Huckleberry Finn Individual Vs Society

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The conflict between the individual and society is a very essential theme portrayed throughout Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. There aren't many people in this day and time that are willing to stand against the overwhelming views of society which finds everything you do disapproving. Many times when an individual stands up against society, they become outcasts & in this case Huck is willing to be just that as long as he can adventure the world. Huck's rejection of civilization, strong friendship with a slave, and desire to flee societies' world in order to find freedom, all correlated to what society look upon as a defiance to their utter morals and traditions. At the very opening of the novel, we catch a glimpse of Huck's…show more content…
Huck encounters Jim on Jackson Island while looking for food. It is there that Jim tells Huck that he ran away from Miss Watson because she was going to sell him to someone from New Orleans. Huck is shocked by this news and Jim is afraid that Huck might rat him out so Jim reminds Huck that he said he wouldn't say anything & Huck replies, “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” (Twain 45). In this scene, the audience is able to see how Huck is willing to face the persecution of society in order to keep his word to a runaway slave. In it its entirety, this quote builds a trust between the Huck & Jim in which society looks upon as a defiance and results only in the two becoming closer and their relationship stronger. Though society would highly disapprove of such interactions between a white & a slave, Huck disregards this entirely and decides not to conform to society. As the story moves along however, we see Huck compose a letter to Miss Watson, telling her where Jim is. When Huck thinks of his friendship with Jim, however, and realizes that Jim will be sold down the river anyway, Twain tells us that he states, “"All right, then, I'll go to hell"- and tore it up...and said I would take up wickedness again...and for a starter, I would go to work and steal Jim out of slavery again...because as long as I was in, and in for good, I might as well go the whole hog” (221). This moment of decision represents Huck’s true break with the world around him. At this point, Huck decides to help Jim escape slavery once and for all despite the fact that doing such
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