Huckleberry Finn – Seclusion from Society
Imagine the amount of freedom one feels as they drift down a river voluntarily stranded on a raft. The thought of it is relaxing to the mind, but actually experiencing it for yourself is a whole new happening. The freedom, no worries, no sounds but the noise of the river water rushing and the sounds of boat horns off in the distance. In Mark Twain's novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the author effectively symbolizes the river as a place outside of society.
In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Twain uses the river as an escape from society for the characters Huck and Jim. Twain is showing examples of his own life through the character Huck. The reason for saying this is that Twain had grown up amongst many rivers in his life time, including "a New York town named Riverdale which is now a part of the Bronx, New York City's northernmost borough, Riverdale was a separate residential community when Mark Twain rented a house there in 1901."(Rasmussen, 391) Twain loved the water so much that he piloted many steamboats on the Mississippi River. The last steamboat on which Twain worked as a pilot was the "Alonzo Child." "The Alonzo Child was a 493-ton side-wheeler, the Child was built in Jeffersonville, Indiana for the Missouri river trade around 1856" (Rasmussen, 8). This is an example of how Twain lived by many rivers and how Twain used the river to get away from society.
In Twain's novel the character Boggs shows an excellent example of someone who is lost and uses seclusion as an escape from society. "In chapter twenty-one, Huck is idling in the scruffy village of Bricksville, when Boggs charges in on a horse during his monthly drunk. A red faced man in his in his fifties. Boggs rides about wildly hurling insults and threats proclaiming that he has come to kill Colonel Sherburn."(Rasmussen, 39) This shows that people don't give him as much respect as he would like because when he gets drunk he acts very irresponsible and he is a bad role model. There for Boggs secludes himself to his home to hide his embarrassment.
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.
Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the greatest American novels ever written. The story is about Huck, a young boy who is coming of age and is escaping from his drunken father. Along the way he stumbles across Miss Watson's slave, Jim, who has run away because he overhead that he would be sold. Throughout the story, Huck is faced with the moral dilemma of whether or not to turn Jim in. Mark Twain has purposely placed these two polar opposites together in order to make a satire of the society's institution of slavery. Along the journey, Twain implies his values through Huck on slavery, the two-facedness of society, and represents ideas with the Mississippi River.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain is about the great adventures that Huck finn has with his slave Jim on the Missouri River. The story tells not only about the adventures Huck has, but more of a deeper understanding of the society he lives in. Twain had Huck born into a low class society of white people; his father was a drunken bum and his mother was dead. He was adopted by the widow Douglas who tried to teach him morals, ethics, and manners that she thought fit in a civilized society. Huck never cared for these values and ran away to be free of them. During Huck’s adventure with Jim he unknowingly realized that he didn't agree with society’s values and could have his own assumptions and moral values. Twain uses this realization to show how the civilized and morally correct social values that was introduced to Huck was now the civilized and morally contradicting values.
Their decisions for escaping from the mundane, routine-filled societies is done to further isolate themselves on their search to actually finding themselves, and acquiring freedom. For Huckleberry Finn, he is fleeing from his abusive father with Jim, and the society that is forcing him to change into somebody that he cannot see himself be; because he is fearful it would take away his freedom. In fact, Huck says the following in chapter 18 while on the mississippi river with Jim, "We said there wasn '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” (Twain 18). What this represents is Huck’s childish way of further persuading himself that being on the raft,free is isolating him from society 's problems because he does not have to be under the command of anyone but himself. This is the seed of freedom that is now en grained into his mind, he will reflect back onto this moment of serenity to further push himself away from the “sivilized” society that is nothing more than a way to keep him isolated. We see this similar occurrence in “The Awakening,” when Edna Pontellier begins going astray from the generally accepted societal norms
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.
One of the themes that has been addressed by writers since the beginning of civilization is the issue of the split between living in society and living by oneself. We see this in that peculiarly American genre of books known as "road books", in which the protagonist embarks upon a long journey or period of time away from society in order to "find themselves." One of the quintessential examples of this type of book is Mark Twain's novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, technically a "river book" rather than a "road book". In it, as in many "road books" before and since, spending a long period of time away from society allows the protagonist to see the difference between the rules of mainstream society and the freedom of the wilderness. Through his journey, Twain illustrates the futility of living within society as contrasted to the freedom of being an outcast.
In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, Huck lives in two different settings. One of the settings is on land with the widow and with his father and the other is on the river with Jim. There are many differences of living on land as opposed to living on the Mississippi River. On land, Huck has more rules to live by and he has to watch himself so as not to upset the widow or his father. On the river, Huck didn't have to worry about anything except people finding Jim. He also had to worry about the king and the duke for a while. Even thought there are many differences of the two living styles, there are also some similarities.
"Gladiator", comes from the latin word "gladius", for sword. They were primarily made up of slaves, criminals, prisoners of war or even volunteer free men. The crimes that could lead one to the arena included treason, robbery, and murder, among others. Some free men became gladiators of their own free will in hopes of gaining notoriety and patronage amongst the wealthy citizens. By the end of 50 BC almost half of the gladiators fighting in the Colosseum were free men.
The book Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, has many themes that appear throughout the text. One such theme is that people must live outside of society to be truly free. If one lives outside of society, then they do not have to follow all of its laws and try to please everyone. They would not be held back by the fact that if they do something wrong, they would be punished for doing it.
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.
These all made sense to be in effect for the time and date because many of the immigrants coming to the USA were Irish exiles (for plotting against British rule), British radicals, and French people (wanting to rebel against Adams). On these grounds, and many more, President Adams and the Federalist-controlled Congress had reason to believe that they had to protect their country from stirring troubles. In view of that, the government was permitted to the authority of deporting or imprisoning any foreigner that he saw fit. This is a very sensible power that the president ought to have had back then, given the particular situation.
Throughout the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huckleberry Finn challenges the meaning of being civilized by being morally good with only self-guidance and nature to rely on. Mark Twain was born in Florida, Missouri in 1835, and spent most of his young life near the Mississippi River just as Huck did. Twain’s father died when he was 12 and Huck’s father also died when he was young. Twain expressed Huck’s sense of adventure and fortune through his travels to the holy land and his interests in South American treasure. Twain served for the Confederacy during The Civil War, but was persuaded to leave by his brother, putting him on the path of becoming an author. In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, Twain emphasizes that the traditional definition of being civilized does not apply to Huck by shaping Huck’s morals through survival and nature.
Mark Twain’s picaresque novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (hereafter Huck Finn) gives a realistic portrayal of Southern life before the American Civil War and depicts the way companionship enables the journeyers to learn from diverse perspectives enriching the journeys power to prompt inner growth and development. This is clearly depicted through the use of first person persona, where Twain employs the uneducated vernacular voice of Huck Finn. This technique contributes to the authenticity of Huck Finn’s Southern characterisation emphasising his transformation from racial prejudice and small mindedness to a more moral and tolerant perspective. Together Huck and Jim embark on their personal quests for freedom; Huck for freedom from “sivilisation” and Jim for freedom from slavery. Together they travel down the river a motif that symbolises their desire for liberation and security. “ I never felt easy till the raft was…out in the middle of the Mississippi…we was free and safe once more”. As they travel they are not merely moving down the river but discovering who they are as they learn and grow along the way.
Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is a story of a boy, Huck Finn, who runs away from home and travels down the Mississippi River with a “runaway nigger” named Jim. Huck’s father, Pap, is a drunken low life who doesn’t seem to care for his son. He comes from a poor, troubled family and isn’t very educated which is something he seems to embrace. “Huck Finn runs away not only from an abusive father but also from his good-intentioned guardian, Miss Watson, who tries to civilize Huck, educate him, and make him a Christian” (Sienkewicz). Whether he knows it or not his journey down the river isn’t just an escape, it is a learning experience. Huck learns a few life lessons from dealing with his conscience, to friendship and equality, to having trust and he realizes that he isn’t as alone as he thought he was.
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.