Chapter 31- End

In chapter 31, the opportunity arises for Huck to make his escape back to the to the raft - and Jim - so that they can run away. When he actually gets to the raft, Jim is nowhere in sight. Cue the worrying. A random townsperson tells Huck that a runaway slave was caught and sold for forty dollars. (Cheap, huh?) Common sense tells Huck this slave has to be Jim. Huck is torn in the situation. Option A: He writes to Miss Watson and she gets angry that he helped “steal” Jim. Option B: -Insert conflicted face here- Huck eventually decides to go get Jim. This is the exact moment that his character development is clear. He is no longer having a battle between his idea of right and what other’s idea of right is: rescuing Jim is the right thing. Social responsibility is no longer on his mind because all he knows is that Jim is in trouble and he needs to help him. This is the moment we’ve waited for the whole novel - the point in which Huck decides, “To hell with society and racism! Jim needs help and I’m going to help him!” (Not his exact words, but whatever.)

Chapters 23-30

These chapters revealed several details about Jim’s life and his family. I think Jim may also being going through a battle of social responsibility himself. On one hand, it is typically a man’s right to support and protect his family. By running away, he is running away from his responsibilities as a man and as a father. He has expressed this guilt festering inside him by replaying the time he hit his daughter over and over again in his head. Although running away is leading him to a life of freedom, he won’t be that free without his family. I think he’s questioning his role in society. With all this free time of thinking and having actual time to sort his thoughts, Jim is questioning everything and anything. He knows it is not his social responsibility to be a slave to white people, but is that something you have to do in order to protect your family? 

Chapter 15-22

In Chapter 15, Huck is ignoring his “social responsibility” by not ratting out Jim. Instead, they are headed to Cairo where they can sell the raft for a steamboat and Jim won’t be in danger of being a slave because Ohio is a free state. I can’t seem to figure out just yet if Huck is keeping Jim around because he knows it’s wrong to turn him in or because he knows he needs him. Realistically, a boy out on his own in any time period would not survive, mainly because he doesn’t have the necessary skills to survive. 

Later, in the chapter, Jim smashes up the oar on the raft out of frustration due to his bad dream. We find out that the dream that has Jim all stressed out was one involving Huck getting seriously hurt. (Aw.) 

I love this father-son dynamic developing in this story. Huck has a horrible father. Jim currently has no family. Perfect set up. Although, the father would typically be “in charge” which is not the cast here because at any moment, Huck could give into his social responsibility and turn Jim in. Huck has all the power in the relationship. That is exactly the thought that occurred to him in Chapter 6. 

I think that is when the severity and reality of the situation caught up to Huck in chapter 6. He finally realizes that not only did he run away, but he ran away with Miss Watson’s slave. He’s pretty much sure that he is going to turn Jim in. Not so easy when Jim is telling him how grateful he is, eh? Huck is at a full-blown war with himself, his social responsibility, and what he feels is the right thing do to. 

Huck Finn Chapters 6-15

In Chapter 6 and 7, Huck Finn sort of decides, “To Hell with social responsibility!” Well, not in so many words. After being locked up in an old cabin in the middle of the woods with his father, he gets used to the way his life used to be before the Widow took him in.  Although the Widow, who is trying to get legal custody of Huck, obviously treats him better than his father, Huck decides it would be better for him to just run away (if he could only get out). 

In Chapter 8, Huck realizes that he is not alone on Jackson’s Island; Jim, Miss Watson’s slave is there, too. When he asks Jim why he is there, he makes Huck promise not to tell and Huck hesitantly abides. "Well, I did. I said I wouldn't, and I'll stick to it. Honest INJUN, I will. People would call me a low-down Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum—but that don't make no difference. I ain't a-going to tell, and I ain't a-going back there, anyways. So, now, le's know all about it." This gives you the impression that this is just the beginning of Huck’s internal battle between what society portrays as wrong and doing the right thing. Jim explains that Miss Watson was going to sell him which would tear his family apart. 

In Chapter 11, Huck goes into town undercover to investigate what is going on. He learns that Jim is a suspect for murdering him because he escaped the same time Huck was “killed”. Huck goes back to the island and tells Jim that they have to leave immediately. Here, Huck goes against his “social responsibility” of a white man by even telling Jim to leave the island. Any other person who follows the rules of society would’ve ratted him out. 

Huck Finn - Social Responsibility

Throughout the first five chapters of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, you already begin to notice how important social responsibility is to the story. As a young boy, Huck is expected to go to church, be polite, go to school, etc, but that’s not really how Huck is programmed to live. Mostly, he just does what he is used to. Miss Watson is sort of the enforcer of social responsibility in the story. On the other hand, Huck’s father is the complete opposite of that idea; he is portrayed as an uncivilized drunk who will get nowhere in life. Huck’s father is a representation of everything Miss Watson is against. I think there’s a part of Miss Watson that considers Huck as charity work. As if though it is her social responsibility to civilize the poor, little boy who has a drunk, dead-beat for a father. At this point, I’m not sure if she genuinely cares about Huck Finn or if she’s taking care of him because she feels like she has to. Huck is more of a “go with the flow” kind of boy. If a routine is set for him, he just goes with it. With Miss Watson, he got used to the idea of school, church, and not cursing, but when his father forced him to stay in that cabin, he got into the habit of doing nothing and cursing a lot.