Allusions In Huckleberry Finn

As many know, slavery in America was far from over after the Civil War, and was perhaps even worse thereafter. In his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain constantly employs literary devices to criticize the extent to which the values of slavery, racism, oppression were ingrained in southern culture. Twain uses a mixture of biblical allusions and nature-based symbols to emphasize his distaste and disgust with situation of the South of the time. When Twain alludes to the creation story in the Bible, he is placing Jim, a runaway slave, and Huck, a white southern boy, as equals. To compliment his allusion, Twain invokes the river as a symbol of constant magnetism toward the inescapable culture that embraces the very oppression from
Twain sets several chapters of the story on the river, which symbolizes the pair's constant struggle for the escape from the South. Jim is quite literally being pulled toward the oppression of slavery, while Huck is being drawn to the oppression of his father. Twain uses this constant tension to emphasize and criticize the deep extent to which the culture of the South is ingrained with oppression; it is inescapable. Jim and Huck attain a false sense of freedom by letting "[the raft] float wherever the current wanted her to" (240). While the two are relaxing and enjoying their "freedom," their actual progress toward liberty is being slowed. Even when they are most relaxed, "[lighting] the pipes and [dangling] their legs" (240) the omnipresent culture of the South is delaying their achievement of liberation from southern culture altogether. Their sense of progress is obscured by the freedom of the river, and Twain further characterizes this obscurity with the introduction of the
Twain conveys his disgust with slavery by denouncing the racism ingrained Southern culture, and how relative it is to the image of the South. In post Civil War America, slavery was far from over, and Twain saw that. He understood that the tradition of a slavery-centered culture would tremendously slow the end of oppression and discrimination in the South. Today, we still, see the impact of a of a former slave-based economy in the constant actions oppressing minorities in America. Although we have come a long way, America still does not provide equal opportunity. If we aspire to be a true place of freedom, we have to overcome the depth of racism on which our country was founded. Racism is taught, not given at birth. Mark Twain criticized the presence of slavery in post Civil War America, and we should aspire to finally end it