The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, English research help: Trace Huck’s changing relationship with Jim

Trace Huck’s changing relationship with Jim throughout the course of the novel. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn gives us a glimpse of one summer in the life of the thirteen-year-old boy. During that time, Huck develops an extraordinary friendship with Jim, a runaway slave. Although Huck never comes to a final awareness that his society is wrong to enslave another human being, he ultimately chooses loyalty to a friend over the legal and moral code of his land. Discuss Huck’s “journey” in this changing relationship with Jim. Be sure to address:

• The way Jim is depicted in the earliest chapters and how both Huck and Tom treat him.
• Huck’s decision to turn Jim in, then his decision to trick the slave-hunters as they approach the raft.
• Huck’s apology after the fog incident.
• Huck’s surprise over Jim’s misery regarding his daughter. How is Jim a foil, or contrast to, Pap?
• Huck’s argument with Jim over King Solomon and the French.
• Huck’s decision to tear up the letter to Miss Watson.
• Huck’s tolerance of Tom’s escape plan.
• Huck’s rationalization after Jim sacrifices his freedom for Tom.