Huck Finn Symbolism Analysis

Throughout the history of literature, writers have implemented various examples of symbolism into their texts. The inspirational writer Mark Twain, or Samuel Clemens, is no different from other writers in his many uses of symbolism. In fact, it can be argued that Twain uses the literary device of symbolism better than many writers from his age. His well known novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and its sequel, Adventures of Huck Finn. In these two novels, Twain uses many objects, landmarks, and people to showcase the idea of symbolism throughout the plot. Symbols from Mark Twain’s, Adventures of Huck Finn, include the Mississippi River, Jim, and the Widow Douglas. Mark Twain implements several different symbols into his novel, Adventures of Huck Finn, one of which is the vast Mississippi River. In both The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huck Finn, the Mississippi River is a vital part of the adventures that take place. Mark …show more content…
In this novel, Jim symbolizes all enslaved blacks of the South in this time period. He was very under-educated, was illiterate, and hadn’t been out in the world. He is also thought of as not being privileged with the same rights as white people. This part of the symbol of Jim is shown through his discussion with Huck about running away, “Well, I b 'lieve you, Huck. I—I RUN OFF.” In this portion of the story, Huck and Jim admit to each other their plans of running away with one another, yet at the initial thought of this, Huck is astounded. He doesn’t believe it is okay for Jim to leave an abusive situation, yet he sees no problem with himself leaving for the same reason. This shows how people in this time period thought of the black population as lesser than the white population. Jim clearly symbolizes the idea of slavery at the time in which the story takes