Transcendentalism In Huckleberry Finn

"Sometimes we would have that whole river all to ourselves for the longest time. Yonder was the banks and the islands, across the water; and maybe a spark or two--on a raft or a scow, you know; and maybe you could hear a fiddle or a song coming over from one of them crafts" (Examining the River in Terms of Symbolism in 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'). Freedom is a wonderful thing many Americans today take for granted. According to Webster's Dictionary, the word freedom is defined as "the condition of being free from restraints." Although, both characters, Huck and Jim, were free in different senses, they were still free. "...Because the river was so peaceful and calm that it led to their freedom to do as they please without the barriers given by society on land" (Examining the River in Terms of Symbolism in "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn")"Jim is safe from those who hunt runaway slaves. On the river, Huck has the time to ponder all that goes on around

People often hesitate to accept what they do not understand. In the absence of love and compassion, it is no question that fear, ignorance, and hatred, all contribute to a melting pot of negativity in the world. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, is about the love and friendship cultivated by a young boy and a black slave on the Mississippi River. Despite the pair’s differences, they are able to endure the struggles and difficulties that the toilsome journey brings. Mark Twain, in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, emphasizes the shift in Huck’s view towards slavery by contrasting Huck’s initial tone of reflectiveness to his assertive tone, both collectively addressing the issue of racism in society.

Widow Douglas is a Christian woman who takes care of Huck while his father is absent. She is the main mother figure that Huck has; therefore, has an influential role in Huck’s moral development. The Widow is extremely willing to take Huck in. In the beginning of this novel, Huck explains that, “the Widow Douglas, she took me for her son, and allowed she would civilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time…”(Chapter 1). Widow Douglas enjoyed the task of making Huck civilized. To Widow Douglas, being a civilized human means being proper, polite and acting in a respectful manner. In her house, there are strict rules, and no leniency for breaking them. She teaches Huck about the Bible, and makes him say grace before every meal. Her morality includes always acting in a traditional conforming way. When Huck and Tom are conversing about a hypothetical genie situation, Tom says; ”how you talk, Huck Finn. Why, you'd HAVE to come when he rubbed it, whether you wanted to or not" (Chapter 3). Tom knows that Huck is well mannered. He knows that even if Huck does not want to do something, he will if it is the right thing to do because of the values that the widow has instilled on him. Widow Douglas does not allow Huck to argue against her, for her word is always what goes. Widow Douglas has pure intentions for Huck in her efforts to make him into a civil man. She forces Huck to rid himself his bad

Many times an authors purpose of writing a fictitious story is to not only create a story for the reader to enjoy, but to allow the reader to get something out of the story that they may not have thought about on their own. Often times the inside meaning in a story may involve something about society that the author either likes or dislikes and wants you to think about the problem yourself. In the story, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” the author, Mark Twain does an excellent job in creating an enjoyable story as well as propose a problem in society. Twain believed that society was corrupt and cruel so he created a fictional story to portray the issue. In order to do this twain created a character and put him in a corrupt society where he went on numerous adventures and throughout the story questioned the ways of society and became transcendental to their ideas.

Tom and Huck contribute to escape Jim from a prison and to fight the gang. When the man come into the cabin, Jim and the boys immediately head for the river, but Tom is shot on the way to the raft while escaping. Tom says everyone to shove off but Jim insists to stay by saying, “I doan’ a budge a step out’ dis place’dout a doctor , not if it’s forty year (Twain, 276 ).” The statement reinforces Jim as a heroic figure of capable to sacrifice himself. Even though Jim successfully escapes and has freedom right in front of him, Jim refuses to “step out” from the place and allows himself to be recaptured despite the fact that freedom is what Jim desperately wants to earn. Jim’s willingness to risk his life to aid Tom shows his kindness and compassion, which is totally different from what Huck’s society thinks of slave’s humanity. People interpret Jim as a runaway slave, because of the prevalent word “racism” that gives a fact that black as an inferior race, but by showing his kindness and loyalty that is different from a stereotypical slave, Jim defies society’s moral code. Jim finely illustrates his veiled heroic figure and society’s ridiculous blindness because of the labeling of

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

They can transport goods and people across great lengths through any given body of water, faster than the conventional horse and buggy. The Mississippi proves to be essential, to no exception. On their adventures, Huck and Jim find this river to be essential en route to freedom. Huck and Jim are civilly disobedient despite their unequivocally correct beliefs; thus, they must ford the river or else their freedom venture may be infringed upon. When Huck says, “it did seem so good to be free again and all by ourselves on the big river, and nobody to bother us” (29), he denotes to the rivers symbolic meaning of freedom.

Jim’s escape onto the river is much more literal, an escape from slavery. While on the raft, Jim is no longer bound to his master, allowing him to have the autonomy that had been stripped from him on land. While it may seem strange that Huck and Jim find freedom by isolating themselves from society, the idea that only an outsider is truly free is proven when Jim gets sold back into slavery, a reality that comes with being on land. Despite Tom’s seemingly kind personality, his family still owns slaves, proving that even noble people can be coerced into the horrors of civil society. While on land, there is always a danger that Jim and Huck will be caught and sent back to their previous lives, stripped of their freedom.

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain develops the plot into Huck and Jim's adventures allowing him to weave in his criticism of society. The two main characters, Huck and Jim, both run from social injustice and both are distrustful of the civilization around them. Huck is considered an uneducated backward boy, constantly under pressure to conform to the "humanized" surroundings of society. Jim a slave is not even considered as a real person, but as property. As they run from civilization and are on the river, they ponder the social injustices forced upon them when they are on land.

Widow Douglas forces Huck into white society standards by making him wear new clothes, come when called, pray before dinner, and listen about Mosses after dinner (para. 3 and 4). Widow Douglas wants Huck to be “civilized” as she correlates being well-behaved with being able to enter heaven. She believes Huck not complying with her rules determines if Huck will being go to “the bad place” or heaven. The level of civilization and respectability is based off of religion. Because of Huck’s different beliefs and morals, Widow Douglas feels it is her responsibility to “civilize” him in order to change him into a polite, well-mannered individual. Freedom to Huck can be defined as liberation from the corrupt white society represented by Miss Watson's Home as illustrated in Mark Twain’s satirical novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Widow Douglas chooses to “civilize” Huck in which he responds by getting into his old clothing that makes him feel “free and satisfied” (para. 2). Huck views society standards as idiotic and senseless. He prefers defying society because of the freedom he gets to express his individuality. To Huck, his freedom is the equivalence to his happiness. When Huck is describing the woods, he personifies it to be someone who understands his and accepts him for who he really is (para. 8). Huck feels the most free when he is in the woods which is the antithesis of civilization and

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 Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain presents the problem of slavery in America in the 19th Century. Twain poses this problem in the form of a character named Huckleberry Finn, a white boy raised in the antebellum South. Huck starts to question his view regarding slavery when he acquaints himself more intimately with a runaway slave while he himself tries to run away. Huck’s development as a character is affected by society’s influence on his experiences while growing up in the South, running away with Jim, and trying to save Jim. Although Huck decides to free Jim, Huck’s deformed conscience convinces him that he is doing the wrong thing.

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

Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn is widely considered a classic - an embodiment of American literature. It rightfully tackles the issue of slavery through the illustration and vernacular of the young protagonist, Huck Finn and his adventures with a runaway slave, Jim. However, beneath a linear challenge towards slavery, Twain’s depiction of Huck’s changing views of Jim reveal Huck’s unique attitude and philosophy towards slavery, and in particular - his partner-in-“crime” - Jim. Although Huck never abandons societal opinions of slavery and never opposes the bondage, his exception for Jim unveils the follies of his society and flawed upbringing.

The individual is the center of the universe, everything should be made for the usage of an individual. In Song of Myself, written by Walt Whitman depicts that an individual felt that they had little power or influence in society. Whitman supports his statements by the usage of the word transcendentalism, which means that valued nature and individuals belonging in it. Also shown by Mark Twain, satiric novel in 1884, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain depicts Huck as an illiterate and uneducated 14 year old white boy that can be described as truthful, honest, and transparent. Twain’s purpose is to show white society’s standards and the shrewdness to those who defy the social norms of their judgement. Finally, James McPherson recognizing the notion of independence and individualism by describing the North’s desire to live in peace and freedom of slaves. Mcpherson contemplates about how Confederates fought for independence, for their own property and way of life, for their very survival. Each of the texts validates that the expression of society to defiance of social norms can lead an individual to seek freedom and leave the imprisonment of society’s judgement, society’s judgement is depicted as shrewdness of forcing an individual to be the same as others.