Theme of Freedom and Slavery in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Theme of Freedom and Slavery in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:
Of all Mark Twain’s literary works, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remains a masterpiece of
enduring value, which continues to be one of the most read and discussed novels of all time. The
adventure story is set in the fictional town of St. Petersburg, Missouri in the very beginning and
later it moves to other places towards the South as the poor white boy Huck and the runaway
slave Jim travel down the Mississippi river in quest of freedom. Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn incorporates several themes developed around a central plot to create a story but the theme
of freedom as against slavery is the central theme of the novel.
In the story what Huck and Jim seek is freedom, and this freedom is sharply contrasted with the
civilized society along the great river, which itself serves as a strong symbol of freedom in the
novel. The moral, ethical, and human development of the runaway duo during an odyssey down
the Mississippi River brings them into many conflicts with the society at large. Huck’s first
person narration as e sees it allows Twain to depict a realistic view of the time and people with
all their shortcomings including the practice of slavery. Huck's practical and socially naive views
provide much of the satirical humor of the novel; however, Huck himself never laughs at the
incongruities of the people. Huck simply accepts, for example, the abstract social and religious
tenets pressed upon him by Miss Watson until his experiences cause him to make decisions
otherwise. Huck humbly accepts his inability to conform to the rules and considers it his own
deficiency. Enforcing of slavery is key to the notion of a civilized society of the contemporary
time, and Huck detests the very idea slavery from the very beginning. He finds a true companion
in Jim, the runaway slave, on his journey towards freedom along the Mississippi river escaping
the attempt to ‘sivilize’ him by the adults around him.
Huck is able to resist being molded into a prisoner of so called civilized ideals and manners,
advocated by the respectable people around him who in accrual life are to him mere hypocrites.
His true self is being undermined and Huck soon realizes that he is going to become a ‘slave’ of
their scheme. So he escapes to nature in search of freedom. In contrast, the real life slave Jim,
perhaps more literally, wants the much sought after ‘freedom’ from slavery. And for both of
them the Mississippi river acts as the route to freedom. Huck frequently associates this great
river with a sense of freedom. This sense of freedom is geographically related in the way the
Mississippi meanders its way along the border between states, as it takes Huck and Jim further
south towards the territory with more danger of slave trade. And at the same time, the
Mississippi also leads all the way to the ‘freedom’ of the ocean.
A large portion of the novel takes place in natural settings. Both Huck and Jim possess a great
deal of knowledge about nature and the river, Huck’s easy-flowing and cheery language in
describing natural settings gives us the feel that he is more at home with nature than with the
civilization. Though nature imposes new constraints and dangers on the two, a feeling of being
unprotected from the meaninglessness of death, what Huck would call ‘lonesomeness’, it also
provides havens from society and even its own dangers, like the cave where Huck and Jim take
refuge from a storm. In such havens, Huck and Jim are free to be themselves and on their own.
What is interesting to note is that while all outside forces are trying to enslave them, Huck and
Jim fight for their own freedom. Jim is conditioned by social norms and laws that require him to
place his own race below the Whites’, whose only purpose in life is to serve his superiors. He
remains a loyal friend to Huck during the entire journey. Though there are countless
opportunities for Jim to leave Huck, yet he remains by Huck's side so the two of them can escape
together.
As already noted, ‘freedom’ for both of them is something most sought after goal. Huck wants to
be free of societal values, and also of his abusive father, who goes so far as to literally imprison
Huck in a cabin. Huck, more than anything else, wants to be free so that he can think and act
independently and live to the fullest to his heart’s content. Similarly, Jim wants to be free of
bondage so that he can return to his family.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is beset with slavery and racism in all its speldour. While
slaveholders profit from slavery, the slaves themselves are oppressed, exploited, and physically
and mentally abused. Though Mark Twain wrote the novel after the abolition of slavery, the
novel itself is set before the Civil War, when slavery was still rampant and was the economic
mainstay of the American South. Many characters in the novel are directly presented as white
slaveholders, like Miss Watson, the Grangerfords, and the Phelps, while other characters profit
indirectly from slavery, as Duke and the Dauphin do in turning Miss Watson’s runaway slave
Jim into the Phelps’ in exchange for a cash reward. Twain uses satire to poke fun at the
institution of slavery and racism. Huck's moral struggles with regards to slavery is nicely related
to us when he is in a moral dilemma after helping Jim to escape, as all his life Huck was taught
that it is a sin to help escape a slave.
In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn we see that people can be free as they wish, but ironically
enough, only to be imprisoned in themselves. For example, the Duke and the Dauphin in contrast
to Huck and Jim, are so free that they can become almost anybody through their playacting and
impersonation. But this is possible because they have no moral obligation and are imprisoned in
their own selfishness. Freedom is good when that is morally right, as in the case of Huck and
Jim. At the end of the novel, Huck eventually decides to head out towards the uncivilized
‘territory’ in search of true freedom.
- Protim Sharma
[email protected]

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