The word “river” is repeated in almost every chapter, at least eight times per chapter. The river is given a more profound role by Mark Twain in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The river plays the role as a type of gateway towards freedom, for not just Jim, but for Huck as well. Both main characters struggled with a type of enslavement. Jim, an African-American who is an actual slave to Americans– and Huck: a slave to his father and caregivers, Widow Douglas and Miss Watson. Additionally, this duplicate longing for freedom helps create the indestructible bond between Jim and Huck as well. Popularly thought, it seems that “racism” seems to be the essential concept within the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but the idea of “freedom” for both
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She “put [him] in them new clothes again”. Huck was also “enslaved” by Widow Douglas’s, Miss Watson. Likewise, Miss Watson also tried to “sivilize” Huck by making him study and discipline his manners; “‘Don’t put your feet up there, Huckleberry’ [...] ‘Don’t scrunch up like that, Huckleberry–set up straight’ [...] ‘Don’t gap and stretch like that Huckleberry–why don’t you try to behave?’” (Twain 2). After returning to Widow Douglas, Huck came home to be drafted into a “civil slavery” again. Like Widow Douglas, Miss Watson tried to forcefully educate and “proper” Huck. Soon, Huck felt “tiresome and lonesome” by constant force of Miss Watson trying to change who he is as …show more content…
Huck did escape his alcoholic, abusive father once, but he tripped into a different type of enslavement by Widow Douglas and Miss Watson. During Huck’s stay with Miss Watson and Widow Douglas, the two women sent Huck to school. Huck’s father did not take it lightly that his son was going to school. So “one day in the spring, [he] catched me, and took me up river about three mile in a skiff” (Twain 23). Huck’s father kidnaps Huck while he is on his way to school during the Spring. In this “skiff”, Huck reveals that he “never got a chance to run off”. During Huck’s stay at this “old log hut” his father kept him in, his father would “lock [him] in and [would go] down to the store, three miles, to the ferry, and traded fish and game for whisky, [...] and got drunk and had a good time, and licked me” (Twain 23-24). Not only was Huck kidnapped by his father, but he was flung back into the abusive relationship to which where Huck seeked freedom initially. “Lick” is a commonly used word in the South that is used to when someone is “rough-housing” with someone or giving someone a hit. “Give ’em a lick” is common term Southerners would use when referring someone to fight another person. Huck does escape his father again, by cutting a chunk of log out of the backside of the cabin. Huck escaped by the river, and when he “stood on the bank and looked out over the river. All safe” (Twain 32-33). On the riverbank, Huck saw his temporary
She “put [him] in them new clothes again”. Huck was also “enslaved” by Widow Douglas’s, Miss Watson. Likewise, Miss Watson also tried to “sivilize” Huck by making him study and discipline his manners; “‘Don’t put your feet up there, Huckleberry’ [...] ‘Don’t scrunch up like that, Huckleberry–set up straight’ [...] ‘Don’t gap and stretch like that Huckleberry–why don’t you try to behave?’” (Twain 2). After returning to Widow Douglas, Huck came home to be drafted into a “civil slavery” again. Like Widow Douglas, Miss Watson tried to forcefully educate and “proper” Huck. Soon, Huck felt “tiresome and lonesome” by constant force of Miss Watson trying to change who he is as …show more content…
Huck did escape his alcoholic, abusive father once, but he tripped into a different type of enslavement by Widow Douglas and Miss Watson. During Huck’s stay with Miss Watson and Widow Douglas, the two women sent Huck to school. Huck’s father did not take it lightly that his son was going to school. So “one day in the spring, [he] catched me, and took me up river about three mile in a skiff” (Twain 23). Huck’s father kidnaps Huck while he is on his way to school during the Spring. In this “skiff”, Huck reveals that he “never got a chance to run off”. During Huck’s stay at this “old log hut” his father kept him in, his father would “lock [him] in and [would go] down to the store, three miles, to the ferry, and traded fish and game for whisky, [...] and got drunk and had a good time, and licked me” (Twain 23-24). Not only was Huck kidnapped by his father, but he was flung back into the abusive relationship to which where Huck seeked freedom initially. “Lick” is a commonly used word in the South that is used to when someone is “rough-housing” with someone or giving someone a hit. “Give ’em a lick” is common term Southerners would use when referring someone to fight another person. Huck does escape his father again, by cutting a chunk of log out of the backside of the cabin. Huck escaped by the river, and when he “stood on the bank and looked out over the river. All safe” (Twain 32-33). On the riverbank, Huck saw his temporary