Defining Freedom as found in the themes of Huckleberry Finn
“ The truth is that I love feeling alive. I love feeling free. So if I can’t have those things I feel like a caged animal. I’d rather be dead. And it’s real simple. And I think it’s not that uncommon.” Angelina Jolie defines her idea of freedom as having independence in life without the feeling of being enclosed in a rigid civilization. This quote directs to Jim and Huck’s pursuit of freedom as they begin their journey to escape from social restraints. In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the theme of freedom is presented throughout the story as Jim and Huck overcome hardships along their adventures. Firstly, Jim and Huck have grown up in a society where they were pushed
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In fact, this was the one place where both Jim and Huck were able to be their true selves since there was no brutality of society could reach them. The raft was their home where their fears slipped away and they couldn’t be touched by any atrocities happening in the world. Jim expressed his feelings about living on the raft, “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 117). For a while, Jim and Huck were living on the raft sailing through the Mississippi River. In the raft was where they felt ataraxia with the relaxation of nature. They weren’t caged creatures in society anymore, they weren’t abused or misunderstood, they now felt that their existence in the world had a purpose. As a result, Jim and Huck were alive and free in nature, they didn’t hide or disguise themselves because there was no reason to. The river was reassuring and soothing, a place unlike anything they’ve ever experienced before, “It’s lovely to live on the 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” (120). Jim and Huck both related to each
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 96). Huck clings to the hope of freedom only seen present on the raft but rarely seen sometimes even on the people of the land such as the Wilks girls. This quote represents a sense of concord among the members of the raft on the ever so slow journey to an ever lasting escape.
While Huck and Jim are on the river they loose sight of each other in thick fog. Huck pretends to say that Jim was dreaming this whole thing up and he was “ a tangle-headed old fool” (Twain 154). Huck states that he really didn’t disappear he had been sleeping like Jim; however, Jim knew he was lying to him because of the branches and debris collected against the raft. Therefore, Jim becomes sad and angry with him because he could not understand as to why Huck, his friend, would lie to him. Huck’s reasoning for this is once again a prank.
As they approach the raft, it seems as if Jim is about to be caught. However, Huck thinks of a plan and when the men ask if they can look in the raft, Huck responds
After leaving the feud, Huck comes back to the safety of the raft and says to Jim, “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” (116). For Huck, the raft is a safe and secure spot; with Jim on the raft, Huck feels protected and that he has a dependable friend. As Huck spends more time with Jim, he begins to see Jim as more human and someone he can trust.
The men stay away from the raft after Huck’s very believable lies because they do not want to get sick as well, which saves Jim from being taken. Huck and Jim come across a wrecked steamboat
While on the Mississippi, Huck developed into a heartwarming and courageous character. He learned many morals on the way that brought him to a well matured young man, with a strong personality. When Huck is pondering whether to write Miss. Watson he thinks a lot about Jim and says, “and got to thinking over our trip down the river, and I see Jim before me, all the time, in the day, and in the night-time (Twain 161). Huck’s transformation helped him realize how much Jim truly means to him.
Twain does his best to deal with the conflict between society and the individual. Huck does not want to abide by society’s laws and does not want to conform in Mark Twain’s, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Huck is forced to be civilized in the beginning, so he leaves society for freedom and lives by his own rules but even that does not make Huck’s life easy. Huck has trouble obeying society’s rules from the start of the book. The Widow Douglas takes Huck in to try to sivilize him says Huck in the quote, “The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me”(Twain 2).
Everyone in life deserves nothing less than freedom and no matter their color of skin, age, or religion everyone deserves nothing less. The novel uses experiences, people, and symbols to convey the message of freedom. To begin, Experience is the best teacher anyone can have. Twain uses experiences all throughout Huck Finn to convey his message of freedom. While Huck’s alcoholic father was away, Huck saws his way out of the cabin he was locked in and escapes to freedom.
Throughout the story, Mark Twain uses Huck to suggest that “natural life” is more desirable. The entire plot of this novel revolves around Huck and Jim floating down the Mississippi River on a raft and going on adventures each time they come to shore. However, as the story goes on, the reader realizes that when Huck and Jim get off the raft, they constantly meeting criminals and other bad people. Life on the raft is as peaceful as it gets, but when Huck is ashore, he meets slimy people, including the Duke and the King, some of the people involved in the feud, and Colonel Sherburn and Boggs. Huckleberry Finn and Jim also witness some extreme violence, including tarring, feathering, lynching, theft, murder, and quite simply, a lot of death.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a classic novel that takes the reader on a series of thrilling adventures full of life threatening situations, racism, and slavery. The author Mark Twain, uses the novel to highlight the flaws in society by creating a character like Huck, whose personal sense of morals and justice are more noble than those of the very people trying to civilize him. Throughout this captivating novel Huck endures his fair share of trouble and morally challenging decision but he always comes out on top by following his heart and doing what he feels to be right.
Mark Twain emphasizes the theme that a person's morals are more powerful than the corrupt influence of society in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Based on how Huck Finn views the world and forms his opinions, he does not know the difference between right and wrong. In the novel, Huck escapes civilized society. He encounters a runaway slave, Jim, and together they travel hopes of freedom. But along the way, Huck and Jim come across troubles that have Huck questioning his motives.
Is anyone really free in this world? What does being enslaved feel like, and what kind of enslavement do men endure? In “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, slaves like Jim are eager to find their freedom, but so is Huck himself. There are many different ways authors use diction, regionalism, and imagery in their stories to make it more intriguing, and to make the reader want to read more. Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is about a young boy named Huck, in search of freedom and adventure.
Jim, a runaway slave and one of society’s outcast members in Huckleberry Finn, portrays the admirable characteristic of self-sacrifice. Jim is a father himself and when Huck and Jim are switching shifts for watch on the raft at night, Jim lets Huck sleep through his shift often. This simple act of kindness greatly illustrates the type of self-sacrifice that Twain would want in his ideal person. Huck considers, “I went to sleep, and Jim didn’t call me when it was my turn. He often done that.
On the other hand, Huck was lack the care of a father. That’s why Huck completely changed his mind as to his attitude towards Jim. Moreover, Huck uttered “We said there warn 't no home like a raft.” (173) Here, they began to draw a similarity between the raft and their home. In fact, they viewed the raft as their home.
Specifically, through the controversy of slavery at the time, Huck learns how to listen to his intuition and conscience. His slight hesitation escaping with Jim makes him question the authenticity of his morality. He says, “I begun to get it through my head that he was most free--and who was to blame for it? Why, me … But you knowed he was running for his freedom, and you could ‘a’ paddled ashore and told somebody”