In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain used Huck and Jim as the protagonists to show the contradiction of the racism in the American society. Through Huck's struggle between the judgment from his own conscience and the "right" thing he learned in the white society, Twain emphasizes that someone can't be judged by his or her skin color. Huck, a social outcast who was born and raised in the white society, confronts several challenges, which gradually lead him to a moral reckoning during the journey with Jim. Jim, a superstitious runaway slave, eventually becomes Huck's "real" father and influences Huck's moral improvement. Therefore, by observing the changing of Huck and Jim's relationship, the reader would understand the underlying meaning of Twain's writing. .
From the beginning, Huck relies more on Jim than on anyone in the town. After Huck finds his father's boot track, he goes to Jim, the uneducated slave, to ask him to predict the future, and appreciates Jim's advice seriously. Even though he was born in the white society, he was an outsider in the town; even Pap treated him like a slave. Perhaps these "negative" circumstances made him even closer to Jim. .
When Huck meets Jim in the Jackson's Island, Huck faces the first challenge. Huck is glad to find Jim in the island. After hearing that Jim's running away, he worries about Jim and feels something wrong. Nevertheless, Huck can't think of turning Jim in, because he is also running away. This shows the white society's influence on Huck who doesn't seem to realize that he is in the "similar" situation. Huck doubtlessly thinks Jim's wrong because he has been taught that slaves shouldn't run away from their owners. .
Using his superstitious and unreliable knowledge, Jim predicts and avoids disasters that could have caused a huge damage to both of them. Also, Huck hides Jim in the bottom of the canoe while moving across the river.
