The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The book of Huckleberry Finn was a great book and I enjoyed reading it as our first book in this class.  I believe that I have read this book before but I was much younger and I didn’t really pay attention to the minor details or the significance of the plot and meaning.  As we get older we begin to look at things very differently than when we were when we were younger.  I think that the Mississippi River is a major scheme in the book.  The Mississippi River plays a major role for Jim and Huck throughout the novel.  They both need and want freedom and the river is one way that they can have that freedom.  Huck’s father is very abusive to him so Huck is running away from him to be free from all the beatings.  Jim is running from slavery.  They are both seeking freedom from their lives that they are living.  As the two of them are floating down the river in their raft they both feel contented and protected because they know that they are on their way to freedom.  The two boys know that they are safe from the previous life while they are floating down the river.  The river is like a safe haven from society and a source for adventure for Huck and Jim.  As Huck goes through each adventure it is as if he experiences a growth and rebirth.  Huck learns something from each adventure and becomes more aware of the things around him.  Huck learns something new from each adventure and that makes him a new person in different ways.  Through reading this novel, I found in my own opinion that society was wrong in the fact of the way that the slaves were treated.  As Huck is helping Jim escape the life that he has lived, Huck realizes that black people are people to, regardless of what society teaches him and others.  The dialogue in the book was a bit hard to understand but it was very appropriate for the time that it was written.  A theme that I got from reading this book is that just because everyone else does something you do not have to do the same thing.  We are all human and we deserve to be treated with respect and dignity.  Even today we can still see these things go on but it may be with a different race or minority.  Throughout the book I think that Huck and Jim are the two main characters.  As I was reading the book, I could see things through Huck’s eyes because he was the narrator.  Huck has a very literal mind in that he tells or reports everything he sees or hears with straightforward accuracy.  This helps to make the book more realistic.  For the most part, Huck is always down-to-earth and natural with his common sense.  He has an awesome inventive ability to survive in all situations.  Huck has a heart for others and other living things around him throughout the whole book.  As for Jim, he is a developmental backbone for Huck.  As they both travel down the river Jim is dedicated to helping Huck in every way possible.  Jim has a big heart as well and that touched Huck in many different ways.  Through reading this book it has touched my heart and made me think about the way that I may treat people and not even realize it.  As we all know the old saying “treat others as you would like to be treated” in all walks of life we should think back on that phrase.