In the beginning of the story Huck says, "Alright then, I'll go to hell". Because Miss Watson told him that Tom Sawyer would probably going there, and in the end Huck would be going to hell anyway if he helped Jim escape.
Another powerful force that affects Huck's beliefs and actions is society. Huck is torn between the decisions of either turning Jim in, or keep Jim from being captured because he is his friend and his father figure. Society pressures him to turn in Jim because that would be considered the right thing to do. Society also contributes to the reason why he sees Jim as lesser person than himself because he is a slave and Huck is a white man. When Huck and Jim argued about the way a frenchman should speak like a real man, Huck says, "I see it warn't no use wasting words- you can't learn a n- to argue. So I quit" (60). Since Jim is a n**er, Huck thinks it is a waste of words and time because it is impossible to teach him. Huck has a negative view of blacks, and he dehumanizes Jim who is his friend. This is not the only time that society has made Huck feel like he is better than Jim, Huck tried to trick Jim when they were on the island by saying that Jim was dreaming, "It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go humble myself to a n- -but I done it, and I warn't ever sorry for it afterwards, neither" (65). Huck thinks he socially higher up than Jim so it takes him some time to humble himself and think that he is more "equal" with Jim. Huck does not realize how much Jim's freedom meant to Jim until he gets excited on the raft, but Huck feels, "Well, I can tell you it made me all over trembly and feverish, too, to hear him, because I begun to get it through my head that he was most free- and who was to blame for it? Why, me. I couldn't get that out of my conscience, no how nor no way" (66). Huck is speaking the voice of society at this point, not his own.
