ment comes he decides he would rather go against the malformed values he learned in his lifetime, rather than betray his black friend. Jim, as Twain presents him, is hardly a caricature. Rather, he is the moral center of the book, a man of courage and nobility, who risks his freedom and his life for the sake of his friend Huck. The fact that Huck does not turn Jim in show’s that Huck respects him, and has befriended him. By spanning their age and cultural differences with their friendship and trust, they form a bond:‘Maybe I better not tell.’ ‘Why,Jim?’ ‘Well, dey’s reasons. But you wouldn’t tell on me ef I ‘uz to tell you, would you, Huck?’ ‘Blamed if I would, Jim?’ ‘Well I b’live you, Huck I-I run off.’ ‘Jim!’ ‘But mind, you said you wouldn’ tell-you know you said you wouldn’ tell, Huck.’ ‘Well, I did. I said I wouldn’t, and I’ll stick to it. Honest injun, I will. People would call me a low-down Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum-but that don’t make no difference. I ain’t a-going to tell...’ (50)Huck is a simple boy who knows right from wrong and who his friends are and are not. It is Jim, albeit a southern black run-away slave, who confides in Huck. Their trust is reciprocal. Jim trusts Huck with the knowledge that he is a run away slave. Tom, in turn, makes good on his promise not to turn Jim in. It is at this time that they are equals. This friendship, camaraderie, and trust echoes throughout this historical novel. Although the vernacular may come across as harsh to a reader from the twenty-first century, one must consider the appropriateness of the time and place this book was written. It must also become clear that Jim and Huck overcame the racial barrier and became friends. One would doubt, that in the 1800’s the word ‘racism...
