Friendship over Heaven

Francis Espiritu

ENGL 48B

Huckleberry Funn Journal

Author Quote: "I was a trembling, because I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: 'All right, then, I'll go to hell' --and tore it up." (Twain 246)

Internet Quote: Twain wrote a novel that embodies the search for freedom. He wrote during the post-Civil War period when there was an intense white reaction against blacks.Twain took aim squarely against racial prejudice, rising segregation, lynchings, and the generally accepted belief that blacks were sub-human. He "made it clear that Jim was good, deeply loving, human, and anxious for freedom" (Wikipedia; Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)

Summary: Jim pretty much writes back to Miss Watson that he knows the whereabouts of her slave Jim. Yet even after writing the letter, he knew that what he did was morally wrong, and going against "Christian" beliefs decided to not send the letter, and ultimately rip it up accepting the fate that he could potentially going to Hell and saving Jim.

Personal Opinion: One would have to know where the fine line between the right thing to do and morality. In that time, returning a runaway slave was seen as the right thing to do, but morally it was completely wrong. The irony I see is that these Southern Whites praised the Bible and lived by it. Yet isn't it stated in the Bible that one must love his fellow neighbor/man? So doesn't that go for African-American's as well? I mean the irony is that you go to Heaven as long as you treat your white brother equally and not African-American's because they are less than human. But from how I see it, isn't it that God loves all people equally? It seems as if the Bible at this time was potentially "white washed" allowing it to abide by the Southern culture. Yet what I see beautiful about this passage is that Huck ultimately chooses friendship over the law; and going as far as accepting the possibility of going to "Hell". If anything, I think the closest thing to Hell he would go through would be the consequences he would face for helping an escaped slave. Yet the legitimate Hell he would have faced was knowing that his friend was not free and was being tortured by his old master; and with that I do not think that Huck would choose that Hell. If anything, mental anguish is the worst and it is something even I would not want to go through. Physical pain can only linger for so long, but mental anguish is eternal.