Huckleberry Finn River Analysis

Mark Twain once said “The Mississippi River will always have its own way; no engineering skill can persuade it to do otherwise” (Twain) Throughout Twain’s story, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the river takes Huck to many interesting places. With each place, Huck learns new lessons that affect his decisions at the end of the novel. When compared, Huck’s choices at the end of the novel show a growth in maturity from those in the beginning. Overall, the river symbolizes Huck’s growing maturity by showing his increasing independence, developing bravery, and expanding understanding of abolitionism throughout the journey.
At the opening of the novel, Huck expresses his desire to run away from “sivilization” because it was too demanding. After Huck runs away, over time, the open waters give Huck a sense of freedom because he is able to make decisions without the ceaseless judgement of Widow Douglas. However, at the beginning of Huck’s journey, he listens to the

At the beginning of Huck’s journey, he debates turning in Jim. As he moves farther downstream, he sees that slaves are human and should be treated equally. One of the big turning points for Huck is when Jim tells a sentimental story about how he beat his deaf child ignorantly because she was not listening (Twain 197). This story impacted Huck because he saw the connection between the emotion in Jim and a white person. From there on, Huck felt more comfortable protecting Jim and treating him as an equal. At the very end of the river, Huck is told, from the doctor, that Jim helped save his best friend’s life in return for slavery. In response, Huck says “I knowed Jim was like a white man inside” (Twain 343). Huck learns that all men are equal despite their color. To sum up, the river symbolizes the change in Huck from racist to abolitionist because his understanding paralleled the advancement of Huck’s