Huckleberry Finn Symbolism Essay

Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is an extremely controversial novel. Huckleberry Finn begins with the protagonist, Huck, escaping his father’s cabin out in the woods. He goes on adventures with an escaped slave named Jim. Together the two meet new people, go on adventures, and visit new places. Symbolism is evident in Huckleberry Finn. The King and Duke, the Mississippi River, and the relationship Huck has with Jim are all symbolic in one way or another by representing different parts of society and life. The King and the Duke are two very important characters in Huck Finn. They are two con artists who commit crimes and trick people into paying them money. The King and the Duke symbolize everything that is evil. The two are extremely greedy

Their relationship represents purity, friendship, and the breaking of racial standards. At the beginning of Huckleberry Finn, Huck and Jim first have a race based relationship with Huck on top. At the beginning of their travels we see Jim acting a bit as a guardian for Huck. “‘It's a dead man. Yes, indeedy; naked, too. He's ben shot in the back. I reckon he's ben dead two er three days. Come in, Huck, but doan' look at his face—it's too gashly.’” (Twain p.52) A slave wouldn’t treat a young white boy the way Jim treated Huck. He cared about him and soon began to form a friendship where they could casually communicate with each other. “‘Pooty soon I'll be a-shouting' for joy, en I'll say, it's all on accounts o' Huck; I's a free man, en I couldn't ever ben free ef it hadn' ben for Huck; Huck done it. Jim won't ever forgit you, Huck; you's de bes' fren' Jim's ever had; en you's de ONLY fren' ole Jim's got now.’” (Twain, p.)A black man at the time would never have said anything even along those lines to a white man during that time period. But because they saw each other as equals, they broke racial boundaries. They see each other as friends. Something like this is completely sacrilegious for the, yet, they still become friends. This symbolizes a sort of odd man out where they are the people going against the crowd, in a positive way. Jim ends up getting taken in by the Phelps’, a family related to Tom Sawyer. At the Phelps Farm, Huck is tasked with saving Jim. “‘I know what you’ll say. You’ll say it’s dirty, low-down business; but what if it is? I’m low down; and I’m a-going to steal him, and I want you keep mum and not let on. Will you?’”. Huck is willing to go to the lengths of potentially harming himself to save his best friend. His freidnwhip with Jim represents the racial stereotypes that have been broken. This also follows the theme