In Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, the Mississippi River plays many roles and holds a prominent theme throughout much of the story. Huck and Jim are without a doubt the happiest and most at peace when floating down the river on their raft. The river has a deeper meaning than just water and mud, almost to the extent of having it's own ideal personality. It provides the two characters a means of escape from everything and everyone, and puts them at ease. Although quite constrained in it's capacity to provide freedom of movement, the raft offers the two a certain amount of freedom in actions, words, and emotions. Huck senses this truth when he mentions how; 'other places feel so cramped and smothery, but a raft don't. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft.'; (Twain, 113) However, the freedom that is experienced on the raft can be deceiving. This freedom is only temporary and will not last forever. Huck and Jim cannot live on a raft traveling down the Mississippi forever and must focus on the main situation at hand, getting Jim his true freedom A freedom that stretches beyond the limiting reaches of a raft. Huckleberry resents the objectives and beliefs of the so-called 'civilized'; people of the society around him. Huck likes to be free from the restrictions of others and just be himself, living by his own rules. He disbelieves the societal beliefs that have been embedded in his mind since birth, which is shown by his brother-lik...
As the leading characters, Romeo and Juliet both portray the flaw that ultimately leads to the resolution: impulsiveness. Portrayed as emotional throughout the play, Romeo’s hamartia came to play in his vengeful state: “And fire-eyed fury be my conduct now...Either thou or I, or both, must go with him.” (3.1.117-122). Shakespeare’s characterization of Romeo as
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.
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
Freedom, the most blatant theme in the novel, takes on a different perspective for Huck, escaping a civilized lifestyle, and Jim, escaping being sold by Mrs. Watson. Huck is forced to adapt to Widow Douglass’ civilized lifestyle, but he perceives it as “rough living… when [he] couldn’t stand it no longer, [he] lit out… and was free and satisfied” (1). The struggle within the confines of both the Widow and his father are the reason he flees to the island. While the Widow sent him to school and taught him religion, Pap was a major threat to Huck’s security and he knew how to cleverly escape it. By playing a trick on his drunk, sleeping father in the shed, “Pretty soon [he] made it out” (41). He took a canoe downstream and once he arose, “there was Jackson Island” (42). This marks his first point of freedom now that Huck is successfully on his own. Jim, on the other hand, runs away before Mrs. Watson is able to sell him, separating him from his family. Similarly to Huck, when Jim hears the rumors he runs away to Jackson Island. When the island becomes unsafe, they set out on a raft down the Mississippi River. “ ‘You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft’ ” (128), said Huck. Huck and Jim now have no restrictions, they are able to be free and they no longer need to hide from anyone. On the river, Jim is labeled a runaway slave and fears that he will be caught. At ...
Most importantly, Romeo’s poor choices and decisions lead to the tragedy of the drama. From the beginning of the story Romeo reveals his immaturity and ill-equipped emotions. His first mistake reveals itself when he claims to be deeply depressed. Romeo claims that he feels like “sinking ‘under love’s heavy burden’,” (Dupler). At this point Romeo has succumbed to his emotions, due to the fact that a girl named Rosaline refuses to reciprocate his love for her. Romeo’s friends Benvolio and Mercutio “urge him to stop philosophizing about his lost love and to seek another young lady as a new object of his affections” (Dupler).Romeo now demonstrates that he seems incapable of listening to his friends’ suggestions and chooses to continue in a juvenile state of depression. Romeo makes another fatal decision when he nurtures an undeniably damned relationship. Romeo admits that he still loves Juliet once her lineage appears as Capulet when he says, “Is she a Capulet? O dear account! My life is my foes debt” (1.5.115). Romeo irresponsibly supports the idea of a relationship between himself and Juliet only because “The young hero is simply shifting his attention to a more receptive subject as he responds to the erotic spurring implicit in his name” (...
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.
Mark Twain creatively invents many settings throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; each setting effects the characters in different ways. One of the many motifs throughout the novel is the idea of freedom versus slavery. Through various incidents, lifestyles, and character developments taking place on land and water, Mark Twain is able to create two opposing worlds; i.e. one of freedom verses one of enslavement. Twain determines the characters' situations in life in accordance with each location and surroundings. Huck and Jim are constantly moving between these two worlds. For the most part, both are presented with the luxuries of freedom and serenity while on the river, which ends up changing both of their characters for the only as more of person, but a reliable friend. The reader gets a sense of Jim's kindness when he is willing to stand watch all night so Huck can get some extra rest.
Body 1- First, the love in the play is destructive because it led to ignorance. Romeo's love for Juliet prevented him from seeing the truth when he thinks she is dead despite his colored description of her appearance post-mortem: "Hath had no power yet upon beauty. Thou art not conquer'd. Beauty's ensign yet is crimson in thy lips and in the cheeks, and death's pale flag has not advanced there."(page 227) Romeo's concupiscence to be with Juliet weakens his judgment and lead him to ignore obvious signs of life while weeping over her body without
He asks his cousin, Benvolio, for his advice and remorse. Therefore, when Romeo is with Benvolio in the first scene, he is in a deep agony from Rosaline’s love. He describes her love as “a choking gall” (1.1.185) that he can’t resist and brings a deep sadness in his heart. Showing the audience that he is in love with Rosaline, but she does not love him back and that is why he is sorrow. Also, Shakespeare is using an oxymoron to empathize how sweet, wonderful, and magnificent love is; however it’s showing how depressing, sorrow, and the agony that comes from it. Secondly, Rosaline doesn’t want to be loved and that emphasizes Romeo’s situation. Romeo tells Benvolio that she is “not [to] be hit with cupid 's bow [or]…hath Dian’s wit” (1.1.200) meaning that she refuses to be hit by Cupid’s love arrows and has Diana 's virginity. Making Romeo upset because he loves Rosaline, but she does not want to be love by Romeo. Also, to exaggerate her virginity and deflection of love, Shakespeare uses Greek mythology as metaphors that can empathizes his words’ meanings. In conclusion, Romeo’s depression comes from Rosaline’s virginity and not wanting to love
The average person doesn’t meet someone, profess their love for them, and ask her hand in marriage all in one night… but Romeo does. In Shakespeare’s calamity of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is the idiot that does all of this. I blame Romeo for the death of these star-crossed lovers, along with the other four characters. If it wasn’t for his impetuous nature, none of this would have happened. Romeo’s relationship with Juliet could be more thought out and more planned. Although the play ended with his death included, without him Juliet and others would have kept their lives.
The suicides of Romeo and Juliet reflect their hasty and impulsive decisions as well as the dishonesty of Friar Lawrence and the Nurse. Romeo’s haste in drinking the venomous poison, Friar’s cowardice in handling the consequences as well as the Nurse’s choice of standing against the relationship of Romeo and Juliet contribute equally to their fatal end. Therefore, dishonesty and haste can result in undesirable circumstances to any individual.
The first poor choice Romeo and Juliet made is falling in love and agreeing to getting married by Friar Laurence. At the beginning of the play, Romeo is sad that Rosaline, the girl he loves doesn’t love him back. Romeo attends the Capulet’s ball to see her. While he is there, he sees Juliet, and falls in love with her the instant he sees her, not knowing that she is a Capulet. This is a poor choice because, he fell in love without taking into account that she is the daughter of his family’s enemy or any other trait, other than how beautiful she is. He wonders if “my [his] heart love till now? Forswear, it sight, I ne’er saw true beauty till tonight”(I.v.59-60). Romeo exclaims his love for Juliet when he first sees her. He does not know who she is, or anything about her. He fell in love with her based on beauty. If he had not become infatuated so quickly, he could have learned she is a Capulet, later thinks about his...
This hasty action resulted in not only his death, but also the death of his love(r) Juliet. Therefore, through reading William Shakespeare’s famous play Romeo and Juliet, the audience learns an important lesson — that impulsive behaviour will have negative consequences as seen through Romeo’s actions starting with him crashing the Capulet’s party with his friends, to his killing of Tybalt, and finally his haste in killing himself to reunite with Juliet, with each action leading to a different consequence for not only Romeo, but also those around him.
In the book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck rejects "sivilized" life. He dreads the rules and conformities of society such as religion, school, and anything else that will eventually make him civilized. He feels cramped in his new surroundings at the Widow Douglas's house. He would rather be in his old rags and sugar-hogshead because he was free and satisfied. He felt out of place when he tried being "sivilized" because he grew up fending for himself and to him it felt really lonely. Huck Finn grew up living in the woods and pretty much raised himself because his pap was a drunk. He never had a civilized lifestyle and he believed that his way of living was good enough for him. He was free to do what ever he liked and that is how he learned to live. He did not believe in school because all you need to know to live is not found in a book that you read at school. He believed that you learned by living out in the wild. Huck would rather be an individual than conform to society. Huck would rather follow his heart then his head and because of this Huck is ruled as a bad person because in society your suppose to use your head. Huck is being penalized for his beliefs and he does not want to be apart of a lifestyle that does not support his ways. For instance his choice not to turn in Jim shows that Huck understands why Jim is escaping. Huck sees Jim as a friend not as a slave and so he truly is able to see that society's way of treaty Jim is wrong. Huck is portrayed as a boy who sees life at face value and not by the set "standards" of the "sivilized" society. The rejection of the "sivilized" lifestyles shows that Huck does not agree with it rules. Because of this, he is able to see life from different perspectives. He can sympathize with all the class in society. He learns to figure out what is morally correct and wrong. Through out his journey down the river, Huck is able to learn more about himself and others.
At the beginning of the book, he explains how the Widow Douglas decided to take him in and civilize him. Huck, who has been raised to do whatever he wanted without worrying about consequences, has now been thrust into a life of monitoring everything he does. “Miss Watson would say, ‘Don’t put your feet up there, Huckleberry’; and ‘Don’t scrunch up like that, Huckleberry - set up straight’” (2). Huck is not quite sure why these rules are in place; he just knows that he will be scolded if he does not follow them. Even though his father is a dangerous drunk, Huck still prefers to live with him because he has the freedom to do what he likes without having to worry about whether he is following the rules. Twain is making a point that it is a bit strange that one is required to follow so many rules to be accepted into society, which contributes why Huck is an outcast. He prefers to follow the beat of his own drum, even though that means he is not a respected member of society. Huck, however, is okay with that because he feels that American society is not