In Mark Twain’s” Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” I found myself being introduced to a whole new era, and not being able to put the book down. The culture was so different from todays that it was hard for me to imagine slavery, and to the extent people would go to get their slaves back. I know from history that owning slaves was a representation of wealth. The reward for Jim was very hurtful and sad. Huck’s attitudes toward Jim even though; he knew his place on the farm was a slave, brighten up the scene.
Finn being a curious poor little boy who was always looking for adventure and excitement seemed to get bored easily. When Finn gets settled into school and gets some structure in his life, an obstacle comes along and changes what little bit of schedule he has. When the widow tries to put Finn on the proper path, he accepts it for a short time. As the story proceeds Finn remembers so much about what his father has taught him right and wrong. Huck’s farther drinks heavily, beats him and keeps him locked up. When Huck finds a way to escape from him he flees to the river where he finds a raft that takes him away from all forms of authority.
Whether Mark Twain intended it or not the water represents freedom, life, and death to all. The water was a means of survival for Huck and Jim, who had also, ran away from Huck’s family to be free. Huck and Jim teaming up and living off the water wasn’t as easy as it seemed. Their journey on the river took all kinds of twist and turns, but they always ended up back together. Jim being a slave is not given much credit for his knowledge however I think Twain intended to give the reader a since of the era that slaves had to adhere and how they longed for freedom. To Huck, Jim was a person that he could trust and felt safe with.
To me this novel summed up everyday life. The twist and turns that Huck found him-self in is like life, forever changing in a blink of an eye. Just when we think we have it all figured out something changes for the better or worse. We never know where the river of life will take us. Huck and Jim’s adventure on the water took them places that they both had just dreamed about. But in the end they both were free.
I think that Huck's loyalty to Jim was wonderful even though he did have conflicting feelings about it at first. He came across to me as knowing what the right thing was to do but because he wanted to please everyone he met or give them a chance that he found himself in trouble. He was always thinking of how he could get out the trouble he finds himself in and I like how he is always thinking of Jim and not just himself. I like the relationship that Huck and Jim have in the end.
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