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Comparison Of Water In Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn And The Awakening

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Swimming in High Tides The two anomalies in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Awakening, Edna Pontellier and Huckleberry Finn, head to the water to find themselves. On their journey, they recognize they do not fit in to the society around them, and water is the only safe place for them.When they reach the water, it opens up new opportunities for both of the characters,finding out who they really are. The water in both books represents a rebirth, that forces the characters to find themselves, ultimately knowing they only belong in the water. Huck and Edna escape to the water to find their true meaning, causing them to be reborn. Before Huck can escape to the water, his caretaker, Widow Douglas, wants him to conform to the society around him. Huck worries,"she would sivilize [him]" and mold him into her conformed ways (13). Huck spends …show more content…

The old widow is happy that Huck is conforming to society and this transition portrays that Huck is transforming into the way the people on the land act. When Huck's dad kidnaps him, Huck realizes the ways he is changing, "I didn't want to go back to the widow's any more and be so cramped up and sivilized, as they call it" (39). He knows that the "sivilized" life is not for him, and runs off to the river. Huck acting "sivilized" would cause him to think like everyone around him, and that is not what he wants. Like Huck, Edna did not know who she was before she found water. Edna would lose control over her emotions,"she could not have told why she was crying" (6). Edna has no sense of direction and walks through life aimlessly. Robert exposes her first to the water and “Edna Pontellier could not have told why, wishing to go to the beach” displaying that she did not understand her own

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