What Does The River Symbolize In Huck Finn

Throughout Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the river is clearly a positive symbol that protects Jim and Huck from society.

However, some scholars are under the impression that the river is intended to be a negative symbol that is aggressive towards Jim and Huck.

The river brings trouble to Jim and Huck, causing them to loss the little freedom they had on the river. Dr. David Sloane, who is a professor of English and education at the University of New Haven, argues in his article “Huck’s Moral Reasoning as Heroism” from Bloom’s Major Literary Characters: Huck Finn that the pattern of the river acting as freedom or safekeeping from society is repeated, only to be eradicated by the Duke and the Dauphin (134). Nelson Mandela

Contends Professor Gary Wiener in his book Understanding “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” that the river seems to be a relaxed environment that is away from society itself (77). Similarly, professor of English at the University of North Carolina, Everett Emerson, expresses a similar idea in his article “The Complexity of Huck’s character” in the anthology Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” that Huck and Jim can be normal or act like themselves on the river, long away from society’s judgement (67). Some people feel the need to be far away from civilization in order to have peace within themselves. The sole reason why people have vacation homes is so that they will be away from the pressures and stress they feel from other people back in reality. Some of the best memories that I had as a child was going to my family farm. The stresses that were back home had no meaning at the farm because they were left in reality and didn’t matter. Similarly, Huck and Jim are at a place where they can be relaxed and act like themselves without the judgement of other people following them