Question

In chapter 8, why does Huck decide not to tell anyone about Jim’s escape? What does this tell us about Huck’s character? Your response should be at least two hundred words.

Answer 1

Huckleberry Finn has a deeper connection with Jim than with any other character in the novel. This contrast is especially striking given contemporary attitudes on race; though published after the Civil War, it recreates an antebellum Southern society that was completely organized around slavery. Relationships between white and black people were thought to be inevitably antagonistic, a master-slave relationship and not one of equals. Huck, however, does not see Jim as a servant; rather, he feels a kinship with him. Both are outcasts; Jim because he is a black man in a slave society, Huck because of his family situation. His father is abusive and alcoholic who doesn't care for him, and the two women who sometimes care for him try to change his character. Therefore he feels at odds in society, and has trouble fitting in. This makes him more sympathetic to Jim than to other white people.