In the adventures of Huckleberry Finn the Mississippi River symbolizes growing up for Huckleberry. On his journey down the Mississippi River Huckleberry faces many obstacles that ultimately help him mature. While being on his own going down the Mississippi, Huckleberry transformed as a person. Huckleberry learns how to extinguish confrontations before they happen, deal with stressful situations, and even grow a prominent conscience.
A major turning point for Huckleberry as a character is when he starts to see the fault in scamming people. This realization happened when Jim and Huckleberry were traveling with the “Duke” and the “King” down the Mississippi River. Huckleberry said himself that he could not let the rapscallions steal from Mary Jane and the other girls. Before his trip there, and before all of his maturing from being on his own on the river he most likely would have let the men scam the poor innocent girls out of everything they own. By not allowing the men to scam he shows extreme growth in his conscience considering at the beginning of the story he had a sadistic way of thinking.
Huckleberry’s views also changed on his adventure as he grows into being his own person. He grew tolerance and a friendship with Jim, which was an abnormality of the time. Throughout the book he
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The Mississippi River supported the expansion of Huckleberry’s personality, but the people were not as accepting of his changes. He had to hide his hopeful thinking of freedom for his dear friend Jim. An example of this suppression of expansion was at the end of the story at Tom Sawyer’s aunt and uncle’s house, they had to hide how they were going to break Jim out of the slave quarters on the estate. On the river he did not have to hide his friendship or his wanting to help Jim. While on the river they were free to talk, laugh, and joke around as the friends they
Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn shows the development of a young boy named Huck Finn. We see Huck develop in character, attitude and maturity as he goes on his adventure down the Mississippi River. This is displayed through his search for freedom from civilization and it's beliefs and through his personal observations of a corrupt and immoral society. Most importantly, we are in Huck's head as he goes through his confusion over his supposedly immoral behavior and his acceptance that he will “go to hell” as he conquers his social beliefs.
In the middle of the book, Huck starts to distinguish what is the right thing to do. He starts to think if all the things he was doing before with Jim and Tom were too mean and stupid to do. One specific example is when he decides to steal the money that the king and duke have, “I got to steal that money somehow; and I got to steal it some way that they wont suspicion I done it." (Twain 133) After Huck stole the money Huck and Jim didn’t feel bad at all, and knew that they did the right thing after all. He learns that not everyone can be scammed on, that the real life is important and that you can’t do anything stupid like that. He sees eye to eye with Jim and realizes that he cant have someone taken advantage of just because of their
“The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is a piece of fiction that is so strongly written it can be conceived as the truth. Mark Twain’s ability to paint a clear and realistic picture of the Southern way of life in 1885 is unparalleled in any author. The story of Huckleberry Finn is one that gives ample opportunity for interesting sights into the South at that time. The story consists of Huck and a runaway slave, along with two men and Huck’s faithful friend Tom Sawyer and some points of the novel, floating down the Mississippi’s shores and encountering different feats of Southern culture, tragedy, and adventure. A nice example of Twain’s ability to turn an event on a river into an analysis of Southern culture is a fun bit of the story where Huck
Huckleberry Finn is a young, white male who becomes friends with a black man by the name of Jim. Huckleberry Finn is thirteen , while Jim is pushing forty. Huckleberry has befriended Jim who is a runaway slave, so by the law of the land Huckleberry is the wrongdoer from get go. “The widow she cried over me, and called me a poor lost lamb, and she called me a lot of other names, too, but she never meant no harm by it” (Twain 1), which automatically shows Huckleberry is a misfit. Huckleberry is a young boy who is discovering what life is to
Huckleberry Finn is also lifted into great literary status by Twain’s compelling use of symbolism. An example of this symbolism is the Mississippi River. Throughout the novel, the river symbolizes life’s journey and, eventually, Huck’s natural integrity. It represents a place of ease and safety for both Huck and Jim. There is a major difference between their life on the river and their life on the land. On the river, life for Huck is peaceful and easy yet not without its dangers, whilst life on the land is most often cruel, demanding, and deceitful. Another example is how life on the raft is a paradox because, even
Throughout the book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the main character, Huck goes through major changes. The story is set before the Civil War in the South. Huck is a child with an abusive father who kidnaps him from, Widow Douglas and Miss Watson, the people he was living with. He eventually escapes from his father and finds Jim, Miss Watson’s runaway slave. As Huck travels with Jim, Huck begins to realize that Jim is more than a piece of property. During the travel down the river, Huck makes many decisions that reflect his belief that Jim deserves the same rights he has. Because of these realizations, Huck chooses to do the right thing in many instances. Some of these instances where Huck does the right thing instead of society’s
The main character of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, Huck Finn, undergoes a complete moral change while having to make life changing and moral questioning decisions throughout his journey on the river. Huck appears first as a morally inferior character caused by living with a self absorbed and abusive father, because of his alcoholic habits. Throughout the whole book Huck is guided by Jim, a runaway slave who goes with him and helps Huck gain his sense of morality. During these encounters, he is in many situations where he must look within and use his judgement to make decisions that will affect Huck’s morals.
Huck changes through the course of the novel by joining a band, running away from his father, and makes friend with Jim a former slave in his runaway journey.
At first glance it appears that Huck Finn never changes from the carefree boy he is, but he becomes a changes man. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Huck changes from the beginning to the end of the novel. He develops and becomes a better person. He is naive and careless at the beginning, then start to change because of his friendship with Jim, and at the end he completely rejects slavery.
People can change when obstacles are thrown in front of them. In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Huck changes morally. The novel begins with Huckleberry Finn, the main character, running away from home and faking his death. He runs into his aunt's runaway slave and they decide to escape to the north together. Huck starts out as a selfish little boy who has racist beliefs.
Huckleberry’s changed morals are shown when Huck decides to save Jim from slavery and set him free. Chapter thirty-one demonstrates this when Huck makes the decision to save Jim after the King sells him for money to spend on alcohol, “All right, then, I’ll go to hell” (Twain 206). Huckleberry decides to save Jim even though that may mean that he’ll go to hell instead of heaven. Now, seeing Jim as his equal, Huck believes that he has the right to be free just like himself. Huck’s decision shows his changed morals because he believes this is the right thing to do, even
Early on it was obvious that Huckleberry liked to exploit the vulnerability of others. A prime example of Huck’s exploits were when he had convinced Jim that he had gone mad or was dreaming., “En you ain’dead- you ain’drownded-you’s back agin?”(63) Jim was showing a genuine concern for Huckleberry’s wellbeing. Belittling one who cares for him, unknowing of what the future holds for the both of them. Lying was a trait that was very prominent in Huckleberry’s life. He lied about him dying, tried to deceive people by being dressed as a girl, and more. “”Well,last I pulled out some of my hair, and bloodied the axe good,”(25) how easy it was for Huckleberry to “die” and runaway instead of returning to those who cared about him.
In �The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn�, the Mississippi River plays several roles and holds a prominent theme throughout much of the story as a whole. Huckleberry Finn and Jim are without a doubt the happiest and most a peace when floating down the river on their raft. However, the river has a much deeper meaning than just a compilation of water. It almost goes to an extent of having its own personality and character traits. The river offers a place for the two characters, Huck and Jim, to escape from everybody and even everything in society and leaves them with a feeling of ease. In the middle section of Huckleberry Finn, the river takes on more of a concrete meaning and will be discussed more so in the paragraphs that follows.
When Huck runs away from his father, he goes down the river in a canoe that he found until he gets to Jackson Island. There he is able to relax and recharge while feeling “rested and ruther comfortable and satisfied” (44). While Huck is on the island, no one can find him and take him back to the widow or his father. He is safely hidden from everything he was trying to escape from. Jackson’s Island is where Huck and Jim find each other after they’ve both escaped and it’s the place where they first become acquaintances. “…it was Miss Watson’s Jim! I bet I was glad to see him” (49). In this moment, Huck and Jim are no longer on their own. From then on, they both had each other and nature to rely on to help them escape from what was holding them back. The river is the only place where Huck, a white boy, and Jim, a black slave, are able to interact as friends and form a deep level of bonding. Jim even tells Huck, “’Jim won’t ever forgit you, Huck; you’s de bes’ fren’ Jim’s ever had; en you’s de only fren’ ole Jim’s got now’” (106). In normal society at that time, a black and white would never have a friendship like theirs, but on the river there’s no one to see them interacting and judge them for it.
The Mississippi river is one of the most widely recognized symbols of freedom in the novel. It is used as a means of escape by both Huck Finn and Jim. The first time it is used as such is when Huck runs away from his father and the possibility of being forced back into society. Huck devised an elaborate scheme to escape via the river. He had a few close calls but when he saw his chance he took it: “I didn't lose no time. The next minute I was a-spinning down-stream soft, but quick, in the shade of the bank. I made two mile and a half, and then struck out a quarter of a mile or more toward the middle of the river,” (pg. 48).Without the aid of the river Huck’s departure