The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: River vs. Land

A detailed Summary of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: River vs. Land

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: River vs. Land

In the novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain throws the curious yet innocent mind of Huck Finn out into a very hypocritical, judgmental, and hostile world, yet Huck has one escape--the Mississippi River constantly flowing nearby. Here nature is presented as a thought provoking environment when experienced alone. The river is quiet and peaceful place where Huck can revert to examine any predicament he might find himself in. The natural flowing and calm of the river causes this deep-thought, showing how unnatural the collective thought of a society can be. Huck is at a point in his life where opinions are formed, and by growing on the river, Huck can stand back from society and form his own. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn teaches an important lesson, one that shows the importance of the self in the maturing process. We see Huck grow up by having the river as a place of solitude and thought, where he is able to participate in society at times, and also sit back !

and observe society. Nature, peace, and logic are presented in the form of the river where Huck goes to think. In Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the river plays many roles and holds a

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time."(70) Also, if the raft is too far to the middle of the river, it is in danger of being crushed by waves and damaged by debris. If it is too close to shore, it could be thrown into the shore, completely destroying it, or penned against a large rock like the ship with the murderers on it. There is also the threat of Huck and Jim losing sight of one another because "you couldn't see twenty yards"(68) in the fog and being separated from each other for good. Then there is the threat of larger boats. If they venture too far into the middle of the river and the oncoming boat does not see them, they could be smashed by the larger boat such as the steamboat that "came smashing right through the raft"(78) immediately prior to the Grangerford episode. There is also, of course, the chance that someone would see Jim and "[try] to take [him] away from [Huck] to return him to slavery. So they had to cover up the raft during the day and run only nights because at night "they don't b!

When they first set out on the raft and leave Jackson's Island behind, Huck says, "It was kind of solemn, drifting down the big still river, laying on our backs looking up at the stars, and we didn't ever feel like talking loud, and it warn't often that we laughed, only a little kind of a low chuckle."(55) However, the more they venture onto shore, the more they appreciate being back on the raft. Huck becomes more attached to the raft and his companion every time he returns to the peacefulness and harmony of the raft from land, and at one point says that "it did feel so good to be free again and all by ourselves on the big river and nobody to bother us."(162) He enjoys not only the fact that he is in a way cut off from society, but he becomes somewhat detached from it, not realizing that he is in it at times. This is evidence when Huck mentions that "sometimes [they'd] have that whole river all to [themselves] f

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Approximate Word count = 1332
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

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