Huck’s first encounter with Jim happens when the two are both escaping town, and wind up together on an island in the middle of the Mississippi. He struggles over the idea of turning Jim in. He tries to justify the situation because he did not have anything to do with Jim's actual escape. However, he knows that society would not approve of the fact that he didn't turn Jim in. He even tells Jim, "…showed first 75 words of 440 total…

…showed last 75 words of 440 total…conceive that society could be wrong about such a thing; he continuously thinks there must be something wrong with himself instead. He grows to care for Jim tremendously and sees him as a person and a friend, despite the ingrained thoughts about blacks in general that come out from time to time. For example, when Aunt Sally asks if anyone had been hurt on an invented boat accident, Huck answers, "No'm. Killed a nigger" (p. 244).