Huckleberry Finn often struggles to understand Miss Watson’s continuous criticism and lack of love. Huckleberry Finn is a young boy who runs away from his abusive, drunk father with an escaped slave named Jim. These two unlikely characters become the best of friends. Huckleberry Finn learns from Jim that he is a free man – this brings a lot of conflict to Huckleberry Finn’s life as he struggles between society’s rules and what is normal/good.
Huckleberry Finn has grown up being taught that black people are evil, yet throughout his journey down the Mississippi River with Jim Huckleberry comes to realize that a person should never be stereotyped as such – rather than labeling all African-Americans as ‘Miss Watson’ Huckleberry Finn should strive to see the people behind the label and judge them for who they are as a person. Huckleberry Finn does not stop seeing everyone he meets through Miss Watson’s eyes; Huckleberry Finn sees Jim as a good and kind man, instead of only thinking of him as a slave.
Huck is faced with his struggles: Huckleberry Finn does not have much in terms of money or food, nor does Huckleberry Finn have any real family left – he makes his way from town to town using false names, getting odd jobs where he can. Huck has been beaten down by society so much that there is no room in his heart for love despite being just a young teen when Huckleberry Finn is set.
Huckleberry Finn often sees love in places where it may not exist, Huckleberry Finn falls in love with Widow Douglas and then later finds out that she does not reciprocate his feelings – Huckleberry Finn spends time pining over the woman he sees as perfect only to realize that someone who puts you up on a pedestal is never worth your while. Miss Watson comes across Huckleberry Finn when Huck is around the age of ten or eleven. Miss Watson claims Huckleberry Finn to be her slave; however, Huckleberry Finn quickly runs away from her to escape an abusive father figure himself.
Huckleberry Finn finds solace in Jim, another runaway slave who has escaped south with the help of his wife who has already escaped north. Huckleberry Finn becomes Jim’s friend, learning from him how to look at the world in a different way than Huckleberry Finn has grown up seeing it – Huckleberry Finn learns that there are more important things than what society tells Huckleberry Finn he must do; Huckleberry Finn learns that you should treat people kindly and with respect even if it makes you stand out or get into trouble because doing otherwise would be unfair to them.
Miss Watson constantly criticizes Huckleberry Finn for treating Jim kindly instead of like an enslaved man but Huckleberry Finn knows not to see Jim as ‘Miss Watson’ does – Huckleberry Finn brings food, comfort, and friendship to Jim while Huckleberry Finn himself goes hungry and at times is cold. Eventually, Huckleberry Finn becomes of age and he runs away from Miss Watson because Huckleberry Finn, too, knows that it’s not right to enslave a man just because their skin color is different or they did not have a piece of paper saying they could be set free after being legally enslaved by another person.
Huckleberry Finn hates living with ‘Miss Watson’ but Huckleberry Finn does not know what else to do – Huckleberry Finn cannot take Jim because Miss Watson would recognize him on sight no matter how much Huckleberry Finn had compared the two men before. Huckleberry Finn learns that there are more important things in life than making everyone else happy or being scared of being an outcast – Huckleberry Finn realizes that to be happy he must do what is right, not what everyone else tells Huckleberry Finn he must do.
Huckleberry Finn sees how much Huckleberry Finn means to Jim when Huckleberry Finn gets caught in the fog; Huckleberry Finn feels like everything would be better if Huckleberry Finn were dead and Huckleberry Finn knows that Jim will die trying to get Huckleberry Finn free because Huckleberry Finn was kind to him. Later Hucks comes back after Tom Sawyer has saved them both – Jim does not ask anything of Hucks in return for saving his life, despite their very different social standings.
Huck loves Jim and Huckleberry Finn knows that he is living in sin by running away from Miss Watson but Huckleberry Finn also knows that Huckleberry Finn cannot live in a society where Huckleberry Finn is not allowed to be who Huckleberry Finn truly is – Huckleberry Finn hates how much his actions hurt Jim, but Hucks must do what Hucks feels in Hucks’s heart to be right because in the end what could be more important than your soul?
Mark Twain’s novel Huckleberry Finn explores many themes: coming-of-age, friendship, familial relationships, racism, and love. The main conflict of the novel revolves around Huck and Miss Watson; Huck wants nothing more than to escape from her oppressive household while Miss Watson has Huck enslaved despite Huck not wanting to be.
Huckleberry Finn’s biggest conflict is escaping from Miss Watson’s controlling hold over him so Huckleberry Finn can decide who Huckleberry Finn wants to be free of ‘Miss Watson’ and her oppressive household. One of the most prominent and important themes of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is freedom. Huckleberry Finn is constantly trying to escape from Miss Watson and Hucks eventually runs away – Huckleberry Finn lives a lie for seven years and Huck cannot wait until Hucks is of age so Hucks can be free of her oppressive household.
Huckleberry Finn never does anything that would hurt someone else or take advantage of them when Huck could easily do these things but Huck knows that it’s wrong – Huckleberry Finn loves Jim, not just because he sees Jim as his friend, but Huckleberry Finn also knows deep in Hucks’s heart that slavery is wrong no matter what religion or society tells you differently. The main conflict in Adventures of Huckleberry Fin rests on the difference between right and wrong; Mark Twain allegorically explores the issues of racism and slavery in Huckleberry Finn.
Huckleberry Finn is a product of his society – Hucks sees what Hucks has been taught to believe in every day since Hucks was born, no matter how much Hucks knows better deep down inside Hucks’s heart. Jim is enslaved by Miss Watson but Huck admires him – Huck sees him as an equal because Huck can relate to Jim’s desire for freedom; Huckleberry Finn hates how he denies the person he truly loves any freedom because of what society tells him it’s wrong to do so.