During the period, that Mark Twain wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, authors wrote novels depicting the world as it really was. Through Huck Finn's many adventures, Twain told what it might have been like for a thirteen year old boy, who came from the lowest levels of white society, trying to discover just how and why society worked the way it did. Twain took Huck's views of religion, slavery, and social acceptance to show how one could of broke free from the accepted yet untested ways of society.
Twain used many different themes, but none quite stood out the way he used Huck to attack the silly and ridiculous society at the time. In the beginning, Huck was starting to have so called "civilized" thoughts and simply accepted things such as slavery as a way of life. This is where Twain brought Jim in the mix, which ignited Huck to start believing different and changed the way his heart felt about many things. After Huck had already ran away from home and started down the Mississippi River with Jim, Twain began to show us how Huck was questioning himself for being with a Negro because Huck knew what society would think. When Huck came upon some men in a boat wanting to search the raft for escaped slaves, his heart softened and he decides to lie to the men to keep Jim's hope of freedom alive. This incident alone shows just how much different Huck thought from society and when he realized blacks, like whites, have feelings, he felt that his friendship with Jim was more important that being caught with a "runaway nigger." As Huck continues to live by his own code based on his thinking, he also begins to completely turn his back on people like Widow Douglas and anybody that has ever tried to educate him or give him religion. This is most evident in the story when Huck writes a letter to Miss Watson telling of Jim's whereabouts, in order for him to be able to pray for forgiveness for helping Jim.