Freedom of the Mississippi in Hucklberry Finn

Since the early days of our country, the Mississippi River has been recognized as a central icon to the American way of life, as it is portrayed in the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain. This great river connects the values of the North with the culture of the South. It is essentially the culmination of many of the rivers of the United States. No river has contributed more to the economic and social growth of the United States than the Mississippi River. In the pre-Civil War days of our country, this river represented “a way out” for Southern slaves. The Mississippi was one of the few geographical pathways that connected the North and the South, freedom and slavery. Mark Twain bases his novel around this idea of the Mississippi River being the path to freedom. In his novel, Mark Twain introduces the reader to the young Huckleberry Finn and his traveling companion and slave, Jim. Both Huckleberry and Jim are seeking freedom, whether it was from Huck’s “sivilized” lifestyle, or from Jim’s enslavement by Huck’s guardian. However, despite differences in the freedom they desired, both Huck and Jim hope to gain their liberty by means of the Mississippi River.

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Being a “river boy” his whole youth, Huck recognized that his dream of liberty from Miss Watson’s disciplined lifestyle could come by means of the Mississippi River. It connected the somewhat painful memories that Huck and Jim’s past contained and the hope for a better future.

While Huck’s idea of freedom is based on recreation, to Jim, freedom is a lifestyle.

As evident from the adventures of Huck and his traveling companion Jim, the Mississippi River is the central symbol in this novel. This novel takes place before the Civil War, when slavery was legal in the Southern states. Mark Twain is a term used to describe the depth of water in the river. He is a wild, free- spirited boy who is constantly seeking disassociation from the “sivilization” of his guardians, Widow Douglas and Miss Watson. He is a person who has true, sincere emotions and feelings. The Mississippi River essentially made this novel the way it is, and made Huckleberry Finn and Jim who they are. Knowing what he wanted, Huck set out on the greatest adventure of his life: an adventure toward freedom. Before that, Jim was never revealed to the reader as being anything more than a slave worth $800. Jim is a person whose goal is to flee the only life he has ever known in search of something better. It represented the freedom that Huck and Jim dreamed of. After Jim flees, he says, “I owns mysef, en I’s wuth eight hund’d dollars.

Common topics in this essay:
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Approximate Word count = 869
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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