what does mississippi river mean in the book the adventures of huckleberry finn?

Answer 1

I'd say it could represent freedom. Which at first seems wonderful, but can carry you far from the security of home and routine.

However I'm not sure MT meant it that way on purpose, I think he was a great story teller telling a great story. One of the main points I think he was making at the time was the humanification of a ***** - jim. He made him real, caring, and feeling... attributes many didn't see or belive existed in the black people at the time.

Answer 2

For Huck and Jim, the Mississippi River is the ultimate symbol of freedom. Alone on their raft, they do not have to answer to anyone. The river carries them toward freedom: for Jim, toward the free states; for Huck, away from his abusive father and the restrictive “sivilizing” of St. Petersburg. Much like the river itself, Huck and Jim are in flux, willing to change their attitudes about each other with little prompting. Despite their freedom, however, they soon find that they are not completely free from the evils and influences of the towns on the river’s banks. Even early on, the real world intrudes on the paradise of the raft: the river floods, bringing Huck and Jim into contact with criminals, wrecks, and stolen goods. Then, a thick fog causes them to miss the mouth of the Ohio River, which was to be their route to freedom.

As the novel progresses, then, the river becomes something other than the inherently benevolent place Huck originally thought it was. As Huck and Jim move further south, the duke and the dauphin invade the raft, and Huck and Jim must spend more time ashore. Though the river continues to offer a refuge from trouble, it often merely effects the exchange of one bad situation for another. Each escape exists in the larger context of a continual drift southward, toward the Deep South and entrenched slavery. In this transition from idyllic retreat to source of peril, the river mirrors the complicated state of the South. As Huck and Jim’s journey progresses, the river, which once seemed a paradise and a source of freedom, becomes merely a short-term means of escape that nonetheless pushes Huck and Jim ever further toward danger and destruction.

Answer 3

Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), the author grew up on the Mississippi. He was a river boat captain, for a time, on that river. I believe he was simply writing about his surroundings.

Answer 4

It represents Finn's long shlong.

Just be creative my man... It can represent tons of things. Their journey, life as a journey, with torrents, adventures, etc. Freeedom. Or, you could argue that it was simply part of the environment of where the novel was set. Also the auther grew up around there, so he was familiar with and loved the area.

Answer 5

What do you mean "What does it mean"? It's the Mississippi River...an actual river...with water...and it flows to the Gulf of Mexico...in America...hello?

Answer 6

The mississippi was their Never-Never Land. It was how they escaped the bonds of civilization.