Essay

Jenell Brisky

Mr. Hughes

English 10 6th hr

October 31, 2007

Moral Dilemmas in Huck Finn
An example of a moral dilemma would be when you know somebody is doing wrong but you don’t want to tell on them because you’re their friend. But at the same time, you have a guilty conscience about what is going on, how its wrong, and how your not doing the right (Legal in this case) thing. If you feel you want to tell on somebody or turn somebody in for not following the rules, but at the same time you want to help them out because they have been a good friend to you and you don’t want to be or feel like a backstabber or a coward to them.
In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, many moral dilemmas occur. While Jim and Huck where on their journey to find the free lands, Huck left Jim on Jackson Island for a moment to go tell on him but ran into some slave hunters. They asked Huck if he had seen any runaway slaves around. Huck’s conscience was bothering him. He lied to protect Jim and told them no. He made up a story and the slave hunters believed him. Huck at first wanted to tell on Jim because he had a guilty conscience but when it came down to it, he didn’t want to betray Jim after Jim trusted him.
I agree with Huck for his decision. I think that Huck made the right decision in lying to the slave hunters to protect Jim. Huck traveled a long way with Jim to help him find free land. If Huck were to turn on Jim after Jim trusted him, then I would look at Huck as a coward or a backstabber my self. On top of that, Huck traveled a long way and went through a lot to help Jim. That’s why I agree with what Huck did to help Jim.
“Well, there’s 5 N run off to-night, up yonder…Is your man white or black?” (Ch. 16, last paragraph, bottom of the page). That is the quote that the slave hunters said to Huck when he left Jim on Jackson Island to go back and tell about how Jim was a runaway slave. Huck had to think of a big lie to tell the slave hunters. He told that lie so he could save Jim and he went out of his way to tell the lie.
That is an example of one of the many moral dilemmas in the book. Those are reasons why I agree with what Huck had did in the end.