Mississippi's Journey
Mississippi’s Journey
“We said there warn’t no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don’t. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft” (Twain 137), said Huckleberry Finn, after escaping a family feud, in the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. In this chapter, Huck, and his friend Jim, a runaway slave, flee to a raft they have been traveling on in the Mississippi river, to escape yet another incident that shows the degenerate state of society. In the beginning of the book, Huck and Jim are yearning for freedom, and find solace on a raft in the Mississippi River, one that they will depend on to facilitate their escapes from the atrocities of racism, slavery, …show more content…
Just like in life, nothing is perfect, and there is no real freedom without consequences. Very quickly, influences from the real world invade the raft, and, to relate to the metaphor, the water becomes murky. When the river floods, it led the duo into a gang of criminals, and brought a broken house with a dead man in it, which was later discovered to be Huck’s father. Already the evils of society had permeated their barrier, even bringing what Huck wished to avoid, his father, back to him. And, to taint the water even more, a fog rolls in, preventing them from reaching the mouth of the Ohio River, where it would have allowed them to be carried to the free …show more content…
At the start of the river, the water is a lot more fresh, clear, and young. As it flows down stream, it becomes older, experiences more, and picks up debris on the way. By the time it reaches the mouth, it is old, worn out, and tired. This mirrors the journey of life in general, and the journey of Huck and Jim. In the early years a of a person’s life, everything is new, exciting, and full of possibility, just like Huck and Jim’s first days on the river. As time goes on, and people come into contact more with the real world, there are problems that are unavoidable. The world full of freedom and possibility has become hindered. There are still taxes to pay, laws by which to abide, and responsibility that can’t be avoided, which matches how Huck and Jim met unfortunate circumstances along the way. But, by the end of one’s journey, it becomes a time to realize that there really is no such thing as freedom. Nothing can ever be avoided completely, and sometimes barely even momentarily. Just like complete freedom is unattainable, so is perfection. Mark Twain used the journey on the river to describe that point of view, because in the end, the river is no longer a beacon of hope in a darkened world. It is merely an ephemeral stage that will undoubtedly be cut short by the shortcomings and downfalls of a murky
“We said there warn’t no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don’t. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft” (Twain 137), said Huckleberry Finn, after escaping a family feud, in the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. In this chapter, Huck, and his friend Jim, a runaway slave, flee to a raft they have been traveling on in the Mississippi river, to escape yet another incident that shows the degenerate state of society. In the beginning of the book, Huck and Jim are yearning for freedom, and find solace on a raft in the Mississippi River, one that they will depend on to facilitate their escapes from the atrocities of racism, slavery, …show more content…
Just like in life, nothing is perfect, and there is no real freedom without consequences. Very quickly, influences from the real world invade the raft, and, to relate to the metaphor, the water becomes murky. When the river floods, it led the duo into a gang of criminals, and brought a broken house with a dead man in it, which was later discovered to be Huck’s father. Already the evils of society had permeated their barrier, even bringing what Huck wished to avoid, his father, back to him. And, to taint the water even more, a fog rolls in, preventing them from reaching the mouth of the Ohio River, where it would have allowed them to be carried to the free …show more content…
At the start of the river, the water is a lot more fresh, clear, and young. As it flows down stream, it becomes older, experiences more, and picks up debris on the way. By the time it reaches the mouth, it is old, worn out, and tired. This mirrors the journey of life in general, and the journey of Huck and Jim. In the early years a of a person’s life, everything is new, exciting, and full of possibility, just like Huck and Jim’s first days on the river. As time goes on, and people come into contact more with the real world, there are problems that are unavoidable. The world full of freedom and possibility has become hindered. There are still taxes to pay, laws by which to abide, and responsibility that can’t be avoided, which matches how Huck and Jim met unfortunate circumstances along the way. But, by the end of one’s journey, it becomes a time to realize that there really is no such thing as freedom. Nothing can ever be avoided completely, and sometimes barely even momentarily. Just like complete freedom is unattainable, so is perfection. Mark Twain used the journey on the river to describe that point of view, because in the end, the river is no longer a beacon of hope in a darkened world. It is merely an ephemeral stage that will undoubtedly be cut short by the shortcomings and downfalls of a murky