Big River

Huck: Huck?s distance from mainstream society makes him skeptical of the world around him and the ideas it passes on to him. Huck?s instinctual distrust and his experiences as he travels down the river force him to question the things society has taught him. According to the law, Jim is Miss Watson?s property, but according to Huck?s sense of logic and fairness, it seems ?right? to help Jim. Huck?s natural intelligence and his willingness to think through a situation on its own merits lead him to some conclusions that are correct in their context but that would shock white society. For example, Huck discovers, when he and Jim meet a group of slave-hunters, that telling a lie is sometimes the right course of action.