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Hannah Joy Cruz

Mrs. Stier

Junior English, P.5

20 February 2018

Every book has an overall meaning behind all the drama, conversations and actions. The

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is about a small town boy named Huck, who has a bum of a

father, Widow Douglass and Miss Watson as his adoptive moms. Recently in his life, he receives

a ton of money and later wants to leave society. So he decides to leave and Jim wants the same

life, so he follows Huck to be free. This story takes place along the Mississippi river in Missouri,

in 1830-40s. The author Mark Twain wrote this book as an example of the Regionalism period

of American Literature. During the Regionalism Era of 1865- 1895, it mainly focuses on

character, dialect and customs. Using characteristics from the regionalism era, it helps people

discover the theme of the story. The importance of freedom and immorality of slavery is a major

theme of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has five main events that has happened in the book.

The first main event that happened was when Huck’s dad takes Huck away from everyone to live

in a cabin in the woods, where he beats Huck every time he was drunk. When he discovered that

Huck made a lot of money, but couldn’t get it, he was furious. During Huck’s time at the cabin,

he figures out a way to escape from the cabin. One night, he grabbed many supplies for his

journey, but before he finally left, he had to set up his “death” scene. The second main event was

when Jim and Huck meet somewhere on Jackson’s island and they stay together to survive, but

one night they got separated by a boat that split their raft. Huck survives, but is being hunted by
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the Sheperdson’s. During his escape, he meets the Grangerford’s- they have also been dealing

with the Sheperdson’s- and they help him try to shoot Harney Sheperdson. Another main event

would been that during their journey, Huck and Jim pick up two guys- The King and Duke-

running away from crimes they didn’t commit. During their journey, the King and the Duke

involved Huck and Jim into their schemes. They would scam people of their money and even

tried to steal thousands of dollars from three innocent young girls, but Huck stopped him before

he was able to. Huck and Jim try to get rid of them, but they weren’t able to. In result, the King

sells Jim to Silas helps for $40, making Huck panic and he was trying to find a way to get him

back. Another main event would be when Huck was trying to figure out a plan to bail Jim out.

Huck’s direct plan was to go to the Phelps and ask for Jim, but something goes wrong. The

Phelps mistaken him for tom Sawyer, one of Huck’s friends. While he was trying to free Jim,

Huck finds out that the real Tom Sawyer was in town and left to let him know what he’s doing.

After Huck tells Tom everything, tom wants to be a part of the plan, but being Sid Sawyer,

Tom’s little brother. They both try to plan a good simple plan, but Tom’s adventurous side gets

in the way. He tries crazy things and unnecessary twist, but after all that, they finally got a plan

to help Jim escape. The plan worked, but Tom ended up getting shot. So Huck took him to a

doctor, but that doctor took Jim back and increased his lockdown.

The importance of freedom and the immorality of slavery is a major theme of the

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Imagery is employed to express this theme. “I never felt easy

till the raft was two mile below there and out in the middle of the Mississippi. Then we hung up

out signal lantern, and judged that we was free and safe once more. I hadn’t had a bite to eat

since yesterday, so Jim he got out some corndodgers and buttermilk, and pork and cabbage and

greens-there ain’t nothing in the world so good when its cooked right” (Twain, 107). The river
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symbolizes freedom. The way Twain describes how Huck and Jim felt, goes to show that they

are living the life, free from society they used to live in. On his way home, Huck was talking

about how is father was and what kind of a person he was. When he came home that night, he lit

the candles and went to his room. There he was, pap just sitting there. Huck closed the door fast

thinking that he used to be so scared of him, but not he wasn’t scared as much as before. “He was

most 50, and he looked it. His hair was long and tangled and greasy, and hung down, and you

could see his eyes shining through like he was behind vines. It was all black, no gray; so was his

long, mixed-up whiskers. There warn’t no color in his face, where is face showed; it was white;

not like another man’s white, but a white to make a body sick, a white to make a body’s flesh

crawl- a tree-toad white, a fish-belly white. As for his clothes just rags, that was all” (Twain, 23).

Huck’s father isn’t the normal citizen. He doesn’t like following the rules and was a drunk. He

doesn’t like how their society was as a whole.

Symbolism is also employed to help express the theme of the book. “So in two seconds

away we went a sliding down the river, and it did seem so good to be free again and all by

ourselves on the big river, and nobody to bother us” (Twain, 29). Huck and Jim felt so free, just

floating in the river with nothing to do and no one to bother them. They were free from society

and the rules. “We… let her float wherever the current wanted her to; then we lit the pipes, and

dangled our legs in the water, and talked about all kinds of things- we was always naked, day and

night, whenever the mosquitoes would let us” (Twain, 19). Huck and Jim were able to do and

talk about anything they wanted to. They didn’t have to worry about anyone telling them what to

do. They flowed wherever the current took them, with no worries.

Dialogue is also employed to help express the theme of the book. “I do believe Jim cared

for his people a white folks does for their’n. It don’t seem natural, but I reckon it’s so” (Twain,)
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Jim cares about his people. He believes that they should be free and be able to live their lives.

“Jim said it made him all over trembly and feverish to be so close to freedom. Well, I can’t tell

you it made me all over trembly and feverish, too, to hear him, because I begun to get it through

my head that he was most free-and who was to blame for it? Why, me” (Twain) Jim and Huck

were trembling because they couldn’t wait to finally be free. Being free meant so much to them

and they didn’t want it to slip out of their hands.