Rules Of Prey Essay, Research Paper

In Huck Finns time, which was the 1800’s slavery was very popular. Many farm owners and plantation owners had slaves to work for them. The slaves were treated really badly. Huck Finn on the other hand, was friendly with them. The book Huck Finn by Mark Twain is an American classic that is a symbol of carefree youth. Throughout the book there are serious themes intertwined with the mischievous antics of adolescence. One of the broadest themes represented in the book Huck Finn by Mark Twain touches on freedom through the characters of Huck and Jim.

Huck is a 13-year-old, who gets into trouble all the time; he is semi-literate boy who refers to learn about school, God, and society. He calls the blacks by the N-word because he has never heard them called anything else. He’s been brought up to see blacks as slaves, as something less than human. His best friend was Jim a black slaves. Huck’s freedom is a setback to him in many ways because it holds him back from getting an education and being a functioning member of society. This is the author’s way of saying that there needs to be a balance between freedom and rules.

Jim’s opinion is that he wants to be free from Mrs. Watson. He also wants to be like Huck free from nature and society; he explains his freedom as superstition. For example, he wants to be free like a bird that can fly away and do whatever he wants without anyone telling him he has to do. Journey to freedom is literal, meaning that he has no rights besides those given to him by his owners. He knows he wants freedom, to make his own choices and decisions, but he doesn’t really know what a life of freedom means. He thinks that freedom is he has to follow the society rules, listen to everyone, and of someone does a wrong thing then they have to pay for it like a beaten or a punishment.

Therefore, Huck and Jim are traveling down the Mississippi River. Jim wants to get to the free states, which is New Orleans and leave the slave states and Huck escaping his drunken, discourteous father. So together they run away to go find happiness elsewhere, they watched out for each other while they were running and hiding from people. For example, Huck realizes that Jim is just as human as he is a loving father who misses his children, a warm, sensitive, generous, compassionate individual. This support of freedom is when Huck travels down the Mississippi River he will not have to be beaten from his father or listen to Mrs. Watson talking about God, he just ignores what she has to say about his dream, and he also can leave his father from beating him. During their time together, they got to know each other really well. Later in the book they met with the King and the Duke who perform their different versions of Shakespeare and other dramas under the guise of the Royal Nonesuch theater. When they arrive at the shore the Duke turns in Jim for a reward offered for a runaway slave. Now Huck’s episode arrives when he has to make a decision whether or not to rescue Jim when he is captured and held for return to slavery. The situation presents a moral problem for Huck, who feels it, is his duty to return Jim to his original owner, but who also wants to help Jim secure his freedom. By his decision to risk hell to save Jim, he saves his own soul.

Therefore the theme says that only one of the other main themes is that freedom is good, but a society cannot have too much or there is chaos. There needs to be a moderate amount of freedom there needs to be a moderate balance between freedom and rules in society and in life. Freedom means different things to different people, as shown by Huck and Jim.