On the River: Natural Goodness in
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
(1) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn chronicles the Mississippi River journey of two runaways—the title character and Jim, a man who is escaping slavery. (2) The novel examines the theme of nature versus civilization. (3) Huck Finn is a natural, down-to-earth character who feels separated from society. (4) Widow Douglas is trying to “sivilize” Huck, and he blames himself for being “so ignorant and so kind of low-down and ornery.” (5) Twain shows that Huck’s naturalness is redeeming.
(6) Twain illustrates the superiority of nature over civilization through Huck and Jim’s life together on the raft. (7) Huck has been raised to consider Jim inferior to himself, and his social conscience, which symbolizes civilization, tells him that “people would call me a low-down Ablitionist” for not turning Jim in to the authorities. (8) Huck overcomes his acquired prejudice, however; his decision to help Jim shows his natural concern for another human being and his innate respect for human dignity. (9) Huck and Jim live peacefully and cooperatively on the raft, floating down the river. (10) “Jim, this is nice . . . I wouldn’t want to be nowhere else but here. (11) Pass me along another hunk of fish.”
(12) When the action of the novel takes place on land (a symbol of civilization), the atmosphere changes. (13) For example, while Huck is staying with the Grangerford family, the family’s long-standing feud with the Shepherdsons escalates and ends in slaughter. (14) Unlike the negative aspects of civilization on land, life on the river is helpful and compassionate, for “[i]t would a been a miserable business to have any unfriendliness on the raft.” . . . (15) “What you want, above all things, on a raft, is for everybody to be satisfied, and feel right and kind toward the others.” (16) Huck’s statement reveals Twain’s own view that life on the river is natural and innately good, as are Huck’s natural instincts toward Jim.
(17) Early in the novel, the mighty Mississippi River is established as a major symbol of the natural world and what it provides. (18) The river offers Huck a means of escape from his father: (19) “I went along up the bank with one eye out for pap and t’other one out for what the rise might fetch along” and “all at once, here comes a canoe; just a beauty, too.” (20) Later, the river provides a raft and supplies for Huck and Jim to begin their journey.
(21) The novel’s conclusion shows that the river journey with Jim has allowed Huck’s natural self to, in part, defeat civilization’s negative pull on him. (22) The novel ends with Huck planning to “light out for the [Western] Territory ahead of the rest” because another woman wants to adopt and “sivilize” him, and he “can’t stand it.”
(23) Twain uses the river journey to show the struggle between the demands of civilized society and the instinctive goodness of the natural world. (24) Huck wrestles to the end with the war between his conscience and society’s requirements. (25) Finally, we see, along with Huck, that he is most comfortable when he is on the actual, as well as the metaphorical, river.