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In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, why does Huck try to rescue the killers on the wreck?
Quick answer:
Huck tries to rescue the killers on the wreck because, despite his mischievous nature, he possesses a strong moral compass and a sense of compassion. He struggles with the idea of letting the men die, recognizing that protecting life is essential. Huck's actions reflect his belief that it is not his place to decide the fate of others, hoping the proper authorities will handle justice. His empathy highlights his decent human nature, despite his flaws.
Huck is no saint. He can be quite mischievous, and he has no problem with lying to get himself or someone else out of a jam. He's actually quite good at acting and lying. He's also a thief and is aiding a runaway slave. We see in chapter sixteen that Huck wrestles with knowing that he is intentionally causing Miss Watson trouble by helping Jim.
Conscience says to me, “What had poor Miss Watson done to you
that you could see her nigger go off right under your eyes and never
say one single word? What did that poor old woman do to you that
you could treat her so mean?"
What chapter thirteen and the episode with the robbers shows us is that Huck is perfectly willing to lie and be mischievous; however, he has a strong moral compass. He knows right from wrong, and he knows that many...
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of his "illegal" actions are being done to save Jim's life. I believe that is at the center of why Huck sends help back to the robbers. He's unwilling to intentionally do something that could end a person's life. Huck knows that protecting life is an important part of being a decent human being, and despite his rough edges, Huck is a very decent human being. What's also shown to readers is that Huck doesn't necessarily think those men deserve to live, but he understands that it is not his place to decide. He wants them to survive so that the proper authorities can punish the robbers.
“The first light we see we’ll land a hundred yards below it or above
it, in a place where it’s a good hiding-place for you and the skiff, and
then I’ll go and fix up some kind of a yarn, and get somebody to go
for that gang and get them out of their scrape, so they can be hung
when their time comes.”
The answer to this question can be found in Chapter 13 of this great novel, and also gives us a key insight into Huck's character. Once he and Jim have escaped the murderers, Huck finds that his thoughts dwell on the fate of the men and the way that they are stuck on a ship that is sinking. Note what he thinks to himself:
Now was the first time that I begun to worry about the men--I reckon I hadn't had time to before. I begun to think how dreadful it was, even for murderes, to be in such a fix. I says to myself, there ain't no telling but I might come to be a murderer myself yet, and then how would I like it?
Thus we can see that Huck decides to save the murderers because he is obviously a sympathetic and compassionate boy, and he also wants to treat the murderers with kindness because he might one day need to be a murderer himself, and he would like to think that others would treat him kindly. Huck reveals himself to be a good boy whose natural sympathy leads him to try to save the murderers in spite of their bad deeds.