jim works out that Huck is trying to trick him and reacts very seriously to Hucks prank. Huck then says.it was fifteen minutes forward I could work myself to humble to a nigger- but I make it, and I warnt ever sorry for it afterwards, neither. I didnt do him no more mean tricks, and I wouldnt make that one if Id knowed it would make him feel that way. Huck and Jim have a symbiotic relationship, they need each other Huck needs Jim to remain dynamic and keep our attention, and Jim needs Huck to unloose his bearing in the novel. Jims effect on Huck is Brobdingnagian it is through Jim t hat Huck begins to learn about how the colour of skin does not alter the person intimate.An example of this occurs when Huck says and I do believe he cared just as much for his people as white folks does for theirn . Huck justifies Jims existence as a character of substance in this novel, for through helping Huck and feel for for him, Jim is makes an impact on the reader, and hence makes his position in the novel as one of its main characters more tenable. However while it is patently true that Jim teaches Huck he is not Hucks only teacher, several other characters such as Pap and Tom withal teach Huck valuable lessons.One example of Huck being taught by someone other than Jim occurs when Huck says If I never learnt nothin else out of pap, I learnt that the best way to get along with his kind of people is to let them have their own way. It is through Huck and his reactions to various events that match passes on his opinions to the reader. Huck is a character through which the author, in span puts across his point of view, for example Hucks realisation that Jim is in any case a human and also important. bridge is trying to get this mental object across to the public. Huck is a representation of the common person at the beginning of the novel.He is white, uneducated, simple, and not willing to think about what he is told just willing to accept it. Hucks realisations about right and wrong, and importantly his own ability to determine this for himself are drawn out and argued logically inside a story which will hold the readers attention. through and through Huck Twain frames all the key issues of freedom, racism and slavery, personal legality and social rebellion against social attitudes of the period. This occurs when Huck interacts with key characters who are representative of a theme or an idea being presented by Twain.For example his interaction with Tom who represents conventional social attitudes, as the novel progresses Huck is less inclined t o accept what Tom says or does as correct. One example of this occurs when Huck quits Tom Sawyers band of thieves, he no longer agrees with Tom, and legion(predicate) of Toms imagined incidents such as that of rading the pass school picnic no longer hold any credit with Huck. This moving away from Tom and what he represents, is an indication of Twains rejection of conventional social values.Jim is the symbolic representation of only one of these points of discussion, slavery. Jim is only a part of that whole because he represents only one of the themes that Twain is discussing in this novel. Unlike Huck, Jim is not the one who reveals the authors opinions through his actions and reactions he is merely representative of one of these ideas. Without Hucks presence the novel lacks a unifying element. Jim is unable to fill the void in this regard as he is a relatively static character who does not change.This is unlike the dynamic Huck who changes some of his opinions and learns about many things ranging from serious issues such as slavery to simpler things such as to how to secern what the weather will be. The most important factor that leads me to argue that Huck is the protagonist comes from the fact that the whole novel is told in first person. It is Hucks views not Jims that we get, it is his outlook that colours our opinion, and most importantly his vernacular we read. In fact Jim himself is seen through Hucks eyes, with Hucks opinion colouring our own.Huck is omnipresent, this is not so with Jim he continuously disappears when it does not serve Twain to have him in the episode. Debates inside Hucks mind, the incident when Huck plays a trick on Jim during the fog, and even the whole Shepardson, Grangerford incident are lacking the presence of Jim. When Huck meets the Shepardsons and the Grangerfords, for example Jim magically disappears into the bushes to repair the raft. Huck is in every second base of the novel, and other characters are merely there be cause they interact with Huck, Jim is no exception.Jim is an extremely important character in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Jim represents slavery the major theme of the novel, is forgiving, and kind, hitherto this makes him a heroic character, not the key character. Huck on the other hand is the key character by virtue of his predominance throughout the book, he is on every page, and every line and unlike Jim he is the character who reveals and in effect discusses issues through his reactions, action and interaction with other characters. Hence it is fair and logical to conclude that although important Jim is not the key character of the novel, that honour must go to Huck.