A Journey for Freedom

【Abstract】Mark Twain is a great literary giant of America，and he is also generally considered one of Americas first and foremost realist and humorists. Among his works，the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn，which proves itself to be the milestone in American literature，has been considered the greatest one. Hemingway once described the novel “the one book from which all modern American Literature comes”⑴ The book is significant in many ways. The great strength of the book comes from the shape given by the course of the rafts journey down the Mississippi River as Huck and Jim，a Negro slave seek their different kinds of freedom which stems from the same source. Twain，who knew the river intimately，used it here both realistically and symbolically. In this paper，I would argue one theme of this novel—the quest for freedom.

【Key words】realist； Mississippi River； Negro slave； freedom

In American literary history，Mark Twain takes a very important position. In comparison with his contemporaries such as W. D. Howells and Henry James，Mark Twain forms his own unique artistic style on the basis of inheriting and developing the excellent tradition of American literature. Twains humor is remarkable，however，his humor is not only of witty remarks mocking at small things or of farcical elements making people laugh，but a kind of artistic style used to criticize the social injustice and satirize the decayed romanticism.⑵ A case in point is his masterpiece — the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. With this works and Life on the Mississippi River （1883） Twain shaped the worlds view of America and made a more extensive combination of American folk humor and serious literature than any previous writers. ⑶ Few authors have been as successful as Twain in writing for both children and adults. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn，one of the finest novels in the history of American literature，delights readers of all ages. Published in 1884，the book is one of those rare works written on sufficient number of levels and with sufficient truth to people of every age describing what had happened in the years of 18th century before the Civil War.

The book，the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was one of the most important works in American literature not only in thoughts but also in artistic style. It is a sequel of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Huck Finn tells the story about the United States before the Civil War，around 1850. Just like the boy，Huck，Twain hated the corrupted society，and then he cherished a hope for the realization of free ideal. In this book，he created an Utopia—“Cairo” for Huck and Jim，though he knew that it was non-existence，letting them miss “Cairo” in the fog，in my opinion，Mark Twain who believed in the democratic thoughts of bourgeois，felt despaired and angry at the corruption in American society and he found no way to realize the freedom in the reality. But on the other hand，he deeply condemned slave-holding system and racial discrimination，and whats important was his longing for freedom.

In view of Twain，freedom which would not be abused by anyone，means living equally together no matter what race one belongs to and what color one is. And in this book，freedom is the main theme. So in the following sections I would argue the different kinds of freedom sought by Jim and Huck.

In this novel，Jim，the Negro slave，is the best characterization of Negro in American literature. The author didnt use too many words to depict him，but，indeed，expressed much more enthusiasm and sympathy for him. Twain depicted this character exactly and successfully shaped a Negro imagery. When discussing the above，we have to consider Twains experience and his historical background at that time. When Twain was very young，he lived with Negroes together. He found that Negroes had “a lot of good quality” so he “likes Negroes very much. He once recalled that this kind of feeling to Negro people had been not weakened for 60 years.” For a long time，racists of America did their utmost to carry out the policy of racial discrimination. It follows that all the rights of Negro people were strangled. Before the Civil War，in the south of America，the decayed planters possessed millions of Negro slaves，who had no freedom and human rights and lived a miserable life. After the Civil War，Negro people were still facing bad situation. So in this novel，Twain condemned the slave-holding system and racial discrimination. The thought in this aspect can obviously be seen from Jims quest for freedom.

The Negro shaped by Twain is different from those who resign themselves to adversity. In this novel，though he had long been a slave，Jim had been independent，free in his spirit，and he thought slave-holding system unreasonable. He couldnt bear to be sold from place to place by his master. When he knew that he would be sold to slave trader at 800 dollars，he ran away. He dreamed for a happy and free life with his wife and children who he wanted to redeem one day. After hearing this，Huck thought Negro people were insatiable and Jim was selfish. But the same goes for Huck. He thought the Negro people shouldnt excel him and shouldnt have too much “extravagant hopes”. But，in fact，everybody should enjoy the rights of free life no matter what color he is. This is the main stream of Twains democratic thoughts. Jim was very honest and yearned for freedom，unlike someone who considers nothing，but his own freedom and his safety. On their way to escape，Jim pet Huck and did everything he could think of for Huck. What he did was not the attending of a slave to his master，but a help to friends. Once，when they escaped from Pheleps farm，Tom had a bullet in the calf of his leg. Jim decided to stay there，looking after Tom at the risk of his life，rather than running away for his freedom which he had been longing for. Jim said，“I doan budge a step out of this place，but a doctor；not if its forty years.” The old doctor was greatly moved and said：“dont be rougher on him than you are obliged to，because he isnt a bad nigger and I never see a nigger that was a better nuss or more faithful.” This，in fact，through what the doctor said，shows Twains view on the Negroes. Jim，just like other Negroes，had been in such exploited and enslaved social position that he had no freedom and had to suffer not only from his masters mistreatment but also discrimination. He became a little rude，even superstitious and innocent. But the torture in physical body and constraining in spirit didnt make him yield to his fate，hes still maintained his own independent personality and rebelling spirit of freedom. He respected himself and he claimed for respect which he should be given as a human being. A case in point is as follows. Once，unfortunately，Huck lost his way and separated himself from Jim. Jim tried his utmost to cry out looking for him，without considering his own life. As a result，he felt asleep deeply on the raft. While Huck，who was influenced by the racial discrimination，only wanted to trick on Jim. After he returned，he told Jim what had happened just now was only a dream of Jim. That made Jim confused and he really thought that he was in dream so that he couldnt judge what had happened on earth. However when Huck was very complacent，Jim understood that Huck deceived him. Then，he，who thought he was equal to Huck as a human being，queried sternly Hucks frolic. When he said：“…En when I wake up en find you back agin，all safe en sound… Im so thankful… That truck dah is trash；en trash is what people is that puts dint on de head a dey friends en makes en ashamed”⑸ We can see Jim had made great progress in his spirit. At the very beginning，he only simply knew to run away，presenting that he had the sense of equality. This great progress means the satirization on American society and rebellion against the slave-holding system and racial discrimination. All in all，although Jim was not a hero，we are deeply impressed by his bravery，loyalty，unselfishness，and his quest for freedom.

As we have seen from all the above，Mark Twain describes two different kinds of pursuit for freedom. As for Jim，he wanted to cast off enslaved life to become a freeman and he hoped that his family should get complete freedom from their owners. He wanted to obtain a kind of essential freedom—to be a freeman. He chose one way to get it，that was to escape. But，as a Negro，his dream wouldnt come true at all at that time. Wherever he went，he would be discriminated by the White people. So long as he lived in such a society as the one described in the novel，he wouldnt obtain true freedom，and he wouldnt be treated equally by others. Only on the raft would he feel free，whats more，he felt that he was a real man and he was equal with the White people just like Huck.

From this brief analysis of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn，Id like to draw a conclusion that freedom is a main theme of this novel. On the one hand，Jims pursuit for freedom and Huck s pursuit for freedom seem to be two different kinds of freedom，there，however，is a kind of similar situation between Jims relationship with society and Hucks . That is to say，in order to exist freely，one must flee from the “civilizing” society where human nature is strangled，in the time when slave-holding system is badly rampant. Freedom，sometimes，is related to escaping from the “civilizing” society，not to stay in the “civilizing” society. On the other hand，Huck serves as the symbol of democracy and freedom of America. He is representing those positive American people at that time，Hucks adventures and his escaping from the “civilizing” society，have deeper meaningful and strong influence. His adventures just reflect that American people demand to shake off the restriction of the “civilizing” society of European type. They just wanted to own their true living style and freedom. One more thing，Huck helped Jim to escape，this fact represents the thought of Twain that the Black should enjoy the equal freedom and the rights as the White！

NOTES：

[1]张伯香.英美文学选读[M].外研社，1998：495.

[2]The Norton Anthology of American Literature third edition volume 2 part 1 edited by Nina Baym etc.w.w.Norton & Company Led.London.1989.P.78.

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作者简介：王琪（1980-），女，天津商务职业学院讲师，研究方向：商务英语教学、英语语言文学。