Jim's compassion in Huck Finn

A detailed Summary of Jim's compassion in Huck Finn

Throughout all of his adventures Jim shows compassion as his most prominent trait. He makes the reader aware of his many superstitions and Jim exhibits gullibility in the sense that he Jim always assumes the other characters in the book will not take advantage of him. One incident proving that Jim acts naive occurs halfway through the novel, when the Duke first comes into the scene "By right I am a duke! Jim's eyes bugged out when he heard that..." In the novel, Huck Finn, one can legitimately prove that compassion, superstitious and gullibility illustrate Jim's character perfectly.

To begin with, among the many characteristics of Jim, his compassionate nature shows throughout the book. When Huck and Jim come across the floating boathouse, Jim finds a dead man inside. He advises Huck not to look as he says, "It's a dead man... dead two er three days... come in Huck, but doan' look at his face." At the end of the book the reader finds out that the dead man turns out as Huck's father. Further on down the river, Huck and Jim engage in a deep conversation. Jim speaks of the family he feels he has left behind. Jim tries hard to save up all his money in hopes of buying back his wife and children when he becomes a free man. He expre

While it may be true that Jim displays more characteristics than the ones listed, I believe these certainly standout in your mind after reading the novel. No matter how Huck treats Jim, he remains willing to support Huck through anything. Even in the beginning of the novel when Tom tries to persuade Huck to pick on Jim, ... "Tom whispered to me and wanted to tie Jim to the tree for fun..." but fortunately, Huck uses his best judgement because he knows that he must not play a trick on Jim. While Jim goes a tad overboard with his wild superstitions he nevertheless creates humorous scenarios showing himself innocently picked on for his gullibility.

In addition to Jim's superstitious nature, throughout the novel he also demonstrates gullibility. A good example of this naivete begins when Huck appears to Jim in a supernatural form. "Doan' hurt me-don't I hain't ever done no harm to a ghos'." Late one night the fog separates Huck and Jim on the river causing him great confusion. "Well, den, I reck'n I did dream it, Huck; but dogs my cats ef it ain't de powerfulest dream I ever see." Another event showing his gullibility takes place when the King and Duke enter into the story line, leading Jim on about their identifies. "All through dinner Jim stood around and waited on him, and says, 'Will yo' Grace have some o' dis or some o'

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Approximate Word count = 896
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English