What is the role of the river in The adventures of Huckleberry Finn?
The Mississippi river seems to control the form of the story. In Mark Twain’s The adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck’s adventure is affected by the river in three parts; These parts are before the river, on the river and after the river. Huck’s adventure is steered by the river to show that, in any story, the beginning and end are undefined.
Before the river, Huck and all of his friends are introduced, and he is in civilization, which Huck despises. Eventually, Huck his to escape. Huck eventually gets to the river, when his real adventure begins. Huck meets Jim on the island where he is hiding for the time being. This is when the river seems to start to influence them. They both decide to go on the raft, and travel down the river, unknowing of what could happen. T.S. Eliot says “What we call its headwaters is only a selection from among the innumerable sources which flow together to compose it” (154.) This beginning of the story starts in the middle, which reflects the river; One does not see the beginning of the river, only all of its sources moving together. Huck’s story is just like this. The story also develops and progresses while on the river.
Huck and Jim continue on the river as it guides them and forms the story. The river “cannot tolerate any design, to a story which is its story, that might interfere with its nce. Things must merely happen, here and there, to the people who live along its shores or commit themselves to its current” (154). The river surely seems to do this in Huck’s adventure, casting them into unsuspected adventures, introducing them to odd new people. Huck and Jim also come across problems that they need to figure out on the fly, problems that seemingly come from nowhere. The river also seems a sanctuary to Huck and Jim. These things are undefined especially because they seem random, or unpredictable. Of course, the river has these paths that it steers Huck and Jim on, and they accept them and go with the flow, no pun intended. Huck and Jim also finish the story with something that doesn’t seem to end their story- merely a continuation.
A continuation, like the river always displays because “at the end it merely disappears among its deltas: it is no longer there, but it is still where it was, hundreds of miles to the North” (154).
When the story begins, Huck is running away to enjoy a life of solitude on the river, but finds himself in a whirlwind adventure to help Jim, a runaway slave, to freedom. Huck begins the adventure caught up in the moment, and without much thought of what he is really doing. All this changes at one moment in the story when Huck realizes that he is breaking the law. Huck is taking Jim away from his owner who did nothing to him. Why should he help Jim escape? What is in it for him except trouble? At a suspenseful turning point in the story, Huck is prepared to report Him to two men on the river when he has change of heart. "True Blue Huck Finn" backs down and realizes that there's more to helping Him escape than trouble: there's a special kind of friendship that Huck's never known before.
Throughout Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck learns a variety of life lessons and improves as a person. Huck goes through a maturing process much different than most, he betters a conscience and begins to feel for humanity versus society. His trip down the river can be seen as a passage into manhood, where his character changes as he can relate with the river and nature.
Through the use of juxtaposition and personification, symbolism is created by Twain to focus on the dissimilarity between life on the river, and life on the shore. Twain contrasts the precarious nature of the shore to the temperamental environment on the river, which provides Huck with a refuge from society. “Other places don’t seem so clamped up and smothery, but a raft don’t.” The river symbolizes the freedom of the road, the path of the journey, and the liberty to move on. In this setting the characters are given the opportunity to develop emotionally as the journey progresses.
The Mississippi River, the prominent setting in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was the place that Huck discovered his own logic. The Mississippi River was calm and sweet. Huck especially liked it because it was away from society. “Not a sound, anywheres—perfectly still—just like the whole world was asleep, only sometimes the bullfrogs a-cluttering maybe.” (Twain 108). Traveling on the river, Huck encountered some unlikely companions that taught him lessons about life. The first is when they encounter the two robbers on the Walter Scott, Huck and Finn board not expecting to see them there. They escape by jumping into the robbers’ boat and heading off as quietly as possible. When they are six hundred yards away, Huck feels bad for the robbers that were left stranded on the ship. It is an important aspect of Huck’s character development because he demonstrates that even though the robbers were bad men that did not deserve his compassion, they were also people in need of help. So he sends help for them. Huck reaches the point on the river where he meets the Grangerford family who are pleasant and respectable people. However, ...
Huck’s father was an abusive drunk, so legal custody of Huck was switched over to Widow Douglas, who had a slave named Jim. Living with Mrs. Watson, Huck was taught good morals, values, and manners and was forced to go to school. However, he did not live there very long. Huck’s father went on a drunken rampage and kidnapped Huck from Mrs. Watson, and locked him up in his cabin. However, Huck enjoyed living with his father for a while, because he didn’t have to act civilized. Huck eventually figures a way out of the cabin, so he fakes his death so his father doesn’t think he ran away, and then escapes. Huck runs away to Jackson Island, because it is remote and no one lives there. Wandering around the island, Huck runs into Jim, who then explains to him that he ran away because he thought Huck was dead. Jim and Huck converse for a while, till Jim explains that he wants to buy his family back from slavery. Huck then agrees to help Jim escape to freedom by getting to Cairo and finding the Ohio River.
Set in pre-civil war America, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn takes place along the Mississippi river. As Huckleberry travels along it he learns lessons about life, society and most importantly; himself. Surrounded by a world of prejudice and racism, Huck is forced to learn to make decisions on his own. He is able to learn from the imperfections in the rest of the world as he views them. While on the river, Huck and Jim are at peace. The river symbolizes freedom for both Jim and Huck. The river is Jim’s path to freedom from slavery, and it is Huck’s freedom from society. When Jim and Huck journey onto the banks of the river they see the inhumanity to man that goes on in the world. This juxtaposition of the river and the land help emphasize the peacefulness of the river in comparison to the crazy society on land. Huck learns to think for himself, and tries not to conform to the ways of the people on the land. Although the world that he lives in teaches him to be a racist, his journey down the river teaches him to use his own mind, and find out what he really believes in.
In his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain uses nature not only as ally, but as a deterrent in Huck Finn's search for independence and Jim's search for freedom. The most prominent force of nature in the novel was the Mississippi River. The river was not only their escape route, but perhaps it became their biggest enemy because it was always unpredictable. Nature is the strongest factor in the novel because in a completely different geographical setting the story would have had not only a different outcome, but Huck and Jim might never have found friendship and freedom. Twain changes his tone when describing the Mississippi River from wry and sarcastic to flowing and daydreaming. This change in tone illustrates his own appreciation for the beauty and significance that nature holds for him.
The river is Huck’s escape route from the rules of society, and represents not only a new life for him but also for Jim, an escaped slave. Both Huck and Jim are trying to leave behind the tight grip society has on them. As neither Huck nor Jim were free to do what they wanted back “home”, the river and raft become their independence. Jim and Huck use the raft and each other to create a home and realize that “there wasn’t home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft doesn’t. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft”(Twain,128). While on the raft, Huck begins to relate with his surroundings, nature, which gives him time and space to think for himself. On the raft there is no discrimination. Huck and Jim are equals. Even though Huck is still young in age, he knows it is time to start forming his own opinions and not follow the lead of others. It is here, that Huck truly understands the cruelty of slavery and how brutal society can be to other human beings simply because of the color of their skin. This realization strengthens Huck’s ability to stand behind his values and reject society’s
Life, change, identity, they are all a big part of this book as well as life in general. Huck is a person who the author Mark Twain tries to portray as lost in himself as well as in society. Huck throughout the book is looking for an identity that he believes he will find on his journey down the Mississippi river. "I'd go down the river fifty mile and camp in one place for good, and not have such a rough time tramping on foot."(pg31) Why does he want to get away from his life? I think Huck's character is very independent and he has his own thoughts on where he wants to end up in life. In his old life everybody was always telling him what to do where to go how to eat and he was getting sick of it. On page 4 he says "All I wanted was to go somewheres; all I wanted was change , I warn't particular." He was looking to get out of his old life and into the life that he thought was right for him. Where there was no boundaries or limits, he wanted to be free from the shackles of Christian home life.
From the start, it is patent that Huck is somewhat an outcast who fails to agree with the morals and perceptions of society. As his bond with Jim tightens, Huck questions and disregards many of the lessons he has received about slavery and race. Rather than following the teachings of civilization, Huck decides to follow his own experience, logic, and conscience. At first, he struggles to decipher which is correct, society or his heart; but Huck decides that regardless of right or wrong, he is going to embrace his conscience in regards to Jim. In the beginning, Huck starts out seeing Jim as a worthless “nigger”, but he gradually defies the Jim Crow South by valuing and admiring the escaped slave. One sees Huck following his moral instincts when he battles social customs and accepts his ideas to help Jim in many dire situations. Regardless of feeling the pressures of having the social obligations to turn in a runaway slave, Huck remembers “how good [Jim] always was” (214) and is internally faced with the dilemma of trying to do what he perceives as right. More than once, Huck comes to the resolution, “All right, then, I’ll go to hell” (214), because he sees Jim as more of a father and friend than anyone he has previously encountered. For Huck, his time on the raft is where he truly receives his moral education because that is
Rivers flow freely, and smoothly, and people usually go to the river to escape from society and civilization. They feel free with the nature surrounding them, which allows them to rest, and relax in peace. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Twain uses symbolic importance of the Mississippi River. Throughout the story, the Mississippi River plays an important symbolic figure, and significance to the story's plot. For Huck and Jim, the river is a place for freedom and adventure. Mark Twain uses the Mississippi River to symbolize freedom, adventure, and comfort.
...by Mark Twain. The Mississippi River symbolizes freedom for Huck and Jim, as well as being their place of comfort. Nature is also a big part of Huck’s life because he is most comfortable living outside of civilization, in nature. Comparing Huckleberry and Tom, as well as showing how Huck has become affected by civilization, is important in supporting the human nature side of the human nature versus civilization conflict. In this novel, human nature has become more important than civilization because nature has taught Huck far more than living in society ever would. There are many themes in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Although many of them are important in the book, the theme of nature and its significance is the most important in developing the plot, as well as showing the growth of the characters, namely the protagonist Huckleberry Finn.
The Raft and the Mississippi River play a major role in this book. The river comes to symbolize many things, and one important role I believe the river play is being the deliverer for both Huck and Jim. The river takes both Huck and Jim away from captivity. As Huck was running from both Pap and the Widow, and Jim was running from Miss Watson the river helps to cover their footsteps. With Jim confined to the raft during the day it is very difficult for them to hunt. The river also helps to feed them.
Huck and Jim head up the river towards Cairo, where they will move the raft onto the Ohio River and head north. Unfortunately, a thick fog forms over the river and they miss the mouth of the river. They continue south down the river and are confronted by men hunting slaves who have escaped. Here is one of the first times Huck really thinks about helping Jim as a moral issue, since he is given the opportunity to turn him in.
Through the various events in the Adventures of Huckleberry finn, By Mark Twain presents the life of a young and adventurous named Huck. Huck embarks on the Mississippi river along with a runaway slave named Jim. The Mississippi river serves as a symbol of protection, freedom, retreat from society ,and Huck’s true morality. In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain contracts life on water to life on land through Huck’s experiences.The life on the raft along the river, gives Huck and Jim a sense of freedom, they had no rules to follow unlike on the shore where there were no equal Human rights or social standards. Huck and Jim were in a safe Haven along the Mississippi river.