Death And Rebirth In Huckleberry Finn

Huck Finn Essays

In the book Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain deals with three different themes throughout the story. He uses these themes to show you the growth and development not only in a young boy in but also society as a whole. The themes shown all through this book include: conflict between society and individuals, Huck’s death and rebirth, and loneliness and isolation.

Conflict between society and individuals, was something that could be found anywhere in this story. One situation that comes to the mind right away is the way that everyone looked upon the African Americans as a whole. At the beginning of this story Huck and Tom Sawyer decided to play a trick on Jim, (who happens to be a slave) and use Jim’s strong belief in superstitions
Through the entire book Huck grows not only physically but mentally as well. I think the death that Twain was showing was in the beginning of the story when Huck seemed to be so unhappy and things only got worse for him. After being unhappy but grateful for Miss Watson and Widow Douglas, Huck is taken away and goes to live with his father. The way that his father treated him when they were together was horrible and Huck might have been better off dead. I think that is where Huck died on the inside, he lost hope of ever getting away for his Pap. I think his rebirth was when he was on his journey, the minute he got away was when his rebirth began. On this trip he would not only learn to fend for himself but also, he would become a new person completely. Huck’s death and rebirth was an important theme in this
The loneliness I feel that is shown in this book would be Huck’s overall feeling about live. His father was a drunk and he had to be taken in by a new family. I think that when Huck is with his Pap in the cabin is when the loneliness is the strongest for Huck. Day in and day out he was left all alone and locked in a cabin, and sometimes he was locked up for days, only to find his Pap would come home drunk and usually became abusive to his son. Isolation I think is a little bit harder to find in this book, I guess the one situation that sticks out most in my mind right now would be all the times when Jim was left by himself, waiting for Huck to come back. I think that, even though it was never really said, that Jim had to have felt isolated by his color. Because of this he would have to stay behind on their raft, while Huck went out into the towns. There is no doubt in my mind that he didn’t feel this isolation and wish he could change it or do something about it. Although not as strong of a theme as the first two, I still can see this theme in Huckleberry