In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huckleberry Finn’s, or Huck’s, relationship with Miss Watson’s slave, Jim, has changed his life and influence his personality. It had also brought out certain characteristic traits of Huck’s which the readers have never seen before. Jim is able to play a role similar to Huck’s surrogate father, and teach him many important aspects of life. However, the relationship was considered a forbidden one in society as society constrains in America in the past, prevents a white man [Huck] from forming a relationship with a ‘nigger’ [Jim]. This was seen to be a crossing of society classes as the whites see themselves as being more superior than the blacks but their relationship could also show how relationships should not be constrained by societal norms.
Jim’s relationship with Huck has taught Huck many important values and allowing them to cross the barrier of ‘skin colour’. Firstly, Huck had initially offered the widow and Miss Watson to be killed in the event where he commits a mistake, in order to join Tom Sawyer’s gang. This was seen as a cruel move as the widow had been providing for Huck for a period of time yet Huck still doesn’t really feel a sense of regret when he told the boys that ‘they could kill her’. However, there seem to be a change in Huck when he felt remorse after playing a trick on Jim and seeing how worried he was, about Huck’s safety. Not only did Huck feel sorry for taking advantage of Jim’s trust and friendship, he also apologized to Jim for playing such a trick on him. This move was an impactful one as blacks were seen as less worthy than whites, thus it is also unnecessary and scandalous for a white man to apologise to a black man. The reason Huck feel very bad and regretted his actions was due to the fact that he was not prepared for Jin’s confession that his “heart wuz mos’ broke bekase you wuz los’, en I didn’ k’yer no’ mo’ what become er me en de raf”. This somber comment of Jim’s had broke the heart of Huck’s as he realized, just like the readers, that Jim values him so much till an extent that he would give his life for Huck, a boy who has always been on the opposite side of societal laws. This incident had taught Huck more about Jim’s loyalty towards him and this may have led to Huck’s determination to rescue Jim in Chapter 34 and 35.
The relationship between Jim and Huck is seen as an important and vital one to the sustaining and the development of the whole plotline line of the novel. In fact, the relationship between Huckleberry Finn and the slave, Jim, is the essence of the whole novel and tells us about how relationships need not be constrained to societal norms and there are some relationships which society will deem as unacceptable. However, connections can still be formed between two people of two different societal classes and of very different backgrounds.
The importance of relationship in the development of a good story plotline can also be seen in Siddhartha, between that of Vasudeva and Siddhartha. In this novel, Vasudeva also plays a role similar to that of Jim, one of mentorship and friendship. It is also through Vasudeva, that Siddhartha was able to understand many important values vital in life and thus, is able to achieve enlightenment at the end of the novel, before he died.
Vasudeva is being seen as the person who led Siddhartha to enlightenment. After leaving Gautama and Govinda, Siddhartha met Vasudeva and immediately notices his serenity. Although Vasudeva lives within this world, his presence seems to transcend it, and many who had met him feel his divine, enlightened energy. He does not boast about his power or wisdom but simply credits all knowledge he has to the river. His primary action, other than ferrying passengers across the river, seems to be listening to whatever wisdom the river imparts to him. He is such a powerful figure that when a desperate, suicidal Siddhartha, convinced he’ll never reach enlightenment, encounters Vasudeva a second time, he asks to become Vasudeva’s apprentice. In a way, Siddhartha relies on Vasudeva to save his life. This relationship is thus, an important and crucial one to the development of the novel plotline as Siddhartha, as mentioned earlier, would never had reached enlightenment without the help of Vasudeva.
Vasudeva also gave advice to Siddhartha, such as the time where Siddhartha’s son stole all of both Siddhartha’s and Vasudeva’s money. Instead of being furious with Siddhartha, Vasudeva consoles Siddhartha and told him to move on. Vasudeva’s thinking has also influence Siddhartha’s thoughts and beliefs as well.
In conclusion, relationships play an important and vital role to the entire plot development of the 2 novels above. Both Huck and Siddhartha would not have became the people they were at the end of both novels if not for their relationship with Jim and Vasudeva respectively. Thus, I do believe that relationships do lie in the heart of good fiction.
