How Does Society Influence Huck's Life

     Life on the river was also good at first, but it also became tiresome for Huck. He liked the sense of freedom that he had while he was on the river with Jim, he didn't have to go to school nor did he have any rules that he had to live by. He didn't have to worry about what his father was going to do to him. However the river still set limits on their freedom, Jim and Huck were only able to travel at night because they were afraid of Jim being found and whenever they would stop for the day, they would have to cover up the raft with leaves and foliage. Huck did not like having to be the one that would have to go look for food and water for them, he never had to be responsible until this time and, he didn't like having to use such precautions so that Jim would not be found. Huck could have made life easier for himself and turned Jim in, but he looked at him as a friend not as a fugitive slave.

From the beginning of the novel the reader is able to see how unnecessarily complex their society is based upon their clothing. The story continues to describe Huck’s day as he prays before dinner and reads the bible. Huck states, “When you got to the

“We said there warn’t no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped and smothery, but a raft don’t. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft. ”(88) Before Huck and Jim said this, Huck’s life was at danger.

As they run from civilization and are on the river, they ponder the purpose of the social injustices forced upon them when they are on land. The river is unbiased and does not judge how saintly they are, how rich they are, or how society views of them. The river allows Huck the one thing that Huck wants to be, and that is

At the beginning of the story Huck is the definition of an average teen boy. He is rebellious and doesn’t know who he is. He sets out to find himself. This is seen as soon as the book starts when he explains how he just wants to be free, “I lit out. I got into my old rags, and my sugar hog shed, and was free and satisfied” (page 3). He isn’t a little boy anymore, and his adventures through maturity begin to appear. Huck starts to realize that he doesn’t want to do what the Widow and Miss Watson say to do anymore. This is the first example of independence that Huck displays.

Huck and Jim go through many adventures together, Huck trying to help Jim be a free man; but thinking him as an equal. The overall theme of the novel is the coming of age over a period of time. “They talked it over, and they was going to rule me out, because they said every boy must have a family or somebody to kill, or else it wouldn’t be fair and square for the others. Well, nobody could think of anything to do-everybody was stumped, and set still. I was most ready to cry; but all at once I thought of a way, and so I offered them Miss Watson-they could kill her” (6).

The river allows Huck to become a true outsider, running away from society. As a result, Huck is able to discover new ideas and ways to live, something he seeks. Huck explains the solace brought on by the river, saying, “we went a-sliding down the river, and it did seem so good to be free again and all by ourselves on the big river” (29). Huck believes that the river brings peace with it, somewhere he can truly be himself. The river functions as a location that Huck can live his life the way he truly desires, proving that only by escaping society and becoming an outsider can one become free and discover who

Furthermore, the novel illustrates the unrestricted freedom the river provides through the connection with nature, independence from slavery, and the pair’s relationship. After escaping the clutches of the restrictive lifestyle of Miss Watson and the violent relationship with his father, Huck seeks refuge in the waters surrounding himself with nature, considering it as his home as he proclaims, “...there warn’t no home like the raft…Other places feel so cramped and smothery, but a raft don't. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft” (Twain 117). As Jim escapes from civilization towards life on the raft where open friendship and freedom that the river provides overcome prejudice against racism and slavery, he grows as an individual as he declares risking his life and freedom for Huck, “my heart wuz mos’' broke bekase you wuz los’, en I didn' k'yer no mo'

In contrast, Huck appears to have no desire to have a relationship with his father. At one point in the story Huck does not even know if his father is alive or not, and apparently does not care to know. Because of his father's

"so when I couldn't stand it no longer, I lit out. I got into my old rags, and my sugar-hogshead again, and was free and satisfied” (Page 1). Right from the beginning you see that he doesn’t want anybody to control him. “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.” (Page 116). Huck's goals are to get away from that controlling life that he was being forced to live and lead a continuation of the unrestricted life that he thrived for.

Life on the river for Huck and Jim is very peaceful. Jim built a snug wigwam to keep their belongings dry, they could just lay looking up at the sky, and they good weather. Huck says, “We catched fish and talked, and we took a swim now and then to keep off sleepiness” (Twain, 64). The river provided Huck and Jim many things, not only food, but also a way to escape. For Huck, the river provided him an escape from his life with his father and the Widow. For Jim, the river provided an escape from being a slave. On the river they were both free from their past lives. Mark Twain, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, shows us how nature can offer an escape from society’s restrictions and evils. Even though nature has changed immensely since this book was written, it still provides an escape from society. In today’s world, nature can be utilized as a thinking place or as a place to recover from pain. There are many more themes that we can see in today’s society. Several themes of Huck Finn are still relevant today, including “Nature offers an escape from society’s restrictions and evils,” “People tend to act cruelly or irrationally in groups,” and “Discrimination causes pain and suffering for many people”.

Mark Twain also demonstrates how undesirable civilized society really is. Both Huck and Jim desire freedom, which greatly contrasts the existing civilization along the river. They both turn to nature to escape from the unprincipled ways of civilization. Huck wants to escape from both the proper, cultured behavior of Miss Watson and Widow Douglas and the tyranny of his father. Jim, on the other hand, hopes to escape from slavery and start a new life as a free man, hopefully with his own family eventually. Throughout the novel, the raft enables Huck and Jim to escape from the barbarism of their society to a place of serenity and peace, which is always on their raft, away from any other people. Through the duration of the story, Huck learns and does many things that would be contrary to the beliefs of society such as helping Jim

The widow buys Huck new clothes to dress him like a civilized boy. The widow buys clothes “sweat” and “cramped up”(3).Civilization makes Huck feel uncomfortable because they are trying to advance him but it really is making him feel like he has a lack of space to be one with himself. The widow is acting as a foster mother to Huck taking him in and showing how your life is really supposed to be brought in a ‘proper’ home environment. Ms.Watson was helping Huck with manners when around others. She said “don't put your feet up there” and “ she kept pecking at me”(5).Huck is becoming annoyed by Ms.Watson and the widow because they are trying to turn him into something he is not used to.

When observing his new situation in the Grangerford family, Huck notes how [his nigger] ‘had a monstrous easy time, because [he] warn't used to having anybody do anything for [him]’ (AHF, p. 238). Rather than take advantage of his superior status as a white person, Huck defies societal expectations and refuses to make use of the slave he has been assigned, this heightened level of morality being suggestive of what ‘feeling can accomplish in opposition to apparently irrefutable fact.’ Much like The Scarlet Letter, the irony arises due to the fact that Huck takes up a position which would not be expected of him in that society, as a consequence of his developed conscience.

At the beginning of the story, Huck is a young, wild boy who doesn’t really understand the world. He is distant from his father because he was very abusive, and he is cared for by both Miss Watson and Widow Douglas. Huck has very few morals and is usually dirty. He does not believe in religion. “Well I got a good going-over in the morning from old Miss Watson on account of my clothes; but the widow she didn’t scold, but only cleaned off the grease and clay, and looked so sorry that I thought I would behave awhile if I could.” (page 10) Huck does not genuinely care about what goes on or what he does, in fact, he didn’t care too much when people said that his father had died. He was only uncomfortable. (page 12)