The Sweet Serenade Of The Mississippi River

“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

     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.

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

They wants to jump in, but I says: 'Don't you do it. I don't hear the dogs and horses yet; you've got time to crowd through the brush and get up the crick a little ways; then you take to the water and wade down to me and get in-that 'll throw the dogs off the scent.'" (Twain 116) Huck acts like a Good Samaritan. Not only does Huck have pity upon these two men, he is also willing to take action and help them to safety. ""When I got down out of the tree I crept along down the river-bank a piece, and found the two bodies laying in the edge of the water, and tugged at them till I Got then ashore; then I covered up their faces, and got away as quick as I could. I cried a little when I was covering up Buck's face, for he was mighty good to me." (Twain 112) Huck has empathy for humankind; he treats others as he wants to be treated. Huck overlooked a person's social status, race or respectability when reacting to a situation. Another example of Huck's tenderness towards other humans is his experience with Jim on the river. At the beginning of the voyage Huck viewed Jim as a piece of property, a true reflection of Southern mores. "It was fifteen minutes before I would work myself to go and humble myself to a nigger; but I done it, and I warn't even sorry for it afterward, neither." (Twain 84) Going against social mores takes a great deal of looking inside one's self. Being raised in a time and place where blacks were looked down upon, Huck found that going against what

As huck and Jim move towards south, the duke and the prince invade the raft, and huck and Jim should pay longer on land. Although the stream continues to supply a refuge from bother, it usually just affects the exchange of 1 dangerous scenario for one more. Every escape exists within the larger context of a continuing drift southward, toward the geographic area and entrenched slavery. during this transition from idyllic go back to supply of peril, the stream mirrors the difficult state of the South. As huck and Jim’s journey progresses, the river, that once appeared a paradise and a supply of freedom, becomes just a short-run suggests that of escape that yet pushes huck and Jim ever additional toward danger and destruction.

In the sense that the river is also a path that Huck can choose of proceeding with his journey or putting a stop to it and returning home as well as, turning Jim in as a runaway slave. This option is established in the 31st chapter in the novel when Huck confronts his options for his journey, and in the end, betrays himself that tells him to turn around and stop what he is doing. This being incorporated into the story would display to those few Southern’s at the time that assisted some blacks in their escape from the South to persuade them to continue with their choice to aid those blacks to their freedom just as Huck did with

Mark Twain's novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is based on a young boy's coming of age in Missouri in the mid-1800s. The adventures Huck Finn gets into while floating down the Mississippi River depict many serious issues that occur on the shores of civilization, better known as society. As these events following the Civil War are told through the young eyes of Huckleberry Finn, he unknowingly develops morally from the influences surrounding him on his journey to freedom and in the end, becomes a mature individual.

While he was trapped at his father’s cabin, his father told him to go to the river to see if there were fish on the lines for breakfast. Huck explains, “He unlocked the door and I cleared out, up the river bank. I noticed some pieces of limbs and such things floating down, and a sprinkling of bark; so I knowed the river had begun to rise. I reckoned I would have great times, now, if I was over at the town. The June rise used to be always luck for me; because as soon as that rise begins, here comes cordwood floating down, and pieces of log rafts-sometimes a dozen logs together; so all you have to do is to catch them and sell them to the wood yards and the sawmill. …Well, all at once, here come a canoe” (Twain 30). When Huck saw these objects floating in the water, he saw the water as his source for freedom, or his escape from the captivity of his father’s cabin. Remembering his luck that came with the June rise, Huck was filled with the hope of escaping and being free. Huck took the canoe and hid it from his father until Huck used it to escape down the river. Because Huck knew he was free, he said, “All right; I can stop anywhere I want to. Jackson’s Island is good enough for me; I know that island pretty well, and nobody ever comes there. And then I can paddled over to town, nights, and slink around and pick up things I want. Jackson’s

Twain also exposes the deplorable concept of slavery by allowing Huck to view Jim as an equal person. As the novel proceeds, Huck and Jim continue their voyage down the Mississippi River and become close friends. Huck eventually has to decide whether or not to turn Jim in to Miss Watson. "…And I got to thinking over our trip down the river; and I see Jim before me all the time: in the day and

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'

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”.

In chapter 18 as Jim searches for signs of the city, Twain writes, “He said he’d be mighty sure to see it, because he’d be a free man the minute he seen it, but if he missed it he’d be in a slave country again and no more show for freedom” Chapter 16 page 68-69. Since Huck and Jim miss the mouth of the Ohio river while being lost in a thick fog, it can be seen that Huck’s morals are unclear yet he still hold on to societies beliefs. While Jim travels the Mississippi in search of his freedom, the Mississippi corresponds with Huck’s moral ambiguity and pulls the raft farther into the hold on

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

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.

Many aspects of the novel that initially drew me in ended up staying true to their claim and impressing me even more than I originally expected. For instance, the complexity of the characters, specifically Jim, is simply astounding. To demonstrate, despite being on the brink of achieving freedom, Jim chooses to take the chance of losing it when he refuses to leave an injured Tom behind whilst saying that he “‘doan' budge a step out'n dis place 'dout a DOCTOR, not if it's forty year!”’ (Twain 275). This not only depicts Jim’s selfless nature, but also portrays the full extent exactly how far he is willing to go for his friends. To elaborate, his original reason for abandoning his mistress was in order to achieve freedom for himself and his family. However, after learning to cherish the time and memories he and Huck have spent together on the raft, Jim risks failing to achieve his one goal in order to make sure his friends are safe. Another prominent feature of the novel is the method in which they address the topic of racism and slavery. Again portrayed through the character Jim, Twain interweaves threads of racism into his actions and speech in order to depict the social hierarchy of the time period. To illustrate, although his personality can attribute for certain aspects of his actions, the audience truly learns to recognize the effects of institutionalized racism when Huck reveals that