Saturday, June 23, 2012

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, what values or desires do Huckleberry Finn and Jim have in common?

It is clear from the way in which Huck and Jim's life is
presented in chapters such as Chapter 19 for example, when they are by themselves and
living happily and in perfect tranquility, at one with nature, that the prime desire
that both characters want is a simple, quiet life, free from the worries and pressures
of civilisation. Note the way their lives are described at the beginning of this
chapter:



Not
a sound anywheres--perfectly still--just like the whole world was asleep, only sometimes
the bullfrogs a-cluttering, maybe. The first thing to see, looking away over the water,
was a kidn of dull line--that was the woods on t'other side; you couldn't make nothing
else out; then a pale place in the sky; then more paleness spreading around; then the
river softened up away off, and warn't black any more, but grey; you could see the
little dark spots drifting along ever so far
away...



Such passages create
images of beauty and wonder as Jim and Huck live off of the land and are separate from
other humans and the "civilisation" that only seems to bring them such problems. They
live at peace with each other and with nature, and it is only the frequent and unwelcome
contact that they make with "civilisation" that disrupts this idyllic image. Thus
principally Jim and Huck share a desire for peace and have a common value of the
importance of nature and what humanity in its "civilisation" actually
represents.

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