The Raft In Huck Finn

As Huck and Jim journey down the Mississippi in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, their experiences differ on the raft rather than on shore, with everybody else. Although the raft is used to help navigate through the river, it is also a comfort zone for Huck and Jim. It’s as if it is their happy place. Jim uses the raft as an escape from segregation while Huck uses it as an escape from his father and the “sivilization”. When they are on the raft, Huck and Jim are isolated from society, but when they are not on the raft, they face the prejudices of white society. Huck and Jim treat the raft as a vehicle that eliminates all inequality going on in the real world. Since Jim is black, and Huck is white, it would be prohibited to even speak to each other in public, so the raft ensures their freedom on all levels. Being alone on the raft also separates them from everybody else; it is just the two of them, and they have nothing to worry about. In this quote, Huck describes the freedom and carefree life him and Jim have on the raft:

“Soon as it was night, out we shoved; when we got her out to about the middle, we let her alone, and let her float whenever the current wanted her to, then we lit the pipes, dangled our legs in the water and talked about all kinds of things--we was always naked, day and night, whenever the mosquitoes would let us--” (Ch. 19 page 109)

In this quote, Huck makes it seem like him and Jim do not have a care in the world when they are on the raft. They let the current push the raft wherever it wants to, they smoke even when Huck knows that he is not allowed to, and they are naked everyday and night. It is almost beautiful that they are so relaxed and comfortable on the raft because with all that’s going on outside of the river, they still have room in their minds to forget all about it and to not even think about it. They do not even come across the fact that they are not considered equals, since one is black and the other is white. They simply just talk as man to man, and friend to friend. Another quote that symbolizes their carefreeness is when Huck talks about the stars:

“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--Jim he allowed they was made, but I allowed they happened; I judged it would have took too long to make so many. Jim said the moon could a laid them; well, that looked kind of reasonable, so I didn’t say nothing against it, because I’ve seen a frog lay most as many, so of course it could be done. We used to watch the stars that fell, too, and see them streak down. Jim allowed they’d got spoiled and was hove out of the nest.” (Ch. 19 page 110)

The great thing about this quote is that not only are Huck and Jim enjoying the stars at night, but the fact that they can easily have a pointless conversation/argument about stars shows how unsegregated they are from each other.