At the beginning of the novel, Jim and Huck's relationship was much different than from when they were working and traveling together. There are many examples of how they were not very close at the beginning, even though Jim was Miss Watson's slave and Miss Watson was helping the widow Douglas "sivilize" (p. 13) Huck.

The first time we meet Jim, it is when Huck sneaks out to go meet Tom Sawyer and the "Band of Robbers." Huck doesn't speak to Jim. He just lies on the ground so that Jim can't see him. He gets up when Jim leaves. The next time we see Jim, it is at the end of chapter four. When they meet, they are fiddling around with Jim's hair ball doing some kind of African superstition. Whenever they meet before they see each other on Jackson's Island, there doesn't seem to be a mutual...