Huckleberry Finn

             Throughout the dramatic adventure Huckleberry Fin has shared with Jim, even though he is still a young adolescent boy, Huck gains respect from his readers as he matures and undergoes many ethical changes. Starting slowly at first, in the beginning of the book Huck gradually changes from playing childish tricks at Jim's expense into seeing Jim as a human being with emotions and not just as a runaway slave. This he achieves near the end of the book.
             In the time spent together traveling down the Mississippi river, Huckleberry Finn and the former slave Jim build a unique relationship. The reason behind their bond being so unique is that Huck finds himself in what he believes to be two great sins. Helping an escaped slave to freedom, which is the most dishonorable lowdown thing anyone could do, and betraying Jim as a friend in order to do the supposed "right thing" is the awkward situation in which Huck finds himself. .
             From reading about Huck, we can assume his age is approximately 12-14 years old. He is still just a boy, taking on a challenge that is far greater than any one of the imaginative adventures thought up by his friend Tom Sawyer. Growing up in the Southern United States prior to the abolition of racial slavery, Huck's ethnicity is that of a southern white man's. In his mind he knows of the division between the "colored" and white people, and the roles that each is to live in. At his young age, he hasn't yet questioned or pondered about why these things are the way they are. He accepts them because they "are." When Huck discovers Jim, and learns of his recent escape, the "right" thing to do in his mind is to take Jim back to the authorities, just as if Jim had been a criminal on the run. While traveling downstream with Jim, the two companions develop a friendship together; however, Huck does not begin to understand the extent in which Jim truly cares for him until Chapter 15.