"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is a novel by Mark Twain and was published in 1885. The novel narrates the story of Huck, a white teenage boy, and Jim, an escapee slave, during their journey down the Mississippi River. In the story, Jim and Huck, who are in pursuit of freedom, encounter several conflicts along the way and continue to find life on the river more civilized than life in towns where slavery and religious prejudice are considered normal. They live in an ethically confused society in which 'good' whites like Sally Phelps and Miss Watson show no concern for the treatment of the black society. Jim's intelligence, compassion and loyalty show him to be a heroic figure in this novel and the only character that provides a positive example for Huck to follow.
From the beginning, Twain portrays Huck as a teenage boy who belongs to the lowest level of the white community. His father is a drunk and hooligan who disappears for several months. The boy is dirty and often homeless. Even though Widow Douglas makes attempts to reform Huck, the boy resists her efforts and retains his own independent ways. When his experiences require him to make decisions, his natural feelings come into conflict with the rules of society. The community he belongs to has failed to protect him from his drunken father, and although the widow offers him the religious and school training he had missed, Huck's social values differ significantly from the views of those around him. .
Huck questions the values society has taught him as he goes down the river with Jim. Huck was raised to believe that slaves were property, that they couldn't think for themselves and did not have human feelings. An example of this is when Huck quotes a saying, "give a nigger an inch and he will take an ell" (184). This statement means that blacks are unappreciative and would take advantage of anything done for them.