as informally adopted by the Widow Douglas, a relatively wealthy member of the higher class of his Mississippi hometown. The Widow hires a tutor named Miss Watson to school Huck. At this time, political correctness did not exist, and religion was taught in schools as standard curriculum, so Huck had lessons from the Bible as well as reading, writing, and arithmetic. Miss Watsons teachings of heaven and hell primarily focused on Hucks dynamic ability to cause mischief and trouble under any circumstances. Huck claims that if doing what is considered wrong gets him to hell, than he would rather go there because he would want to be with Tom Sawyer anyway. An interesting note is how Hucks system of morals works. He never refers to anything as right or wrong, but as good and bad. This and his rejection of Miss Watsons teaching and ideas of conformity show his resentment of popular opinion and societal influence. He is separate and unaffected by the voice of public opinion and the rules of society. Later on, Hucks father reappears and kidnaps him. He takes Huck to a shack on the river in the woods and locks him in. Since his father drinks, Huck is beaten, but never complains. It is obvious that he has no respect for the man at all. His father intends to get the money that Huck found with Tom and spend it on his delinquency. This shows his lack of love for his son. Unfortunately, he underestimates Huck, who escapes the shack and kills a wild boar, using its blood and some of his hair to make it seem as if someone broke into the shack and split his skulls with an axe, dragging his body off. Huck hides and sees his father return to the mess, whereupon his father falls on his knees and curses because of the loss of money. Huck escapes by canoe down the river to an island.At this point in the story, Huck joins with another important character in the book; Jim. Jim was a slave of the Widows, but after word of Hucks death got around...
