Allusions In Huckleberry Finn Essay

Many novels have used symbolism to express certain feelings and emotions in discreet ways. What is symbolism? "The practice of representing things by means of symbols or of attributing symbolic meanings or significance to objects, events, or relationships" (Dictionary.com). Numerous authors use the same denotations to illustrate different thoughts or ideas. Mark Twain uses various symbols, such as the river and the land to expose freedom and trouble in his novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

This mighty body of water is one that has been a huge landmark, tourist attraction, and ally for trade throughout history. Since it’s so vital, it’s no wonder that Twain depicted it so beautifully, and used it as such a key symbol. Huck writes, “It’s lovely to live on a raft. We had the sky up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss about whether they was made or only just happened” (Twain 138). This paints a tranquil scene for our readers to fantasize about what it was like floating down the river, admiring the stars and feeling free, which was their goal the whole time. But the river itself serves as a symbol for independence, and Huck learns many quality lessons about what comes with independence. Obviously the basics like how to stay afloat, find food, etc., but also many imperative moral lessons. Being self-sufficient means there’s nobody around to tell you what’s right and what’s wrong. Huck goes through a major character shift after befriending Jim. He learns that Jim is a real person, and that he should be treated as such. They need each other to survive; one of them isn’t following the other. They’re equal, which was a huge realization for Huck as well. It is because of abolitionists like Huck (although I’m sure he didn’t realize he was one) that black people eventually got the rights they deserved. These days, diversity

In this section, insight into the character of Jim is portrayed. Jim comes across as sincere and trustworthy. The loyalty of Jim and Huck to each other begins to be seen. An example of Jim’s loyalty is seen when Jim is overjoyed to find Huck is still alive after they are separated in the fog. During this section, it begins to be apparent that Jim would be willing to sacrifice to be sure that Huck is safe but Huck does not yet return those feelings. During this section, Huck’s moral dilemma about helping a slave escape begins to surface. The fact that the relationship is strengthening is revealed when Huck lies about having smallpox on their raft in order to prevent Jim from being caught as a slave. Huck again assumes several identities during this section, which reveal much about him. On the raft, Huck is very mature and responsible. He becomes the son of a

Huck Finn does not fully understand religion. The widow tells him he can ask God for whatever he wants so he thinks of religion as asking God for specific items. Religion is actually a more spiritual concept, and Huck is not mature enough to realize this. This is apparent when he mentions “Miss Watson she took me in the closet and prayed, but nothing come of it. She told me to pray every day, and whatever I asked for I would get it. But it warn't so. I tried it. Once I got a fish-line, but no hooks. It warn't any good to me without hooks. I tried for the hooks three or four times, but somehow I couldn't make it work. By and by, one day, I asked Miss Watson to try for me, but she said I was a fool. She never told me why, and I

In Huckleberry Finn there are several themes. There are themes of racism and slavery, civilized society, survival, water imagery, and the one I will be discussing, superstition ( SparkNotes Editors). Superstition is a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation (“Merriam-Webster”). Superstition was a very popular theme in Huckleberry Finn that you saw throughout the story. Huck was somewhat superstitious, but Jim speaks a wide range of superstition and folk tales. In the story it makes Jim seem as if he is unintelligent, when really his superstitions and beliefs come true and shows he

Huck rushes back to the island and demands that Jim be ready to run with him, meaning that Huck has risked his own freedom to save Jim. “Git up and hump yourself, Jim. They’re after us,” Huck finds out they are looking for Jim on Jackson’s Island and he rushes back to let him know (Twain 63). Huck could’ve easily ran and left Jim, but he didn’t. This is the first time where Huck begins to change and value Jim as a companion and friend. Huck realizes the value of Jim, outside of being a slave, and risks his own freedom in order for Jim to remain free. Huck realizes that Jim is a good and true friend and that lying is what will keep them safe and together in the society that they are living in. “He’s sick--and so is Mam and Mary Ann,” Huck lies to the men who want to search the raft for slaves (Twain 90). He says his family has smallpox which is what drives the slave searchers away. Huck knows they must lie about their intentions and who they are in order to be successful. This also proves how awful society was, they would have taken away Jim, no questions asked, and it just simply becomes easier to hold their tongues. This is when Huck first begins to protect Jim and defy society once again. Huck later hurts Jim’s feelings by playing a cruel trick on Jim and feels bad. Huck knows white people aren't supposed to, but he apologizes to a slave

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain has been banned from many schools and public libraries due to the use of racial slurs. Although these slurs are frowned upon now, they were a normal part of the society shaped Huckleberry (Huck) Finns life. The world Huck Finn grew up in is before the abolition of slavery. This is when the states is begun to separate, but the civil war is not yet stirring. Huckleberry’s life was influenced by his small town of St. Petersburg, the time period he lived in, and certain people.

There are few reasons why this quote is important for this book. The first reason why it is important is because; it shows what raft represents for Jim and Huck: it represents freedom, of equality, of hope. Huck and Jim builds up friendship on the raft, in 1835-1845 there were severe racism in the society but, because Jim and Huck are removed from social constraints they were able to build friendship. Secondly, it shows how Huck feels toward civilized life: Huck is much more at ease when he is removed from societal rules and structures. On the raft, ideas of morality and rules do not exist, which makes Huck’s life much more delightful.

Two people taking a trip down a river, is rarely thought of as anything more than just an adventure. Mark Twain, however, uses his novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, to explore and makes fun of many problems facing American society. Huck, the main character, is considered a boy who is under pressure to conform to the aspects of society. Jim, who comes along with Huck, is a runaway slave seeking freedom from the world that has been denied it to him for so long. Throughout the entire novel Twain uses satire to show problems with society.

The paragraph in which Huckleberry knocks a spider off his shoulder into a lit candle shows Huck is extremely superstitious. Twain describes Huck sitting down in a chair before going to bed. Sitting in his chair, feeling lonesome and downhearted, a spider crawls up his shoulder. Huck flicks the creature into a candle and it shrivels up. Huck believes the act of killing a spider is extremely unlucky. Twain writes, “I didn’t need anybody to tell me that that was an awful bad sign and would fetch me some bad luck so I was scared and most shook the clothes off me,” (Twain, 3). Killing the spider leaves Huck wary and frightened to the point where Huck decides to do a ritual. Twain describes, “I got up and turned around in my tracks three times

When Huck is on the raft with Jim floating on the river all their problems seem to go away. Society can no longer bother them. There is no longer Black or White. It is just Jim and Huck. ¨I hadn’t had a bite to eat since yesterday, so Jim he got out some corn-dodgers and buttermilk, and pork and cabbage and greens—there ain’t nothing in the world so good when it’s cooked right—and whilst I eat my supper we talked and had a good time. . . .We said there warn’t no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don’t. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft¨ (Pg.117). Huck starts to respect himself more. He begins to feel the sense of freedom and understands why Jim wants it so much. Huck comes to learn to approve of his decisions. Huck begins to mature and he separates himself from what society wants rather than what he wants.Later on in the story the Duke and Dauphin sell Jim back into slavery and Huck decides to write a letter to Miss Watson telling her what he has done and of Jim's whereabouts. I took it up , and held it in my hand. I was a-trembling, because I’d got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: ‘All right then, I’ll go to hell’—and tore it up. It was awful thoughts and awful words, but they was said. And I let them stay said; and never thought no

It gave support. In chapter 19, Huck describes a scene and says, we “lit the pipes, and dangled our legs in the water, and talked about all kinds of things.” During the time period, society would have discouraged having a relationship with a slave. The raft provided an open and supportive atmosphere for both characters to build their relationship. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Jim reveals to Huck about the guilt of him punishing his daughter, when he did not know that she was deaf.

In the novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain juxtaposes two environments that tackle many different aspects of life. From Christian reforms, domestic abuse, and slavery to reflective solitude and liberation, Twain brings together a plethora of obstacles for the main character Huckleberry Finn and his companion Jim to encounter and assimilate. The two contrasting settings depict intermingling themes of the repressive civilization on land, the unrestricted freedom on the raft, and the transcendentalism that Huck and Jim experience during their escape from captivity towards liberation.

Huck and Jim grew an attachment to the lonesome river, but on the raft is where they began to grow an attachment for each other. Huck just a boy trying to survive from all the hardship his father brought on him developed an affection for and responsibility to Jim. Huck has never seen nor experienced a tender, caring father-and on the raft is when Huck first began to experience this. On the raft Jim began to guide Huck like no other and Huck began to mature. Huck was more responsive towards Jim then any other adult because Jim didn't try to civilize him like the Widow or

Huck’s views regarding black people come into question when Huck and Jim run away together. Their experiences together let them become closer to each other and let Huck recognize Jim as a human being with real feelings. Huck starts to view Jim as a caring individual when they are on the raft. This is a scene taken from when Jim and Huck were working together on the raft and Jim was trying to protect them both from the rain, “Jim took up some of the top planks of the raft and built a snug wigwam to get under in blazing weather and rainy, and to keep the things dry. Jim made a floor for the wigwam, and raised it a foot or more above the level of the raft, so now the blankets and all the traps was out of reach of steamboat waves” (Twain, pg 64). In this part of the novel, Huck seems to be all Jim has, and Jim is also all Huck seems to have, and they work together to build a place that the waves cannot reach them. Their feeling of friendship is born through working together and protecting each other. Even though Huck and Jim are having new experiences together, Huck’s conscience is still going back and forth about the idea of freeing a slave. This quote is taken from when Huck