Saturday, January 5, 2013

What is Huck`s moral dilemma in "Huck Finn" and how does he solve it?

The dilemma lies in Huck's decision to turn in Jim, a runaway slave who belongs to the Widow Douglas, or to keep his mouth shut and allow Jim to escape.

This would not have been a dilemma for Huck had they not spent so much time together on the island and the raft getting to know one another.  Huck grew up believing that black people were meant to be owned and live their lives as slaves and white people were meant to own them.  Getting to know Jim, Huck now recognizes him as a living, breathing, thinking, feeling PERSON.  The fact that he is black is now almost irrelevant. Huck considers Jim a friend...not just property someone he knows owns.  However, the dilemma is that he feels a responsibility to his heritage and to Widow Douglas AND his new friend, Jim.  He elects to go with friendship and risks his own afterlife in order to allow Jim to follow his own dreams.

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