Drifting toward Freedom
             In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain, through the character Huck, tells the story of a young boy's coming of age amidst the conflicts and constraints of mid-1800s society. A recurring theme throughout the novel is the conflict between society and the individual. As Twain developed the plot he was able to to weave in his criticism of society. The idyllic life on the raft contrasts sharply with the deceit, greed, and prejudice found on the shores of the Mississippi. For Huck and Jim, the River serves as a refuge from the crippling values of the "dry land of civilization".
             The river embodies the freedom for which Huck and Jim were searching. These two runaways - one a slave, the other an uneducated, and defiant boy - attempt to build a sanctuary from civilization upon their raft. It is here on the river that they can experience what it is like to be truly free from the expectations of society. Huck longs for nothing more than an escape from the harsh cruelties of "sivilization" so he "lit out...and was free and satisfied"(Twain). The river offers Huck refuge from a society so corrupt, that it would place a young boy in the hands of a drunken and abusive father. On the river Huck is finally able to be himself. He is free to make his own choices and form his own opinions. Jim, a slave, is not even considered as a real person, but as property, yet he was free, while on the raft, to live and think as any white man. Jim speaks with great compassion of "saving money buy his wife..and...work[ing] to buy the two children"(Twain 75). The dialogue
             between Huck and Jim also illustrates the fact that Jim is more than someone's property. He is a human being with feelings, and hopes for a better future. The river represents opportunity and chance at the freedom and equality that civilization lacks.
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