Chapters 41-The Last

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has indeed many themes, but I think that one of the strongest themes displayed throughout the novel is racism. This novel was set back before slavery was abolished, therefore many people believed differently about blacks and other races; they believed that whites were superior to any other race. Huck was brought up believing this, so when he helped Jim to escape and head north he felt like he was doing the wrong thing. He thought that helping a "nigger" was immoral and that he would go to hell for it like when he wrote the letter that was to be sent to Miss Watson. "I felt good and all washed clean of sin for the first time I had ever felt so in my life, and I knowed I could pray now. But I didn't do it straight off, but laid the paper down and set there thinking--thinking how good it was all this happening so, and how near I come to being lost and going to hell." He thought that if he didn't turn Jim in or tell his owner where he was that he would go to hell, but as the book progressed he began to doubt those morals. He, I guess you would say, put friendship first. Although he had an inner conflict and debated with himself for quite some time, he finally put his friendship with Jim before the morals that he had been taught. "All right, then, I'll go--to hell"--and tore it up. I think that this showed us that Huck knows what's right, but sometimes he is driven in the wrong direction. In the end though, he chose what was right and what he truly believed is right. I think that he changed his beliefs from the beginning of the novel to the end. Although he hasn't stated it, I think that he believes that slavery is wrong, that is why he wouldn't turn Jim in.