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Rollin Down the River: The Uniting of Theme and Plot in Mark Twain's The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
In Mark Twain's novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain develops
the plot into Huck and Jim's adventures allowing him to weave in his
criticism of society. The two main characters, Huck and Jim, both run from
social injustice and both are distrustful of the civilization around them.
Huck is considered an uneducated backwards boy, constantly under pressure
to conform to the "humanized" surroundings of society. Jim a slave, is not
even considered as a real person, but as property. As they run from
civilization and are on the river, they ponder the social injustices forced
upon them when they are on land.
These social injustices are even more evident when Huck and Jim have to
make landfall, and this provides Twain with the chance to satirize the
socially correct injustices that Huck and Jim encounter on land. The
satire that Twain uses to expose the hypocrisy, racism, greed and injustice
of society develops along with the adventures that Huck and Jim have. The
ugly reflection of society we see should make us question the world we live
in, and only the journey down the river provides us with that chance.
Throughout the book we see the hypocrisy of society. The first character
we come across with that trait is Miss Watson. Miss Watson constantly
corrects Huck for his unacceptable behavior, but Huck doesn't understand
why, "That is just the way with some people. They get down on a thing when
they don't know nothing about it" (2). Later when Miss Watson tries to
teach Huck about Heaven, he decides against trying to go there, "...she
was going to live so as to go the good place. Well, I couldn't see no
advantage in going where she was going, so I made up my mind I wouldn't try
for it." (3) The comments made by Huck clearly show Miss Watson as a
hypocrite, scolding Huck for wanting to smoke and then using snuff herself
and firmly believing that she would be in heaven.
When Huck encounters the Grangerfords and Shepardsons, Huck describes
Colonel Grangerford as, "...a gentleman, you see. He was a gentleman all
over; and so was his family. He was well born, as the saying is, and
that's worth as much in a man as it is in a horse..." (104). You can
almost hear the sarcasm from Twain in Huck's description of Colonel
Grangerford. Later Huck is becoming aware of the hypocrisy of the family
and its feud with the Shepardsons when Huck attends church. He is amazed
that while the minister preaches about brotherly love both the Grangerfords
and Shepardsons are carrying weapons. Finally when the feud erupts into a
gunfight, Huck sits in a tree, disgusted by the waste and cruelty of the
feud, "It made me so sick I most fell out of the tree...I wished I hadn't
ever come ashore that night to see such things."
Nowhere else is Twain's voice heard more clearly than as a mob gathers at
the house of Colonel Sherburn to lynch him. Here we hear the full force of
Twain's thoughts on the hypocrisy an cowardice of society, "The idea of you
lynching anybody! It's amusing. The idea of you thinking you had pluck
enough to lynch a man!...The pitifulest thing out is a mob; that's what an
army is-a mob; they don't fight with courage that's born in them, but with
courage that's borrowed from their mass, and from their officers. But a mob
without any man at the head of it is beneath pitifulness" (146-147). Each
of these examples finds Huck again running to freedom of the river. The
river never cares how saintly you are, how rich you are, or what society
thinks you are. The river allows Huck the one thing that Huck wants to be,
and that is Huck. The river is freedom than the land is oppression, and
that oppression is no more evident than it is to Jim.
It is somewhat surprising that Huck's traveling companion is Jim. As anti-
society that Huck is, you would think that he would have no qualms about
helping Jim. But Huck has to have feelings that slavery is correct so we
can see the ignorance of racial bigotry. Huck and Jim's journey begins as
Huck fights within himself about turning Jim over to the authorities.
Finally he decides not to turn Jim in. This is a monumental decision for
Huck to make, even though he makes it on the spot. This is not just a boy
running away from home. It is someone who has decided to turn his back on
everything "home" stands for, even one of its most cherished beliefs. In
this way Twain also allows to let us leave our thoughts of bigotry behind
also and start to see Jim for who he really is, a man.
Even though Huck has made his decision about Jim, early in the voyage we
see Huck's attitude towards Jim as racist. Eventually Huck plays a mean
trick on Jim and we see Huck begin to change his attitude, "It was fifteen
minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger;
but I done it, and I warn't ever sorry for it afterward, neither" (86).
Later on in the story Huck becomes very caring and protective for Jim,
where this reaches a climax at the point where Huck saves Jim from two
slave catchers by tricking them to think Jim is was Huck's small pox ridden
father. The dialogue between Huck and Jim also illustrates that Jim is
more than someone's property. He is a human being with feelings, and hopes
for a better future. He is not some ignorant, uncaring sub-human, but
plainly the opposite. Twain does not necessarily come out and say that
slavery is evil, that is far above Huck's understanding, but he gives us
the ammunition needed to make that decision for ourselves.
Huck and Jim's adventures give us a chance to examine the society they live
in. It also gives us a chance to examine ourselves as well as the society
today. The story is over a hundred years old, but many of the social vices
then, sadly, pertain to our society now. There are more examples of human
failings in this book, the trickery and cheating of the King and Duke, the
lack of caring by the townspeople for Boggs, the naivet‚ of the Wilks
sisters and the lack of common sense in Tom Sawyer. There is cruelty,
greed, murder, trickery, hypocrisy, racism, and a general lack of morality,
all the ingredients of society. All through the adventure you have Huck
Finn and Jim trying to find the one thing they can only find on the river,
freedom, but a person can only stay on the river for so long, and so you
have to go on land to face the injustices of society. Quite a contrast,
the freedom of being without authority, being able to think for yourself,
running right next to the constraints made upon you by society.
Somewhere deep within the story Twain is making a powerful statement, a
wish for all humanity, that we can be brave enough to break with what
others assume is correct and just, and make decisions for ourselves and the
ability to stand on our own and do something about it. We are that mob
that stood outside Colonel Sherburn's house, we are the Grangerfords and
Shepardsons, and we are the King and the Duke, and even the foolish
townspeople in every town they conned. Somewhere along the line we must
become I, someone has to have the courage to stand up for what is right, to
be what Colonel Sherburn would call a real man. Huck gives us that chance,
that ability to see things for what they are. His adventures along with
Twain's sharp criticism are so uniquely combined to give us that
realization. The greatest thing is that it is done so well that we almost
think that we are the ones that discovered it.
ADDITIONAL FEATURED ESSAYS
Huckleberry Finn: Controversy Paper
Huckleberry Finn sets each reader back in a time when we as humans where inhuman. All the faults of the world was just b
The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn: Symbolism
1. Compare and Contrast Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Although Tom and Hucklberry Finn have many things in common and
Huck Finn - Mark Twains Views
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Mark Twain
Samuel Clemens better known as speaks best about the American experience through is unique literary voice, and through h
Huck Finn
Tim Lively Critical Analysis: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Setting: Late 1800’s along the Mississippi River Plot:
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