The Concluding Sentence Of The Book

: What It Means Essay, Research Paper

The last sentence in the book “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain reflects the tone and character of Huck, the main character. “But I reckon I got to light out for the territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she’s going to adopt me and sivilize me, and I can’t stand it. I been there before.” (497) The language and grammar reflect the manner of an “unsivilized” stray child. Huck want to remain the way he is – wild and crude, wants to keep his jargon and his lifestyle, without the decency that Aunt Sally wants to impose on him. Huck is not only driven by the fear of being domesticated by Aunt Sally, but also by his love for freedom, the ability to love, and being a survivor. Huck is a child of the wild and feels displaced and uneasy in a decent atmosphere of a house of Aunt Sally or Miss Watson. He has never had a home, and the house of the widow Miss Watson is no cozier to him than the empty barrels he used to sleep in or the woods. He feels even worse in the house because he has to play by the foreign rules. He has to accept Christianity, has to follow a rigid etiquette at dinner, wear clothes that are too stiff and clean for him, and he is not supposed to smoke. “I went up to my room … and tried to think of something cheerful, but it warn’t no use. I felt so lonesome I most wished I was dead. The stars were shining, and the leaves were rustled in the woods ever so mournful; and I heard an owl, away off who-whooping about somebody that was dead.” (219) Huck’s own environment is the uncultivated wild.Huck is a roving character. Most of the time of the story Huck spends on the river on the raft with Jim. The raft on the river is their safe shelter, their only home. “I was powerful glad to get away from the feuds, and so was Jim to get away from the swamp. [Jim and Huck] said there warn’t no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped and smothery, but a raft don’t. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft.” (327) The character of Huck is like the river – flowing and forever changing. As one cannot reshape and bridle the river, no one – not Miss Watson, the widow, or Aunt Sally can control Huck and “adopt” (497) him. Huck is someone who always moves on forward. Even though he never has an exact goal of where to go, he is never aimless. His goals and his life are about being free, without a steadfast place he would call his home. His home is the river, and a river does not have any ambitions except for being forever in motion, calm and smooth. Huck wants to “light out for the territory ahead of the rest.” (497) Huck is a survivor: he knows how to cook food for himself and to live alone. Huck’s goal – the territory – the big, unknown country – is symbolic of all Huck’s goals – abstract and unknown, and therefore not really a goal in itself. Huck always figures out ways to get out of a tricky situation: he escapes from his father, fooling the whole town into thinking that he is dead, he helps Jim not to get caught, he tricks Aunt Sally into thinking he is Tom Sawyer. Huck always manages to win, to be “ahead of the rest.” (497) Huck, despite the fact that his upbringing was on the street and that his father is a drunk, can associate easily with people. Huck is very compassionate and can feel people very well. He knows at once that the two people who pretend to be the “king” and the “duke” are just two bandits, but Huck feels guilty for them anyway when they get the punishment they deserve. “I warn’t feeling so brash as I was before, but kind of ornery, and humble, and to blame, somehow – though I hadn’t done nothing.” (438) Huck is the only friend of Jim, a former slave. Huck tries to help Jim escape, even though he thinks it is a disgrace. Jim is so fond of Huck that he calls him “Honey.” (301) Huck is Jim’s “light” throughout their passage. Huck’s character does not possess many of the qualities that were deemly highly important in the times of Mark Twain. Huck is “unsivilized,” crude, uneducated, and homeless. However, Huck’s soul is one made for love and freedom. Mark “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” criticizes the society of Twain’s time by contrasting the crude but loving character of Huck against the values of the