Education in Huck Finn plays an important and decisive role. In Under the Lion’s Paw we don’t see education as a reference point to the development of the story. Education in The adventures of Huck Finn and Under the Lion’s Paw is not a theme that intersects, but Twain’s portrayal of education in The Adventures of Huck Finn helped us understand that every decision that Huck and Jim made were purely on the base of personal beliefs, not in taught principles. Lack of education in Huck Finn unveiled a flaw that society had at that time; most of the people cared just about the measurable factors of every person such as social status and monetary affluence. When the religious and compassionate Widow Douglas was teaching Huck Finn about Moses we encounter a remarkable assumption that Huck made. “Pretty soon I wanted to smoke and asked the widow to let me. But she wouldn’t. She said it was a mean practice and wasn’t clean, and I must try to not do it any more. That is just the way with some people. They get down on a thing when they don’t know nothing about it. Here she was a bothering about Moses, which was no kin to her, and no use to anybody, being gone, you see, yet finding a fault with me for doing a thing that had some good in it” (132) here was Huck Finn saying what he thought of being educated by principles that make no sense for him. This line expresses the frustration that Huck feels. Why is it that we have to be taught on how to live or how to behave? For is better for us to struggle and find ourselves in a position where we can learn from our mistakes. That is the real foundation of knowledge and education. Huck and Jim weren’t school educated but they pursued their happiness through self-education by learning the right from wrong.
In Huck Finn, Twain intelligently handles humor as an important catalyzer in the growth of Huck and Jim relationship, but in Council-Haskins relation the dynamic is completely different. In Huck-Jim relationship humor was relatively palpable all the time. In Under the Lion’s Paw Stephen Council and Mr. Haskins are two individuals that complement each other really well on the base of trust and mutual understanding, but we never see humor as a trait that outstands from this relationship. One day Jim “The superstitious slave” and the always creative Huck got separated because of a heavy fog. Jim started to get nervous and preoccupied about his dear friend Huck. When Huck and Jim reunited again, Huck tried to play a prank on Jim like he always used to, telling him that he was just dreaming. But Jim who was often naïve discovered the well-structured lie “What do dey stan’ for? I’s Gwayne to tell you. when I got all wore out wid work, en wid de callin fr you, en went to sleep, my heart wuz mos’ broke bekase you wuz los, en I didn’ k’yer no mo’ what become er me en de raf’. En when I wake up en fine you back agin, all safe en soun’, de tears come en I could a got down on my knees en kiss’ yo’ foot I’s so thankful. En all you wuz thinkin’ bout wuz how you could make a fool uv ole jim wid a lie. Dat truck dah is trash; en trash is what people is dat puts dirt on de head er dey fren’s en makes ‘em ashamed” and Huck says “It made me feel so mean I could almost kissed his foot to get him to take it back.