Images of Nature and Society in Chapter 19 of Huckleberry Finn
In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain creates a strong opposition between the freedom of Huck and Jim's life on the raft drifting down the Mississippi River, which represents "nature," and the confining and restrictive life on the shore, which represents "society." Early in the novel, Huck describes how much he dislikes his life with the Widow Douglas and Miss Watson, who try to "sivilize" (1) him. He says "it was rough living in the house all the time, considering how dismal and regular and decent the widow was in all her ways" (1). Huck wants to be free from the Widow's and Miss Douglas's rules and routines, and sees travel and mobility as his escape route. He tells the reader that when "I couldn't stand it no longer, I lit out" (1), and that "All I wanted was to go somewheres; all I wanted was a change" (2).
At the beginning of Chapter 19, Twain offers a long descriptive passage of Huck and Jim's life on the raft that seems, at first glance, to celebrate the idyllic freedom symbolized by the river and nature. The episode occurs immediately after the Grangerford episode, where both Huck and Jim were trapped--Jim in his hiding place in the swamp, and Huck in the absurd cycle of violence of the Grangerford's feud with the Shepherdsons. Now free to drift aimlessly down the river, Huck and Jim seem to escape the confining and destructive social world on the shore and return to nature. A close reading of this passage, however, shows that the river is not a privileged natural space outside of and uncontaminated by society, but is inextricably linked to the social world on the shore, which itself has positive value for Huck. I...
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...e various signs of society's presence on the river seem at first to suggest contamination and corruption, by the end of this section we can see them as valuable and lovely in their own right. The steamboat's sparks are just as beautiful and awe-inspiring as the stars in the sky.
Works Cited
Harris, Susan K. "Huck Finn." Huck Finn. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers. 1990.
Mitchell, Lee Clark. "The Authority of Language in Huckleberry Finn." New Essays on Huckleberry Finn. Ed. Louis J. Budd. New York: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge. 1985.
Trachtenberg, Alan. "The Form of Freedom in Huckleberry Finn." Huck Finn. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishing. 1990.
Whitley, John S. "Kid's Stuff: Mark Twain's Boys." Huck Finn. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishing. 1990.
...ke." Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. An Authoritative Text Backgrounds and Sources Criticism. Ed. Sculley Bradley, et al. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 1977. 421-22.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel written by Mark Twain during the late 1800’s (Mintz). The book brought major controversy over the plot, as well as the fact that it was a spin-off to his previous story, Adventures of Tom Sawyer. This book has remained a success due to Twain’s interesting techniques of keeping the audience’s attention. Chapters eleven and twelve of “Huckleberry Finn,” uses a first person limited point of view to take advantage of the use of dialogue while using many hyperboles to add drama to entertain the reader by creating description within the story without needing to pause and explain.
Throughout Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck learns a variety of life lessons and improves as a person. Huck goes through a maturing process much different than most, he betters a conscience and begins to feel for humanity versus society. His trip down the river can be seen as a passage into manhood, where his character changes as he can relate with the river and nature.
Kaplan, Justin. "Born to Trouble: One Hundred Years of Huckleberry Finn." Mark Twain Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Case Study in Critical Controversy. Eds. Gerald Graff and James Phelan. Boston: St. Martin's, 1995. 348-359.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain is about the great adventures that Huck finn has with his slave Jim on the Missouri River. The story tells not only about the adventures Huck has, but more of a deeper understanding of the society he lives in. Twain had Huck born into a low class society of white people; his father was a drunken bum and his mother was dead. He was adopted by the widow Douglas who tried to teach him morals, ethics, and manners that she thought fit in a civilized society. Huck never cared for these values and ran away to be free of them. During Huck’s adventure with Jim he unknowingly realized that he didn't agree with society’s values and could have his own assumptions and moral values. Twain uses this realization to show how the civilized and morally correct social values that was introduced to Huck was now the civilized and morally contradicting values.
In, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, author, Mark Twain contrasts what life is like on the uncivilized shore compared to the peaceful life on the river. Huckleberry Finn is a character that rejects society's behaviors and values because he does not want to be "civilized" like everyone wants him to be. Huck is someone with a mind of his own and someone who does what he pleases. Since Huck is someone who rejects society, he eventually ends up running away and traveling up the Mississippi River with a slave name Jim. The two runaways find peace on the river and they also find that they do not have to deal with the cruel society on shore. In this respect, what qualities make the river and society on shore so different from one another and how does Twain establish these contrasts? Huck and Jim are two individuals seeking freedom from the uncivilized people on the shore and during their journey together they find freedom on the raft floating up the Mississippi River.
Homelessness can result from children running away, being abandoned by parents, extreme poverty within the family and/or unsafe/unstable living conditions. Being in situations where a child has worry about where they are going to sleep or where there next meal may come from gives them little time, if any, to focus or even think about attending school. In addition, attending school means a need for the upkeep of personal hygiene, having clean clothes and most importantly transportation to and from school, which can add more stress to a child outside of the fact they are homeless. Not having these things causes high levels of depression, anxiety and low self-esteem. Th...
Set in pre-civil war America, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn takes place along the Mississippi river. As Huckleberry travels along it he learns lessons about life, society and most importantly; himself. Surrounded by a world of prejudice and racism, Huck is forced to learn to make decisions on his own. He is able to learn from the imperfections in the rest of the world as he views them. While on the river, Huck and Jim are at peace. The river symbolizes freedom for both Jim and Huck. The river is Jim’s path to freedom from slavery, and it is Huck’s freedom from society. When Jim and Huck journey onto the banks of the river they see the inhumanity to man that goes on in the world. This juxtaposition of the river and the land help emphasize the peacefulness of the river in comparison to the crazy society on land. Huck learns to think for himself, and tries not to conform to the ways of the people on the land. Although the world that he lives in teaches him to be a racist, his journey down the river teaches him to use his own mind, and find out what he really believes in.
C/I Many homeless people opt to stay on the streets rather than in a shelter.
In his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain uses nature not only as ally, but as a deterrent in Huck Finn's search for independence and Jim's search for freedom. The most prominent force of nature in the novel was the Mississippi River. The river was not only their escape route, but perhaps it became their biggest enemy because it was always unpredictable. Nature is the strongest factor in the novel because in a completely different geographical setting the story would have had not only a different outcome, but Huck and Jim might never have found friendship and freedom. Twain changes his tone when describing the Mississippi River from wry and sarcastic to flowing and daydreaming. This change in tone illustrates his own appreciation for the beauty and significance that nature holds for him.
Some interesting quotes and passages that I found were: on page 3 it said that the Earl of Essex, Elizabeth’s lover, was once her first cousin twice removed. Another one I read was on page 91. It was a quote that was quoted by Portia to Bassano, “but I fear you speak upon the rack, where men enforced do speak anything.
Homelessness is a widespread issue that in recent years has only worsened with the downturn in the economy and a never-ending war. Of this very vulnerable population however there is within an even more vulnerable population, the children affected by homelessness. We as a society need to understand why homelessness in childhood happens, and understand how drastically it effects children’s development overall. We must gain a better understanding of the specific issues arising from homelessness in childhood; Physical; Psychological; and Academic to understand how to minimize and reverse those effects of childhood homelessness.
Twain , Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2003.
With the number of homeless students on the rise, schools encounter new educational challenges that include: establishing and maintaining enrollment procedures that would not discourage school attendance; lack of teacher-training/awareness in the special needs of homeless children; the non-existence of a school transfer system for homeless children that would be least destructive to a child's education, while all the time not overlooking the basic needs of food, clothing, shelter, security and medical care that homeless families with children require immediately.
The novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an extremely important work of literature that addresses many world problems such as: poverty, race relations, and our role in society. Although some of these issues are not as prevalent today as they were in the 1880s, the novel still sends an important satirical message to anyone who is willing hear this story. This essay will analyze Huckleberry Finn and its relation to society today; the main issues that are addressed include: Huckleberry’s growth as a moral and upstanding person, race relations between African-Americans and Caucasian-Americans including Huck’s relation to Jim and the issue of slavery, the role of society and an analysis of Huck’s role in society and society’s role in Huckleberry’s personality.