Laguna State Polytechnic University

JOSE MARIE F. QUIAMBAO, MAED-ENGLISH

0420-2347, First Semester
EDUC 207 LITERARY CRITICISM
PROF. GLEN P. CORTEZANO
Literary Analysis (Marxist)

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is set in the South Pre-Civil War that addresses issues of
freedom, poverty, and diversity while examining institutionalized racism. It told a real story of how
unfortunate to become a mediocre member of the society but through that it also taught us how to live
with the true meaning of liberty outside of the society's demands, importance of friendship and values of
social skills. Generally, the novel narrates the narrative of two individuals' struggles to achieve
emancipation: Huck desires to break free from the constraints of society, both physical and mental,
while Jim is fleeing a life of literal enslavement.
Initially, Hucks’ confrontation to society is his widowed foster father Douglas, who adopted and
attempts to “civilize” him into an upstanding citizen. Huck is from a poor family and is looked down
upon because he is considered uncivilized; he has no mother, his father is a town-drunk, and he bucks
against expected societal practices, like school and church. So basically, Huck must play by society’s
rules to be accepted. He witnesses racism firsthand and knows it is wrong as to he speaks these words
from chapter 1, where he is irritated because widow Douglas will not allow him to smoke. Huck
believes the widow despises smoking because of her religious upbringing, rather than any personal
experience with it. Condemning something without fully understanding it strikes Huck as hypocritical,
and he makes a broad statement against it in this phrase:

“That is just the way with some people. They get down on a thing when they don’t know
nothing about it.”

The adventure begins when huck breaks himself from his captivity by faking his own death and
fleeing to Jackson's Island. There he meets Jim, a fugitive slave who is an even more terrible sufferer of
societal restrictions due to his rank. In an act of mutual escape, the two protagonists join forces and set
out on a raft down the Mississippi River, yet huck will deal later with the moral dilemma of helping Jim
to be free from enslavement, which he feared would be considered stealing but kept still his stand on
society’s inequality base from his line:

“I said I wouldn’t, and I’ll stick to it. Honest injun I will. People would call me a low
down Ablitionist, and despise me for keeping mum—but that don’t make no difference. I ain’t
agoing to tell, and I ain’t agoing back there anyways. So now, le’s know all about it.”

Huck's promised in Chapter 8 not to give Jim up, reflects prevalent opinion at the time regarding
persons who assisted slaves in escaping. If others found out that he didn't turn Jim in to the authorities
for escape, he knows he'd be more discriminated than before. Huck's own morals is revealed in this
phrase, since he believes in honoring his word no matter what, even if it causes him personal suffering.
However, the rising action begins when Huck and Jim encounter the king and duke, two
newcomers who happens to give them the huge conflict they would ever face. They claim to be royalty
but are really “con artists” who prey on gullible villagers. The king and duke, by referring to themselves
as royalty, emphasize the absurdity of presuming certain individuals are superior to others just because
of their birth, and again, Huck begins to wonder what a civilized society truly entails.
Watching the Duke and Dauphin on a performance of their silly show “The Royal Nonesuch.”
He uttered:

“Human beings can be awful cruel to one another.”

Huck is torn between his conscience and shame about his role in the deceptions, particularly
when they scheme to rob Peter Wilks' daughters. He tells Mary Jane Wilks the truth about the duke and
king, which marks the start of his morale more evident, as he acts out of compassion for Mary Jane
rather than self-interest. The duke and king sell Jim after narrowly escaping the Wilks. Jim is caught and
detained by Tom Sawyer's aunt and uncle.
The novel's climax occurs when Huck must choose between disclosing Jim's location, ensuring
Jim's return to slavery and implicating himself in breaking the law by liberating a slave. Huck feels "all
scrubbed clean of sin for the first time" after originally intending to turn Jim in, but then remembers how
good Jim was to him and changes his mind, pledging to help Jim escape. Tom comes and helps Huck in
crafting an intricate plot to free Jim. Their plan succeed with a little accident as Tom were shot on his leg
but only it strengthens their brotherhood in the end.
 The ideas of freedom and prejudice in the novel are presented in a diverse perspective. Just ads
Huck and Jim are fleeing from various sorts of imprisonment, they have distinct conceptions of what
liberation would mean, raising the question of whether there is a common meaning of freedom or if each
person's concept of freedom is unique. In Huck's case, he believes that freedom will allow him to live a
life free of restraints imposed by society and religion, allowing him to pursue an unrestricted life of
adventure and discovery. Huck's notion of freedom, shaped by his relationship with Tom Sawyer, is
naive, coming from a position of relative affluence. Since no one "owns" him. The freedom he craves is
more symbolic than physical. On the other hand, Jim's goal of liberation appears to be considerably
swallow. He intends to earn enough money to reconcile with his family by fleeing slavery. Because Jim
is constantly reminded that he is someone else's property with no personal liberty, the freedom he desires
is more basic, more fundamental, and more profound: a condition of being both literal and symbolic.
The Mississippi River serves as a significant symbol of freedom for both Huck and Jim. They
enjoy total authority on their raft. Huck finds a great feeling of tranquility when floating down the river
at night, unseen to the rest of the world moving quickly through it claiming:

“You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft.”

Works Cite:

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Themes and Analysis. (2013, January 4). Retrieved from
https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-adventures-of-huckleberry-finn-themes-and-analysis.html.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Literary & Critical Analysis. (2016, May 4). Retrieved
from https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-adventures-of-huckleberry-finn-literary-critical-
analysis.html.

Esposito, E. (2019, May 12). 16 Huckleberry Finn Quotes Everyone Should Know. books on the
wall. https://booksonthewall.com/blog/huckleberry-finn-quotes/