Throughout the chapters 36 to 43 we can see many actions that imply society responsibility. The one that impacted me the most was in chapter 42, when Jim chose to help the doctor nurse Tom over his freedom. When they were trying to escape Tom got shot in his leg. Even though this made Tom happy since he considered it like a keepsake from his adventure, he still needed assistance from a doctor to heal the wound. Huck went to get the doctor and sent him in the canoe to where Tom was. Huck couldn't go back with him since the canoe was for only one person. The next day Huck runs into Uncle Silas who takes him back to the house. Jim hid himself before the doctor got there, but he was in need of someone else's help in order to nurse Tom. When Jim saw this he decided to come out and help knowing that he was risking his freedom. This shows a great sense of social responsibility from Jim. He had his priorities set and in this case it was more important to save Tom's life. He put Tom's life over his own, this really shows that Jim is willing to help whoever is in need under any circumstances specially someone who has helped him so much. Not only the level of responsibility that Jim possesses is shown in this chapter but also the great person that he is. This is proven in the next chapter where everyone wants to hang Jim. After the doctor tells them how much Jim helped on trying to fix Tom's leg and that he sacrificed his freedom to save Tom everyone chaged their opinion. Everyone was so thankful for his humble act that they decided not to kill him and not only that but they were treating him like a king. This is a true example of society responsibility.
1 comment:
I honestly thought Jim was doing more than he had to. As a slave, it is his job to listen to his owner and other white people but I do not think it was his responsibility to help nurse Tom. I think this because the people were surprised to hear what Jim had done. They all immediately thought he had done something bad. Jim was lucky that the doctor was willing to speak up for him because if he did not, Jim would have been hung for doing a good deed. No one expected Jim to help at all and the fact that he did must show that he is stepping outside of his societies expectations.
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