Preview

Freedom In Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
628 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Freedom In Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a classic American novel that embodies the true meaning of freedom through symbolism and Huckleberry Finn’s journey through the atrocities of society. Huck experiences numerous encounters of how corrupt civilization can be on individuals which makes him desire to be free, rather than be adopted by Aunt Sally and Uncle Silas at the end of the novel. Freedom is also prominent in Jim’s personal Journey and the king and duke finally ending their scumbag lives. Huckleberry Finn and his runaway slave friend Jim both find themselves escaping from their initial lives at the beginning of the story and floating down the Mississippi river. As they float down the river, they make several stops which involve numerous encounters with different people that bring nothing but trouble to Huck and Jim. It is implied, but never explicitly stated, that the river is like the escape from society for Huck and Jim. “It’s lovely to live on a raft. We had the sky up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss about whether they was made or only just happened.”(Twain) This sentence describes how …show more content…
When Huck and Jim pull over to pick berries, they are met by two men running away who join them on their raft and escape. They claim to be a duke and king that have faced hard times, but it is implied by Twain that they are really just losers who got in trouble with the law and then proceeded to lie to Huck and Jim in order to gain better treatment. The schemes they formulate as they adventure with Huck and Jim (though they are by no means nice or holy plans) show that they are willing to free themselves from their previous ways of life in order to pursue a life where at least they are doing something, even if it is

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The story-Huckleberry Finn-is written mostly using nefarious characters supporting the same immoral ideas. Ideas contradicting the protagonist. The quest to reach freedom in certain chapters becomes futile. But, the freedom-seekers do not quell to accomplish their journey. Jim an Huck have been deprived from their freedom and enmity was a part of daily life. I agree with “Leo Marx from Mr. Eliot, Mr. Trilling, and Huckleberry Fin” that in the end they are back to the beginning. Despite Jim’s declaration as a free man at the end of the story, my thoughts are that his freedom was lived and enjoyed on the river, island, and places explored with Huck.…

    • 310 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Huck and Jim, from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn portray the theme of freedom throughout the story. Huck and Jim end up meeting each other afterwards both have ran from home, to be free. Huck has run away from home after faking his death to his drunken father. Huck didn’t want to stay longer with his father as it would go downhill for him, as he will get beat or even killed. Jim had become a runaway slave as he ran for his freedom. Jim ran due to him knowing he would have been sold and wouldn’t have seen his family, but instead runs to gain money and buy back his family.…

    • 196 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huckleberry Finn is a novel set in the rural south of the United States during a period in history when slavery and racism were part of everyday life. The novel introduces two main characters: Huck Finn, an adventurous but naïve, white boy, and Jim, a runaway slave whom is travelling with Huck down the Mississippi River. Throughout the course of the novel, both characters are faced with their individual internal struggles; Huck in particular is faced with the pressing notion of whether or not he should turn Jim in to his rightful owner and do the “right” thing, or disobey the law and help Jim obtain his freedom. Being nothing more than a foolish and naïve boy, Huck does not know the meaning of true love and friendship, until Jim opens up to him and they begin to bond no longer as white boy and black slave, but as humans.…

    • 873 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Whenever Huck and Jim encounter a problem they are able to simply return to their raft and escape their troubles. The river is also a place where the pair is able to be themselves without fear of being criticized by members of society. This is a particularly important element because it allows them to be free to make decisions and create a relationship without public influence. This is a luxury that they are not permitted on land. The river allows the two to be comfortable with each other, because they are separated from land and society. “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” (136). This quote explains that the two boys are able to find a place where they can both relax and be at…

    • 724 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Set in a pre-civil war time period, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is overall controversial and symbolic of a greater moral that is heavily present in this society. During this time was a large separation of North and South over the ethics of slavery and the morals of the enslaved population. During this story the protagonist, Huck Finn, makes a very important ethical decision upon whether he should or should not turn in Jim, a runaway slave. Huck has a moment of moral liberation and searches the social and religious principles of society. By having to think about these things when making a decision such as this, it can be said that this society is backwards. Mark Twain suggests that society is morally wrong with what they believe is right, their opinion of civilized and has a faulty logic.…

    • 634 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Adventures, kidnappings, slaves oh my! The theme portrayed in the thrilling book; The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is freedom. The author develops this theme by using the river as a symbol of freedom for Huck and Jim. Both Huck and Jim are searching for two separate freedoms, but are striving for the same goal; living their own lives as themselves. In The Adventures of Huckleberry and Finn the characters experience quite a bit of turmoil and differences but they are united by their similar goal; freedom. Freedom is a privilege, but for some it’s not even an option.…

    • 516 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is about the journey Huck goes through, facing the challenges of living on a raft and constantly looking for food and money. However as Huck makes his journey down the river he makes a moral one as well. In the beginning of the novel Huck’s way of thinking is childish and heavily influenced by the widow and Pap, by the middle of his journey his own morals start to change and he is able to identify right and wrong despite what society thinks, and finally by the end Huck see’s how corrupt civilization is.…

    • 964 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an important novel that shows how the two worlds of Huck and Jim collide to bring out the problems of racism and slavery before the civil war. Huck was a young, naive boy who is oblivious to the outside world. Jim was a slave with a big heart who looked at the world in a whole different perspective. Throughout the journey together Huck and Jim’s relationship was shaken by the cold reality of racism and slavery, thus slowly opening Huck's eyes to the world around him and creating a new foundation for friendship. When Jim and Huck go on their journey outside of St.Petersburg, Missouri a whole new world was opened up to them, they saw the country like never before.…

    • 912 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Mississippi's Journey

    • 1152 Words
    • 5 Pages

    “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” (Twain 137), said Huckleberry Finn, after escaping a family feud, in the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. In this chapter, Huck, and his friend Jim, a runaway slave, flee to a raft they have been traveling on in the Mississippi river, to escape yet another incident that shows the degenerate state of society. In the beginning of the book, Huck and Jim are yearning for freedom, and find solace on a raft in the Mississippi River, one that they will depend on to facilitate their escapes from the atrocities of racism, slavery,…

    • 1152 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huck Finn

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel which displays a young boy named Huck's dilemma on whether he should turn in a run away slave named Jim, that he has been helping escape to freedom. Huck must decide upon what he feels is the right thing to do, even if that means going against society and changing his own morals. Huck exemplifies how his opinion of society's beliefs changes throughout this novel.…

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huck Finn Freedom

    • 726 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In America, the words, “For the land of the free and the home of the brave”(The National Anthem, Francis Scott Key), are some of the most influential to this day. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Tom Twain, the main character, Huck, idolizes this same freedom. The modern day Huck Finn is a symbol of freedom because he fights for it for himself, others and he goes as far as to risk being sent to hell to get to it. Huckleberry Finn is a story of the search for freedom and all of its lessons along the way.…

    • 726 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Huck Finn

    • 1632 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The Old South’s way of life deformed the consciences of the people living there, convincing them of the humanity of slavery. Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn tells the story of Huck Finn, a young redneck boy, who finds friendship in a runaway slave named Jim, despite his own racist background. Though Huck and Jim bond throughout their journey, Huck struggles to overcome the way he was raised and see Jim as a person capable of feelings and emotions. Throughout his journey down the Mississippi, Huck is faced with challenges where he must decide Jim’s fate, but as his bond with Jim grows stronger, he begins to unlearn the racist views he was taught. He begins to mature and follow his heart when he apologizes to Jim, decides not to turn him in, and when he finally has the epiphany that he would rather rot in Hell than turn in his best friend.…

    • 1632 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jim is a slave and he overhears his owner talking about swelling him again, so out of fear, he runs away in opes to find freedom. Huckleberry Finn, on the other hand, runs away partly because he doesn't like his home situation and partly because he is looking for an adventure. During the novel, Huck and Jim eventually meet up and go on the adventure to find a new home together and to escape slavery together. When Jim and Huck talk about being free, “it made him all over trembly and feverish to be so close to freedom. Well, i can tell you it made me all over trembly and feverish, too, to hear him, because i begun to get it through my head that he was almost free.” (Twain 110). The two boys eventually meet up with Tom Sawyer, who wants to…

    • 1462 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel based on the journey Huck, a young boy with an abusive father, and Jim, a runaway slave, have down the Mississippi River to Free states for an end goal of freedom. Freedom means different things to both of them, to Huck freedom means to be able to do what he wants and not be “sivilized”, while Jim’s definition of freedom is being able to live in peace with his wife and children. While on their journey to freedom they develop a caring unusual friendship. There is a great deal of controversy over whether or not The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be taught in schools. Critics claim that the novel is an important piece of American literature and that it throws the reader into a time when slavery was lawful and accepted, and gives the reader a new perspective on slavery even if it has racial hints and discrimination. Many people including myself believe, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, should not be taught in High Schools but instead taught in college because of immaturity among students, racism, and the dark use of slavery.…

    • 943 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is about the story about a kid named Huck that has been treated badly by his dad, and faked his murder to get away on the Mississippi river. He travels with a slave named Jim who heard that he was going to be sold away from his family for $800 so he ran away while everyone was running around looking for Huck. Both Huck and Jim run to Jackson's island for safety. Eventually they both continued down the river so Jim can be free and Huck gets away from his dad. Twain uses the symbol of the raft and the river to express that society is cruel.…

    • 308 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays