Changes

The two head down river on a raft and have several adventures. Perhaps the most poignant is the storm scene in which Huck changes his view of Jim as "just a slave" to "a human being".  

The two head down river on a raft and have several adventures. Perhaps the most poignant is the storm scene in which Huck changes his view of Jim as "just a slave" to "a human being".  

* Over the course of their adventure, Huck learns that Jim is a human being and not property. This realization leads Huck to choose to assist Jim in his escape from captivity, and risk eternal damnation according to his religious beliefs. Huck’s decision is driven by the friendship that develops between him and his fellow fugitive on their adventure. Jim’s kindness and stewardship also provide a stark contrast to the treachery of the characters on the banks of the river. Twain thus crafts a message that slavery and race discrimination are wrong without taking the tone of an abolitionist, combining an amusing children’s story with a profound social message.<ref name=thesis> [https://scholarworks.iupui.edu/bitstream/handle/1805/1729/L699_Thesis_November.pdf?sequence=1]</ref>

* Over the course of their adventure, Huck learns that Jim is a human being and not property. This realization leads Huck to choose to assist Jim in his escape from captivity, and risk eternal damnation according to his religious beliefs. Huck’s decision is driven by the friendship that develops between him and his fellow fugitive on their adventure. Jim’s kindness and stewardship also provide a stark contrast to the treachery of the characters on the banks of the river. Twain thus crafts a message that slavery and race discrimination are wrong without taking the tone of an abolitionist, combining an amusing children’s story with a profound social message.<ref name=thesis> [https://scholarworks.iupui.edu/bitstream/handle/1805/1729/L699_Thesis_November.pdf?sequence=1 Master's Thesis]</ref>

Huck's decision to regard Jim as fully human and to ignore his "conscience" so as to risk "going to hell" to save him is the radical anti-slavery core of the book. It is significant that the story was written by a southerner from Hannibal, Missouri just two decades after the end of slavery.

Huck's decision to regard Jim as fully human and to ignore his "conscience" so as to risk "going to hell" to save him is the radical anti-slavery core of the book. It is significant that the story was written by a southerner from Hannibal, Missouri just two decades after the end of slavery.

* Twain sent the message that slavery was bad without sounding like an [[abolitionist]], something that could have had disastrous consequences for a best-selling author twenty years after the Civil War.<ref name=thesis />

* Twain sent the message that slavery was bad without sounding like an [[abolitionist]], something that could have had disastrous consequences for a best-selling author twenty years after the Civil War.<ref name=thesis />

==Notes==

==Notes==