A river is a wandering spirit, wild and free. Huck is very much like the river that he travels on. He is untamed, has a flux nature, and runs a path to an uncertain destination. This journey teaches us a lot about Huck and his personality that is so different from everyone else on this same adventure. The natural spirituality that he has because of his lack of civilization allows him to coincide most with the running water.
             Huck is so barbaric compared to the people of St. Petersburg because he was never taught their ways of civilization. He grew up without a mother to teach him the difference between right and wrong and a father whose careless, drunken actions have prevented him from learning to be like all the other children. Thus, Huck only has a primitive mentality which sets him apart from everyone else since he is a carefree spirit, only wanting freedom to live happily and not be judged and nagged by society. The general public would name any uneducated person a savage and he would therefore be part of the wilderness. A river is the symbol of the wild, running free wherever it pleases without a care in the world and never knowing any different. Huck is exactly the same way because of his ignorance towards society.
             A river is constantly flux and changing as time goes by. Huck is also open to changes on his journey to freedom as he encounters different people and situations. This is about more than freedom; it is about finding himself and what he wants to be. His feelings are subject to change as he discovers more about how the world really is outside of the one he has lived in for so long. He forms new opinions of people and the way he wants to live his life. Huck will change from a boy to a man through his experiences on this adventure. The river may flood, dry out, or change its course and so may Huck.
             Huck left St. Petersburg to find freedom, but freedom does not have a destination and neither does the river...