Huck Finn

“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 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 struck. I couldn’t answer that. So I reckoned I wouldn’t bother no more about it, but after this always do whichever come handiest at the time” (Twain 104).

The passage that I chose was from a prominent event within the sixteenth chapter among the novel of Huckleberry Finn. Twain presented a big obstacle for Huck in this chapter, due to the men questioning him about runaway slaves. Huckleberry caught himself wondering what he should do, either to turn Jim in or to lie to the men and keep Jim safe. This is a major point in Huckleberry’s morality and whether the reader sees it as a good moral choice or not. I believe Twain wanted to show the reader how Huckleberry was maturing by presenting us with his stream of conscious. Twain presents this by stating, “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 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? (104). While Huck understands that it is wrong to help free Jim, he also feels obligated to help him because he is his friend. In this particular passage he struggles with understanding which is more morally wrong, turning Jim in or help freeing him. He thinks about the options but decides that either way they are morally wrong and that the wages of both options are detrimental. He quickly decides to not think about it too much more in hopes that he will find the answer later.

            I believe that by Huckleberry questioning whether it is right or wrong to be freeing Jim is a huge question in morality and largely ironic, given the circumstances. While turning him in and enslaving his best friend would be morally wrong to himself, it is also seen as morally wrong among societal standards to lead a slave to freedom as well. I think Twain does a great job as to showing the reader what a conflict this truly is and gave an insight to what Twain thought was morally right of Huck, which was to lie to the officers and continue to bring Jim to freedom. The fact that Huck decides to leave his thoughts where they lay in the moment is also a true telling of Huck’s character. “I was struck. I couldn’t answer that. So I reckoned I wouldn’t bother no more about it, but after this always do whichever come handiest at the time” (Twain 104). It brings the reader back to the fact that Huckleberry is just a little boy, and makes decisions in the moment instead of a clear thought out plan. While Huck is freeing himself from the oppression of “sivilization” he also is out there for adventure and this plays true to the quote because he knows realizes how serious this “adventure” is. In all, I believe that this passage among the story is a key factor in understanding Huck’s conscious and realizing that he is just a boy but also understanding that there is a moral conflict that truly bothers him.