In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by: Mark Twain there are two major symbols. One of those symbols is the Mississippi River and the other is the Village in which Huck lives. The two symbols represent freedom and rules respectively. The Village is a symbol of rules and the law. This symbol is very obvious when Huck is living with the Widow Douglas and Miss Watson. For instance, Huck asked if he could go out and have a smoke and the Widow Douglas said “it was a mean practice and wasn’t clean” (Twain 2). This restriction was not the only one.
The Widow Douglas’s sister Miss Watson would keep “pecking at him” (Twain 3) and telling him “don’t scrunch up like that Huckleberryset up straight. ” and when he did that she would say “Don’t gap and stretch like that, Huckleberrywhy don’t you try to behave? ” (Twain 2). The Widow Douglas also made Huck go to school and read the Bible, both things he did not want to do. Huck was being pushed into religion and was being corrected and told what he was doing was wrong constantly. Huck needed some freedom, which he found on the river. The Mississippi River is a symbol of freedom to both Huck and Jim.
Huck escapes from the widow’s house and gets to do whatever he wanted when he wanted. For instance, Huck could pull out his pipe and smoke all he wanted. When the ferry boat came to look for him, he “lit a pipe and had a good long smoke” (Twain 38). For Jim, the river means a new chance at life. A life without being a slave and not taking orders and doing whatever he is told. Jim wants to do whatever he wants to do. The river also gives Jim a chance to get to Cairo and earn some money. He needs to earn the money so he can buy his wife and daughter from The Widow Douglas.
If she will not sell his wife and daughter back to him then he plans to go and steal them back. Then Jim will actually be able to enjoy his freedom with his family. Jim and Huck both needed to escape from their restraints and the river gave them that chance. This book is a perfect example of two men escaping from their lives of constraint and rules to be free and choose what they want to do. The river gives Huck a whole new chance at life without his drunken father taking his money or the sisters pushing religion on him. For Jim, the river gives him actual freedom from the chains of slavery.
