The Land vs. The Rive in Huckleberry Finn
Contrast of the River and the Land in Huck Finn
In the novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain it is apparent that there are two different types of lives that can be led- the “sivilized” life on land or the free life along the river. Living on land is a more socially accepted way of life where there are a lot of opportunities, both good and bad. Life on the river is a lot simpler. Huck and Jim find their new lives to be free of conventional rules and regulations and they decide to live the way they want and not bow to societal demands. Twain contrasts life on the wide river to the often problematic life on the land through Huck and Jim’s experiences and adventures. “Twain’s deconstruction of any unproblematized identification of whiteness with goodness and social grace continues as Huck and Jim travel down south and are faced with white degeneration, immorality and mob mentality practically every time they go on shore” (Valkeakari). In the novel, The Mississippi River serves as a symbol of safety and protection from the rest of society where land represents hatred and animosity.
Venturing onto land has proven to be anything but smooth for Huck and Jim. An example of this can be found in chapter eleven when Huck starts to get a little nervous as a group of people start looking for him and he decides to “slip over the river to find out what was goin on” (Twain 116). In order to conceal his identity, Huck thought it was a better idea to venture to land disguised as a girl rather than risk someone recognizing who he really was. “So we shortened up one of the calico gowns and I turned up my trouser-legs to my knees and got into it. Jim hitched it behind with the hooks and it was a fair fit. I put on the sun-bonnet and tied it under my chin” (Twain 116). Huck is attempting to get any type of information that will help Jim and himself stay on the run until they both reach their prospective utopian freedoms. He
In the novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain it is apparent that there are two different types of lives that can be led- the “sivilized” life on land or the free life along the river. Living on land is a more socially accepted way of life where there are a lot of opportunities, both good and bad. Life on the river is a lot simpler. Huck and Jim find their new lives to be free of conventional rules and regulations and they decide to live the way they want and not bow to societal demands. Twain contrasts life on the wide river to the often problematic life on the land through Huck and Jim’s experiences and adventures. “Twain’s deconstruction of any unproblematized identification of whiteness with goodness and social grace continues as Huck and Jim travel down south and are faced with white degeneration, immorality and mob mentality practically every time they go on shore” (Valkeakari). In the novel, The Mississippi River serves as a symbol of safety and protection from the rest of society where land represents hatred and animosity.
Venturing onto land has proven to be anything but smooth for Huck and Jim. An example of this can be found in chapter eleven when Huck starts to get a little nervous as a group of people start looking for him and he decides to “slip over the river to find out what was goin on” (Twain 116). In order to conceal his identity, Huck thought it was a better idea to venture to land disguised as a girl rather than risk someone recognizing who he really was. “So we shortened up one of the calico gowns and I turned up my trouser-legs to my knees and got into it. Jim hitched it behind with the hooks and it was a fair fit. I put on the sun-bonnet and tied it under my chin” (Twain 116). Huck is attempting to get any type of information that will help Jim and himself stay on the run until they both reach their prospective utopian freedoms. He
Cited: Brownell, Frances V. "The Role of Jim in Huckleberry Finn." Boston Studies in English, Literature Resource Center (1955): 74-83. Web. 7 November 2013. James, Pearl. "An overview of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in, an essay for Exploring Novels, Gale." Exploring Novels, Literature Resource Center (1998): 3. Web. 7 November 2013. Kravitz, Bennett. "Reinventing the World and Reinventing the Self in Huck Finn." Papers on Language and Literature, Literature Resource Center 40.1 (2004): 25. Web. 29 October 2013. Twain, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. Print. Valkeakari, Tuire. "Huck, Twain, and the Freedman 's Shackles: Struggling with Huckleberry Finn Today." Atlantis, revista de la Asociacion Espanola de Estudios Angle-Norteamericanos Literature Resource Center (2006): 29. Web.