Huck Finn Blogpost #4.

When Huck says “go to hell,” at that time it was considered to be a sin to help out a black slave. Also, Huck was taught that hell was a bad place and bad people go there. So, Huck put two and two together and realized that he was going to hell for helping Jim. “All right, then, I’ll go to hell” (Twain 207). This is ironic because helping someone out it’s not a bad deed. All of Huck’s life he saw people looking down on slaves and thinking nothing of them but as property. So naturally, Huck is going to get that same impression.  However, as the story progresses, Huck’s thoughts about Jim start to turn around. The more and more Huck sees himself trying to help Jim, the more he embraces the fact that he would be going to hell. However, the view from Huck’s side is bad and it keeps getting worse the nicer that Huck is to Jim. If only Huck could see at that time that helping Jim was the right thing to do.

Huck had the perfect opportunity to turn Jim in, but had a change of heart. Huck was not sure if that was the right thing to do. Huck looked at Jim as a disrespectful slave for leaving Miss Watson. Huck also thought the same because Jim wanted to steal his own family out of slavery.  “Then I thought a minute, and says to myself, hold on: s’pose you’d ‘a’ done right and give Jim up, would you felt better than what you do now? No, says I, I’d feel bad- I’d feel just the same way I do now. Well, then, says I, what’s the use you learning to do right when it’s troublesome to do right and ain’t no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same? I was stuck. I couldn’t answer that” (Twain 95).  However, Huck did save Jim but felt controversial. This too is ironic because Huck knew that the local thing to do was turn Jim in but again Huck did not. Huck felt bad for protecting Jim but felt bad for not giving Jim up. This also reflects how Huck sees himself as “going to hell.”