Theme Of Symbolism In Huckleberry Finn

A young girl of six years struts down the street away from home, with her little pink backpack stuffed with essentials. She claims she needs “freedom”, and running away is obviously the answer. Similarly, the main character of The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, escapes his father to gain freedom. This book explores the concepts of slavery, hypocrisy, and what it means to be “civilized” through the eyes of a young boy named Huckleberry Finn. Although Twain wrote the novel in 1884, Huck’s adventures take place in the 1830’s and 1840’s, before the civil war. He and an escaped slave named Jim journey down the Mississippi River and go on multiple exciting excursions along the way. Throughout the novel Twain emphasizes the point that
The first way is through the religion Huck learns both by the influences in his “civilized” life, and by the influences in his “uncivilized” life. The Widow teaches him Christianity, which Huck takes literally and after praying for fishing hooks and not receiving them, immediately dismisses it’s authenticity. (Twain 10-11). On the contrary, Jim and Pap both teach Huck superstition and Huck takes this view of the world more seriously, and this shapes how Huck perceives other people and the world around him (Twain 52-53). The superstition teaches him that if he makes poor decisions, he will receive punishment by “nature” and vise versa. Through this logic, Huck develops a knack for doing things in a respectable manner because he does not want to later endure the consequences, therefore, his heart defeats his conscience. Likewise, Twain uses the Widow as an additional symbol by showing where and who formed Huck’s conscience. Huck mentions that he loved how he used to live but was getting used to living with the widow and her civilized ways (Twain 15). This quote demonstrates how the Widow is teaching and training Huck to behave in a civilized manner and conform to the societies guidelines. In another case, the author uses the Mississippi River as a symbol of this theme. He manifests this by showing Huck’s freedom, and his choices. In the past, Huck’s choices had always been made for him by either Pap or the Widow, but now he is free to make his own decisions and act however he pleases. This shows when Twain writes, “So in two seconds away we went a-sliding down the river, and it did seem so good to be free again and all by ourselves on the big river, and nobody to bother us” (Twain 205). In short, Twain describes this theme by showing the symbolism of freedom, civilized life, and religion, and how these concepts affect