There are many people who influence our lives and what we believe. The indelible mark our parents make on our lives is undeniable, as well as the influence of friends and the world around us. Yet people are still given the ability to weed through all of these lessons and experiences to compile one "master set" of morals and values for themselves. How is it that through all the influence of society, friends, and family we are able to individually decide what is right for us? Are we not expected to obey our parents and elders? Why don't their values become our own, through thought, word, and deed? These questions are what bring to light Huck Finn's own moral code. He had been "conditioned" with certain values by society. Yet he defies them all when he helps a black man escape from slavery and become his friend and confidante. Huck struggles with the concept of right and wrong through out the story because of his friendship with Jim and what he learns on the river. However meaningful they may be, they are most certainly opposite of what he has been taught by society outside of the world of the river. This inner conflict haunts Huck through his journey up the Mississippi and often leads to dynamic moments in the story when he is forced to weigh his conscience and what Jim means in his life. .
Early in their adventures a fog hits and the companions are separated; it is surely a scary experience for both Huck and Jim, but for Jim it is much more than that. Huck is his ticket to freedom, and although he sees him as more than that, it is Huck's main appeal to Jim because with out him, he is just a black man on a raft floating North to freedom. They are eventually reunited, and instead of joining in the jubilance that Jim does; Huck decides it would be funnier to play a trick on him. This deception goes on for some time until Jim finally becomes wise to it and says " dat truck dah is trash; en trash is what people is dat puts dirt on de head er dey fren's en makes "em ashamed" (94).
