“Jim said it made him all over trembly and feverish to be so close to freedom.” (87) Throughout the novel Twain portrays freedom through nature. As Jim and Huck are on their journey through the Mississippi river and the raft is used to take in the novel to represent the freedom that Huck and Jim have always desired and are now are pursuing. The Mississippi River is the largest symbol in the novel, as Huck and Jim are literally and figuratively running away from their lives. Jim is escaping his life of slavery and learning what it means to be an equal member of society. Huck’s treatment of Jim releases him from his mental shackles of slave mentality. “So in two seconds away we went a-sliding down the river, and it did seem so good to be free
