Mark Twain's ambitious book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is about a Huck's Adventures with Jim, a slave, and the completion of both of their characters. Twain uses religion and society as a backdrop to showcase the morals interpreted and developed by Huckleberry Finn and the humanization of Jim.
Twain uses several instances that contrast Huck's development against the society he lived in and the hypocrisies in that society. Miss Watson, provides contrast in religion. She owns a slave, and is backed up by a society, that supports her ethics. Huck's rebellion against Miss Watson's is a protest of her attempts to civilize him, not against her ethics. Huck's imprisonment within the cottage is symbolic of Huck as a slave, like Jim, and Pap as a slave owner. This provides a means to allow the reader to sympathize with the slave, it also provides a definite social commentary on slavery.
After both Huck and Jim break free of their slavery, they meet. Interestingly at this point both characters are lacking full portrayals. Huck is lacking a moral system, while Jim is portrayed as a stereotypical black slave. Their transformation begins with their meeting. Huck eventually makes a revelation that Southern religious morals are wrong and he will create his own morals. Jim's transformation comes from the fleshing out and humanizing of his character. Through the narrative Jim and Huck both grow in their respective ways, creating a rich story.
Huck's pinnace moment of reckoning comes when he finds that Jim has been taken to the Phelps. He first concludes that “... it would be a thousand times better for Jim to be a slave at home where his family was, as long as he'd got to be a slave.” He begins to write a letter to Tom, with a message for Miss Watson, but he decides that he would become an outcast for helping Jim escape, this is the first pronounced example of Huck's new moral system. Huck tries to pray, and cannot because his “... heart warn't right.” After contemplating he writes a short note to Miss Watson telling of Jim's location. He then thinks of how Jim helped him on his journey, and he decides it would be better to help Jim escape. He asserts his position by saying “All right then, I'll go to Hell.” He never realizes that his own moral instincts are fully developed from his upbringings, epitomized by Miss Watson's ethics.
While providing an enjoyable ride, Twain has developed Huck Finn and Jim into full characters. Huck Finn has become a full human with his own morals, while Jim is displayed as a full human with the full range of feelings, the same as Huck's. The creation of these full human characters, provides the main thought of the story, provoking controversial thought in its and current times. In this provocation lies the creation of two complete enjoyable characters.