Huck Fin Post #2

Huck and Jim have a bond that usually only close family members feel towards each other. Jim’s concern for Huck is shown by him worrying like a nervous mother or father after he thought he had disappeared in the fog, “when I got all wore out wid work, en wid de callin’ for you, en went to sleep, my heart wuz mos’ broke bekase you wuz los’… en when I wake up en find you back ag’in, all safe end soun’, de tears come, en I coul ‘a’ got down on my knees en kiss yo’ foot” (Twain 89).It shows how strongly Jim feels about Huck and how he treats Huck as if he were Hick's father. He cares so deeply for Huck that his emotions when he thought something had happened to Huck could almost be felt through Twain's writing. Huck's feelings are similar to Jim's but in a child's mannerisms. In response to Jim’s outburst his prank, Huck acted in a way any child would. He said things that he did not mean but sounded good verbalized in an argument. Afterwards however, he acted immensely sorry, and even pondered the notion, “It made me feel so mean I could almost kissed his foot to get him to take it back” (89). Both Huck and Jim act like they are in any normal father-son relationship, Jim in the paternal and Huck in the child’s position, although in some ways the opposite occurs when Huck sometimes acts paternal to Jim.

                Huck has some fatherly habits when it come to Jim. He tries to teach him and educate him on knowledge that Huck feels is just common sense. He protect him like a father would to any of his children. When the men on the boat want to go and make sure Jim isn’t a runaway slave so that they can turn him in, and Huck creates a story about his family being ill. Huck makes sure Jim remains safe no matter what the risk. He attempts to teach him stories and random facts he has picked up on the course of his adventures. “So I went talking about other kings… I told him about Louis the sixteenth that got his head cut off in France long time ago; and about his little boy the dolphin, that would ‘a’ been king , but they took and shut him up in a jail, and some say he died there” (82). This embellishes the father-son bind Jim and Huck share. Huck cares immensely for Jim and Jim in turn cares just as much about Huck, both in a way almost like a parent loves its child. They share an unconditional love that can never seem to be broken. Jim is worried about Huck while Huck tries to protect Jim and in return they end up saving each other from themselves.