Houck allows his own logic to realize what is good and bad, rather than blindly following his elders’ teachings. At the beginning of the novel, Houck shows his skepticism of the values that society imposes when the Widow Douglas attempts to sic “civilize” him. Houck describes his life with the Widow as ” regular and decent” (1). She dresses him in starchy clothes while sending him to school to learn math and literature. When Houck did not like to be sic “civilize” anymore, he returned back to his old ways. Houck says, ” … Hen I could ‘t stand it no longer, I lit out. I got into y old rags… And was free and satisfied” (1 When he is unable to take the restrictions of life any longer, he simply releases himself and goes back to what he feels is right and what makes him happy. Houck returns back to the Widow after Tom convinces him to come back When Miss. Watson, the Widow’s sister, tells Houck about the “bad place”, hell, he says, “l wished I was there” (2). He said this because he wanted a change from the sic “civilize” world.
Houck distrusts the morals and precepts of the society that labels him an outcast. Husk’s life with his pap is far from sic “civilize. Pap is the town drunk who comes back into town after hearing his son has some money. Being illiterate, he disapproves of Husk’s education and his sic “civilize;; ways. Pap tells Houck, “you’re educated… You think you’re better your father, now, don’t you, because he can ‘t? ” (14). Pap is very mad that Houck became the first in the family to learn to read.
Houck lets Pap abuse him because he does not want any more problems. Houck explains, “If I never learnt nothing else out of pap, I learnt that the best way to get along with his kind of people is to let them have their own way” (95). When Pap beats and neglects Houck, he teaches Houck to be self-sufficient and not to depend on others for help. Pap leaves him in a cabin locked in a room for hours and even days. When Houck is left in the cabin, he is given plenty of time to consider his options.
If he remains in the cabin, he will continue to be powerless to the will of his father. He realizes that escape is his only solution. By staging his own murder, Houck kills himself to society’s influences and enables his own uninhibited personal growth. Free of society’s rules and standards, he is fortunate enough to have Jim long for companionship, removing the loneliness that prevented his earlier flight from society. This friendship is at first corrupted by society’s influence on Houck.
Fortunately, free of society’s rules and standards, Houck begins to undo his misconceptions of slaves, and begins to realize that Jim is a human just like he is. When Houck realizes Jim has feeling and is not a piece of property after he plays a trick on him, he cries out, “l made me feel so mean I could almost kissed his foot to get him to take it back “(65). Jim becomes a surrogate father, as well as a friend, to Houck. Jim is the only real adult in the book, and the only one who provides a positive, respectable example for Houck to follow.
