Theme Of Freedom In Huckleberry Finn

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Freedom is “the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint” (dictionary.reference.com). On the contrary, enslavement can be viewed as anything that hinders one’s ability to assert their freedoms. Within Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, an unanticipated friendship develops between a young boy, Huckleberry Finn, and Jim, an oppressed African American slave, after the two cross paths on a journey to find happiness away from the binds of society. While freedom to Huck is the escape from the barriers of civilized society, Jim’s notion of liberation consists of emancipation from the world of servitude. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain employs freedom as a theme that fluctuates …show more content…
As opposed to Huck’s need to escape mental and physical abuse, freedom to Jim means the release from the shackles of servitude that define him, and every other slave, as insignificant and disposable to the free white members of society. While Jim’s quest for freedom in the novel holds significance, his preeminent role is to provide Huck with a nurturing paternal figure who models realistic and moral intelligence. By supplying him with the physical affection and positive reinforcement he was deprived of throughout his adolescence, Jim humanizes Huck; therefore, allowing the maturing boy to recognize and acknowledge Jim as a real person with the capacity to feel universal human emotions. Huck’s decision to abandon the accepted societal notions of morality in order to remain loyal to his new friend Jim, “I was a-trembling, because I’d got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it … ‘All right then, I’ll go to hell’—and tore it up … and never thought no more about reforming” (217), not only exposes the extent of his affection towards him, but also demonstrates Huck’s advances in establishing his own terms of morality. Huck and Jim’s friendship originally emerges as a beneficial alliance; however, the bond intensifies and eventually flourishes …show more content…
By the end of the novel, Twain illustrates how the binding chains that detain Huck and Jim from liberation are practically impossible to destroy. Huck will never completely free himself from the society he fears or the lonesomeness that gradually deteriorates his psychological health. Likewise, while Jim may legally be emancipated and considered a free man, he will always be a slave to the racist stereotypes and prejudices of others. All things considered, liberation remains to act as a prevalent motivation throughout humankind; however, the people’s contrasting perceptions make breaking away from all the confinements of society and one’s own psyche practically impossible to achieve, no matter how free one may be
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