Huckleberry Finn, introduced as a secondary character in “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” takes the central role in this sequel set in antebellum Missouri.
Huck, who lives with the Widow Douglas, chafes at her efforts to civilize him. When Huck’s shiftless, alcoholic father regains custody of his son, Huck escapes and steers himself down the Mississippi River and toward freedom. There he encounters an escaped slave, Jim, and helps him avoid recapture.
Jim reveals himself as an upstanding and moral man, leading Huck to question his society’s notions of identity and race. Jim’s decency encourages Huck to see through the hypocrisy and prejudice of a society that condones slavery. Society has taught Huck that freeing an escaped slave will condemn him to hell, and Huck struggles to reach a truly moral decision regarding Jim’s fate.
