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Slavery in our society is usually thought of as physical. In Mark Twain's novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, there are many varied examples of slavery. Because Mark Twain's novel is set in the American 1840 s, it reflects the points of view of individuals and society in this time, which differs greatly from now, the American 1990 s. Three types of slavery that catch the readers eye in Huckleberry Finn are psychological, biological, and moral. These forms can be either very subtle or very prominent throughout the novel, depending on ones point of view. Psychological slavery has to do with the mind.
It can be interpreted in two different ways, as a kind of bondage induced by ones own mind, or as control shown over someones mind by another person. This form of slavery digs deep into a persons psyche and changes them, for the better or the worse. In Huckleberry Finn, Huck is psychologically held by his drunken, abusive father, Pap. Pap is illiterate and oppressive and threatens to Huck that he will take some of these frills out o you before Im done with you (20) because he suspects Huck of putting on airs and thinking he is better than his father.
Pap treats Huck very badly, but since he is Huck's father, Huck figures there is nothing he can do. This is evident when Pap first comes back and demands money from Huck so he can get whiskey, Say how much you got in your pocket? I want it. I hand got only a dollar, and I want that to It dont make no difference what you want it for you just shell it out (21). This father-son relationship is detrimental to both of them.
Paps abusive nature controls Huck through fear, and it is the driving force for Huck as he fakes his death and flees down the river. The Widow Douglas and Miss Watson also try to put Huck under a kind of psychological slavery. They do this under the guise of trying to sivilize him. Huck believes that they are enslaving him by trying to educate him and teach him their religious values. All he wants is to be free, away from all of the rules that must be kept in society and the ideas deemed proper for a young gentleman. Even though Widow Douglas and Miss Watson think they are doing Huck some good, to Huck it is just like being a slave.
The two women are trying to turn Huck into a slave of society, and he is trying to avoid that way of life as best he can so that he can live as he wants to. The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time, considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all her ways; and so when I couldnt stand it no longer I lit out (1). Huck tries to become civilized, but when he gets sick of it he runs away from it all. The Widow Douglas and Miss Watson try hard to conform him to their way of doing things, thinking that they are helping him. Though the ladies try hard, Huck doesnt listen to them and makes his own rules; he runs away after he fakes his own death, fooling his father, the Widow Douglas, and Miss Watson. This action sets his mind free.
Biological slavery, which differs greatly from psychological slavery, deals with aspects of an individual that they cannot help or change because of their biological makeup. This novel is mainly focused on race, or the color of skin, and also concentrates on family heritage. Almost all whites in this novel are placed above blacks because they were believed to be more civilized. Though Huck and Jim are friends on the river, when Huck feels bad after playing a trick on Jim in the fog, the fact that he is white and is socially above Jim makes it difficult for him to apologize and it was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger (86). Because it was common in the south during the 1840 s to own, buy, and sell slaves, characters in Mark Twain's novel did so.
Jim, the African man whom Huck befriends in the novel, begins as being owned by the Widow Watson as a slave while his family belongs to other white families. When Jim thinks he is close to freedom he reveals his future plans for his family to Huck saying how the first thing he would do when he got to a free state he would go on saving up money and when he got enough he would buy his wife and then they would both work to buy the children (88). Many whites easily split up families and sold slaves because they did not believe that blacks were actual people with feelings and the right to live. In one scene, for instance, when Aunt Sally hears of a steamboat explosion and says, Good gracious! Anybody hurt? Huck answers, Nom.
Killed a nigger to which she replies, Well, its lucky, because sometimes people do get hurt (221). Although Mark Twain was white, he gives the slave Jim a certain dignity about him and leads the reader to develop a respect for him and see him as a human being. The reader can also see a bond and mutual respect develop between Huck and Jim almost to the point where Jim becomes a father figure to the boy. It is virtually unheard of for a white and black to become friends and these strange circumstances lead to many moral conflicts for Huck.
The final type of slavery from the novel Huckleberry Finn is moral slavery. This kind of slavery is usually an internal one, dealing with ones ethics, or their sense of right and wrong. Huck was born into family that is almost completely empty of morals, and then he is moved into the Widows household that is full of them. The most prominent struggle Huck has with his conscience is in regard to slavery. Huck is a slave to morals because he cant decide what he should do, what he feels is right inside or what he has been told is right by society. This is evident when Jim thinks he has reached freedom and Huck's conscience tells him, you know he was running for his freedom, and you could a paddles ashore and told somebody, (88) and he ended up feeling so mean and so miserable I most wished I was dead (88).
Huck starts out believing that slavery is completely normal and his conscience tells him that to help the runaway slave escape would aid in the action of stealing the property of Miss Watson, who has never injured him, and this would be an enormous offense that will no doubt carry him to the bad place; but as the story unfolds he wrestles with his conscience and when the moral climax comes he decides, All right, then, Ill go too hell (214), rather than betray his black friend. Huck sums up his feelings about how he will go about making moral judgment calls by saying, Well, then, says I, whats the use you learning to do right when its trouble-some to do right and aint no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same? I was stuck. I couldnt answer that so I reckoned I wouldnt bother no more about it, but after this always do whichever comes handiest at the time (93 - 94). Jim, though he is a slave, is not a slave to morals. He is, in fact, the moral center of the book that risks his freedom and his life for the sake of his friend Huck.
The thing that brings Huck and Jim so close throughout the book, and eventually leads to Huck choosing damnation, is the fact that he feels a comfort with Jim that he has not felt with the other characters in the novel. With Jim, Huck can enjoy the best aspects of his earlier acquaintances in life. Like the Widow Douglas, Jim allows him security, but Jim is not as strict or confining as the widow. Like Tom Sawyer, Jim is intelligent but his intelligence is not as intimidating or as imaginary as Toms intelligence. And like Pap, Jim allows Huck freedom, but he does it in a loving, rather than uncaring, manner. Thus, early in their relationship on Jacksons Island, Huck says to Jim, This is nice.
I wouldnt want to be nowhere else but here (49). As it has been explained, slavery can take on many different forms, and it can also be interpreted in many different ways. Overall, slavery is a controlling factor in peoples lives, whether its for the worse or the better. In different ways, slavery will always exist as long as there are societies in which it is permitted.
Although Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel about slavery, it is also a story about the quest for freedom. All types of slavery will be with us as we move on, and people will still submit to it and continue to live their lives in its shadows, however it is the hope of winning complete freedom, which helps us survive.
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