Shock Therapy for Americans: You are Huck and he is no Hero
             In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, author Mark Twain comments
             on the ills of postbellum Southern society through his development of the character
             Huckleberry Finn and his relationship with Jim, a runaway slave. The two characters
             both run from injustices and are distrustful of the society around them. Huck is an
             uneducated backwoods boy on the run from his abusive father, constantly under pressure
             to conform to the "civilized" surroundings of society. Jim is a slave and so is not
             considered a person, but property. He is trying to escape to the North where he will
             purchase his family's freedom when Huck stumbles upon him on Jackson Island and
             decides to help him. In doing so, Twain is setting the stage for Huck to be the hero of the
             novel. He does this for specific reasons. One of which is he draws us into the story more
             with each chapter so that the unexpected ending where Huck does not turn out to be the
             hero makes us question why Twain would employ such an ending. The surprise ending
             quells all support that Huck is the hero of the novel. It is obvious he is not and that the
             story actually lacks a genuine hero. In relation to this, Huck could be seen as
             representation of Southern society and its evolution throughout and beyond the era of
             slavery. Twain does not end the novel in the predictable manner we would think he
             would in order to show by example how such a story would really have ended during and
             Twain wants us to believe that Huck and Jim become friends purely because of
             coincidence. This is evident the first time Huck and Jim meet and in the manner in
             which Twain develops their relationship for the majority of the novel. Huck is always
             struggling with his conscience over whether or not helping Jim is just. After much time
             together, Huck begins to truly love Jim as a person and
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