ith just the right details and no
more, and leaving the reader to make his own moral reflections" (64).
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is about the realization that everyone deserves to
be treated as a human being, as Huck finds out while on the river journey with Jim, and
about the horrors of slavery. "Jim, as Twain presents him, is hardly a caricature. Rather,
he is the moral center of the book, a man of courage and nobility, who risks his freedom--
risks his life--for the sake of his friend Huck" (Salwen 2). The trials and tribulations that
both Huck and Jim encounter while on the river serve to shape not only their relationship
as friends, but also to transform Huck's view of "sivilized" life. Having gone through his
life up to the present, he sees it as a whole and sums up what he sees in his decision to run
away from civilization (Miller 22). Huck yearns to find something better in life than
childish games of bandit and hypocritical prayers to save one's soul as is evident in his
decision to run away and to fake his death.
Twain's intent in writing Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is to satirize the
ridiculous lifestyle of the South during the slave era and to illuminate in a personal manner
the tragedies of slavery. One such example of the personal portrayal of the injustice of
slavery is a recantation that Jim gives to Huck while on the river. In a way that almost
made it seem okay, Jim tells Huck the story of his family and how they are separated as a
result of slavery. In the beginning of the novel, Huck uses the word "nigger" to describe
Jim and the other slaves living on the Widow Douglas's plantation. From his experiences
during the journey on the river, Huck learns from within himself that he does not agree
with slavery. This is evident in his attempt to save Jim from being turned in and in his
risking his life for...