Mark Twain has a wild imagination and he shows it in the novel of "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". He has described characters with various personalities and lifestyles, but I will focus on two of the main characters, Huck and Jim. Their relationship is very interesting in the novel because they are always willing to help each other, and even when they are separated from each other, they always seem to find each other again. Since their circumstances and goals are similar, their search for freedom directs their lives along the same path. This leads to what I think is the main theme of the novel, freedom.
The goal for freedom is seen a lot in this novel. From Huck escaping from his father to Jim escaping from slavery. These are just two examples of freedom in a novel which I believe is full of the want of freedom. Everyone wants freedom in life and most of the time we can achieve it fairly easily, but for Huck, he has to work towards freedom. The same goes for Jim. It is not hard to figure out why these two characters ran into the Duke and the King because these two were also seeking freedom while cheating people of money along the way. These two con men wanted to be free from having an honest job and free from having to do honest work. This is a crude version of freedom, but freedom none-the-less.
Freedom also ties into the setting. The setting is in the South, just a few years before the Civil War-I believe, based on the fact that there is still slavery. The setting is a place that will soon erupt into fighting over slavery. It will be a war fought for freedom, just like Huck fights for his freedom and Jim fights for his freedom. I like the setting because the author describes a setting much different from today because of the lack of freedom. This setting is very realistic to the South because the South was built on slavery and the people involved in slavery wanted freedom, and some even died for freedom. Huck and Jim achieved freedom in the end of the novel, but if they hadn't, I believe they would have died trying. It is hard to imagine what it would be like not to be free.
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I like the fact that you discuss the idea of freedom as the solid thread in the novel. You are right that most of the characters are seeking some sort of freedom. However, I do not think the word 'freedom' is a theme. A theme does not just consist of one word; a them is a general statement about human experience. With that being said, how can you turn the word freedom into a theme?
ReplyDeleteI also like how you make some connection to our society today. It is important to try to connect literature to our current time period. When you do that you are activating prior background knowledge and making the literature relevant to you. Try to do this with each piece of literature you read this summer.
Good post.
I partially agree with you that the theme of this novel is freedom, but like Mrs.Jesik said, I think that this novelis more about achieving freedom, through struggles, triumphs and self realization. This novel does relate all characters through the common goal of freedom, but before any of these characters actually achieve freedom, they must go through a journey, or I guess what you'd call an adventure in Mark Twain terms.
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