Freedom from Reality
In Mark Twain’s, Huck Finn, Huck seeks to escape oppression from his father and manages to fake his own death and runaway. Just after his escape, Huck meets Jim, a familiar runaway slave to who he regretfully decides to help. Along their journey they travel down the Mississippi River which comes to serve as an asylum away from the influences of society. While initially the river appears to offer freedom from the wrongs of society, it ironically brings them closer towards the oppression of southern society, and becomes an adventure very similar to Tom’s many adventures.
Initially the river offers Huck and Jim physical and mental liberation from society. Searching for freedom, Huck and Jim learn that they need to use the river as their path to freedom. On the river, they find beauty, peace, and also discover that they make their own rules:
Sometimes we’d have that whole river all to ourselves for the longest time…maybe you could hear a fiddle or a song coming over from one of them crafts. 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. (1325)
In this passage, we see how life on the river opens them up to pondering new ideas and discovering new found appreciation for nature. Through a physical separation they are able to appreciate the friendship and liberation that nature offers. They recognize that they are away from society and now have only the stars, the sky and the river to guide them. This physical separation also gives them a sense of mental separation, where they are able to make their own rules and become open to ideas. When Huck says, “I was boss of it; it all belonged to me…” (1267), we see that Huck feels in this world he no longer has to listen to the rules of his previous life in society. This idea of liberation offers a sharp contrast to life in society for both Jim and Huck. For Jim, life on the river means that he no longer has to be a victim of the wrongs of slavery. On the river, the rules of slavery no longer apply and he is now free to do as he pleases. For Huck, living on the river means that he no longer has to be “sivilized”, nor does he have to worry about living with his abusive father. He now is free to open his mind and trust in what he believes to be true. Huck eventually applies this train of thought to Jim who he was taught to look down upon through the influences of southern society. In a constant battle with his conscience, the mental liberation on the river allows Huck to overcome the prejudice taught to him by southern society.
The Essay on Relationship Between Huck And Jim
The Relationship Between Huck and Jim By William Reculard In his novel Huckleberry Finn, the relationship between Huckleberry Finn and Jim evolves a great deal, especially during their journey on the raft. The two rely upon each other to survive and keep their mental up. The fact that Huck proves to be willing to sacrifice many things and ideals for Jim, involving honour, pride and even come near ...
Blinded by fog and the thrill of the freedom, Huck and Jim miss their exit to freedom and discover that the river is not exactly the sanctuary they once believed. A heavy fog blinds Huck and causes them to miss the mouth of the Ohio. Initially, nature and the river offer friendship to Huck and Jim, but now it forces them into the jaws of slavery and oppression like one of Huck’s bad pranks. Huck allows himself to be blinded by the comfort and freedom on the river and loses sight of their ultimate goal of freedom. While life on the river brings them mental freedom, it also brings them the dangerous freedom from reality that ultimately leads them into the oppression of the south. Huck’s prank on Jim after the storm, of trying to convince Jim that he dreamt the storm shows the extent to which this path to freedom has become just a fun adventure for Huck. Eventually, we see that the further south they head, the greater the amount that society invades their peaceful life on the river. They also begin to see the degradation of morals in the south. An important example of the intrusion of society into the river is the actions of the Duke and the Dauphin. Through their careless trickery, Huck begins to see how evil human nature can be. At one point Huck says that their behavior was “It was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race” (1353).
The Essay on Huck Fin Jim Society Chapter
Huck's acceptance of Jim is a total defiance of society. Ironically, Huck believes he is committing a sin by going against society and protecting Jim. He does not realize that his own instincts are more morally correct than those of society. At the conclusion of chapter 11 in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck and Jim are forced to leave Jackson's Island because Huck discovers that people ...
This look into the evilness of human nature shows Huck that one can not always rely on society’s teachings. As a result, this event also brings Huck closer towards honoring Jim’s rights as a human being.
Huck’s adventure down the river is very similar to one of Tom’s adventures in that it offers a false sense of freedom from society. Tom, a seemingly rebel character, pretends to fight society at all cost. His adventures, however, are all imaginary and ironically in reality he is quite happy with the society in which he lives. To Huck, Tom represents an adventurous spirit, which similarly the river offers. The idea of isolation from society and freedom from reality offers another parallel between Tom and the river. Both Tom and the river bring Huck into a world of his own. This allows them to challenge society on the outside, but also makes them lose sight of what their goal is. As we see near the end of the novel, Huck turns to Tom for a path to freedom for Jim. Tom’s failure to bring Jim to safety shows how losing sight of reality causes Jim to be captured. Knowing that Jim is free, Tom decides not to tell Huck and create an adventure to save Jim. This refusal in some ways parallels the needlessness of Huck and Jim’s adventure down the river. Heading down the river, Jim knows all along that Huck’s father is dead. However, he still refuses to tell Huck that he is free from the abuse and oppression of his father, just like how Tom refuses to tell Jim that he is free from the abuse and oppression of slavery.
Overall, Huck’s journey down the river opens his eyes to the ugliness of human nature and the danger in losing sight of reality. Huck’s illusion of the river as being a genuine escape from society is cut short by the quick invasion and the steady influence southern society has. The invasion of southern society to life on the river tears down the physical and mental barriers and once again attempts to enslave them to the influences of society. Until that point, their journey down the Mississippi is just another one of Tom’s adventures. It is through this placement back into the realms of reality that Huck and Jim finally are able to challenge ideas of not only southern society but also human nature.
The Essay on Huck And Jim Tom 8230 Sacrifice
... save Tom, both contribute to the overall theme of racial equality / inequality present throughout the book. Huck and Jim's journey down the Mississippi River ... and white was hardly accepted in the 1830's. Such an adventure, two male characters, with opposite colour of skin, striking up ... a friendship, was considered as a provocation by the society. The author knows that very well and will try, ...
