In the novel “Huckleberry Finn”, the river plays a very prominent role. As well as moving the plot along and providing a means for Mark Twain to satirise American society, it mirrors the development of Huckleberry’s moral conscience. The river is a place where Huck is free from any outside pressures and where he can be free and can grow mentally as well as physically and spiritually. A superficial reading of the novel “Huckleberry Finn” would suggest a picaresque story about a young boy and a runaway slave in colonial America. At this level, it could also seem to be lacking a great deal of depth.
However, a more analytical, in-depth reading of the novel reveals the themes of racism, freedom, relationships and the growth of Huck’s moral conscience. The river plays a vital part in the novel. Structurally, it provides a link between Twain’s short stories as well as bringing a flow literally and metaphorically to the novel. It also mirrors the growth and sculpting of Huck’s moral conscience. The adventures Huck Finn deals with, while floating down the Mississippi River, reflect the many serious issues that were present in his society, as well as our own .
Many sad events which followed the Civil War are told through the young eyes of Huckleberry Finn; he unknowingly develops morally from both the conforming and non-conforming influences surrounding him on his journey to freedom. As well as this, Huck plays the role of the naive observer which helps to depict an unbiased view of the society around him. He reports things as he sees them without imparting value judgments of his own. In many ways, he is like the river, unquestioning, vital and independent of the human society.
As the novel progresses, one can plainly see the change in Huck’s attitude while he journeys down the river. At first he does not even view Jim the slave as a person with feelings but rather as property, calling him “Miss Watson’s Jim”. The incident involving his getting lost in the fog while floating down the Mississippi River leads to a major turning point in the development of Huck Finn’s character.
Up to this event, he has seen Jim as a lesser person than himself. After trying to deny the fog event to Jim, he says: It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a slave; but I done it, and I warn’t ever sorry for it afterward, neither. ” He continues by explaining how he could never do such a thing again. Huck has clearly gained respect for Jim here, which explains the risks he is willing to take for Jim later in the book.. “All right then, I’ll go to hell! ” represents the highest point in Huck’s moral development. He has decided to go against his conscience by freeing Jim, and in doing so, rejecting society as well as risking the ultimate punishment for doing wrong’- hell!
While the society he has grown up in teaches that freeing slaves is wrong, Huck has evolved to a point where he can realize that what he feels is right, and that his own beliefs are superior to those of Southern civilization. Throughout his journeys down the river, Huck encounters many different situations in which he learns to adapt and react to each in a way that he feels appropriate. Huck learns about life and the real world through his journey down the Mississippi River. He then gathers what he has learned and adapts it into a personality which suits him.
This enables him to create a conscience with which he finds himself comfortable. Huck Finn faces many situations forcing him to deal with decisions that carry with them the ability to bring about change. Huck begins searching for an identity which is truly his own. In an attempt to find his self image, Huck deals with issues such as conformity and freedom, trying on different identities that do not belong to him, and shaping these new-found tributes into an identity which best suits his conscience.
Another situation where Huck finds himself questioning his own morals is where Huck faces the crisis of whether he should obey the law and turn in Jim, or whether he should risk a bad reputation and keep his friend happy. In several occasions throughout the novel, Huck acts the role of another person – for instance a young girl or George Jackson. Not only does this change of identity help hide Huck’s true identity but it is also a device which helps him in his attempt to mould his own personality. In a way, when Huck does find his own identity, he has incorporated a few of his previous false identities into it.
The river provides a peaceful retreat from the “civilized” society on the shores which are characterized by drunkards and poor, squalid living conditions. Some of Huck’s most vivid descriptions are that of the river. The river allows Huck to escape from all the preconceived ideas of what is expected of him and collect his thoughts in its serene surroundings. Huck must have had hours of free time during which he had the opportunity to sort out his thoughts and feelings about topics helping in the development of his own personal identity.
The river represents a kind of Utopia’ for Huck, free of any worries. The raft is a significant symbol as it is a real place of safety as well as a representation of a place that brings freedom on which he can grow and experience life. However, when the Duke and King enter the scene, the raft is no longer free. His whole way of existence is turned on its head as the freedom which he had previously had has been interrupted by these two money hungry fools. It was an important experience for Huck in a way as it clearly illustrated the unsettling effects that money can have on people.
The Mississippi represents the unspoilt and innate goodness of nature as opposed to the turmoil and distress the pair undergo whenever traveling into the “civilized” world on land. To Huck, the river symbolises a home which he never really had and Jim a father/family figure within Huck’s life. Since Huck lives on both the shore and the river, the reader of the novel is able to compare the differences between them. To Huck the river is his road to freedom. Compared to life on the shore, Huck believes the river should be his home. When he was living in town he learned manners, and how to be sivilized’.
Now he is floating peacefully down the Mississippi River without a care in the world. In one instance, Huck describes a beautiful scene of him and Jim on the river: “We had the sky, up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss about whether they was made, or only just happened–Jim he allowed they was made, but I allowed they happened. . . ” Not only does the river represent a place of goodness and safety, but it also provides a means for Jim to pursue his physical freedom, and for Huck to prove his own independence.
Literally, Jim seeks freedom from slavery, but Huck also seeks to be free, and not have to live in fear of his father, or being civilized. Huck’s longing for freedom is his only selfish desire. His freedom requires that he find a conscious, moral identity but he is prepared to sacrifice this in his overriding desire to achieve freedom for Jim. He must discover his true self and know himself as a person and as an individual in order to be free. By escaping and traveling along the Mississippi River, Huck aspires to gain freedom for both of them.
Most of the novel deals with the pair being on the river or beside the river, in a pattern of withdrawal and return, as Huck and Jim float with their raft toward what they hope will be freedom for both of them. The whole novel depends on the river as a plot device as well as a symbol of Huck’s changing conscience. Through Huck’s adventures on the river, Mark Twain plays a deliberate satire on issues within American society such as slavery and racism. By using the river as his tool, Twain has managed to create a very clever, humorous and beautiful book.