Jack Mustard English III Cohn 13 December 2011 The Mississippi River One of the most important rivers

in North America, the Mississippi River shows its true power in Mark Twains novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The Mississippi River has been influencing the country since the first settlers began the nation. The river itself begins in Minnesota and flows through the United States to the bottom of Louisiana empting out into the Gulf of Mexico. It provided support to the countrys economy by aiding transportation of goods. The Mississippi also helped create territorial divisions for newly formed states. However, rivers also have a large impact in the figurative language of written works as well as physical. Mark Twain effectively uses the Mississippi River to help move the plot, enhance character development and create symbolism in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. One of the most important usages of the Mississippi River is as a plot device to help begin the Adventures for Jim and Huck. In some instances the river will give the characters inspiration to do different things. While planning to run away from his abusive, drunk father, Huck struck another idea: I judged I'd hide her good, and then, 'stead of taking to the woods when I run off, I'd go down the river about fifty mile and camp in one place for good, (Twain 31). Huck gets this idea after his father forces him to go check the lines in the river for fish. This new idea will cause the creation of the main plotline when Huck meets Jim while traveling on the river. Without the river, this

would have never happened and the book would have been cut short. While camping out on an island [came] a frame-house down, on the west side [of the river]. She was a twostory, and tilted over considerable. We paddled out and got aboardclumb in at an upstairs window (Twain 50). This passage shows the more direct means of furthering the plot, by having the river literally give a house for Huck and Jim to explore. In the house Huck and Jim discover a dead man, later to be found as Hucks father who had been shot. In other occurrences, Jim and Huck are delivered to points of action by the river. For example there was a steamboat that had killed herself on a rock. We was drifting straight down for her. On the steamboat, Jim and Huck eventually have to save themselves from thieves and murderers. The Mississippi also allows new characters to be introduced to the protagonists to begin new plot lines in the novel. For example a different steamboat in the river crashes into their raft and breaks it and the pair are separated. After swimming to the shore of the river, Mr. Grangerfords dogs attack Huck and a new character is introduced. Huck is taken in by the Grangerfords and later gets involved in their family feud with the Shepherdsons. This is an important piece of the plot that helps Huck learn about trust and friendship. The Mississippi River helps create different dramatic situations, and introduces new characters to help create the plot in Huckleberry Finn.

Not only does the Mississippi River help further the plot in Huck Finn, but also helps develop the characters and their relationships. The river helps develop Huck as a character because it provides the means for him to escape civilized society. In the beginning of the novel, he hates being scolded by Ms. Watson and being forced to go to

school and learn to read. He would rather be in the outdoors where no one is able to control him and he can do as he pleases. The river also helps Huck learn why he dislikes civilized society. At first, he dislikes the society due to his childish immaturity, and stubbornness; he will not have anyone tie him down. After Huck has journeyed down the Mississippi, he knows he dislikes society for its cruelness; for reasons such as slavery, or the greedy wealthy. The river teaches him these things because he is brought out of his bubble, and sees the world for the first time for what it really is. For example, after meeting the Dauphin from the river, Jim gets sold as a slave. Thats when Huck decides to fight back. I was a- trem- bling, because I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: All right, then, I'll GO to helland tore it up. Not only does this show his opposition to slavery but also the necessity and desire for Huck to have a friend there to help him. It illustrates how Huck has created an identity for himself and will stand up for his beliefs. It also confirms how enlightened he has become having aquired the ability to overlook the race of a man while creating relationships. Huck has come a very long way from playing in his silly gang of pretend robbers and thieves. This advancement of maturity can be compared to the movement of streams into the Mississippi River and so on to other joint rivers. The river helps Huck to mature, create an identity and learn about the world in more ways then the civilized school in St. Petersburg could have even thought possible.

Jim is also trying to find an escape using the Mississippi River; however, it is from slavery and not civilized society. The river represents Jims pathway to freedom,

but also the pathway to a life of imprisonment. In one way he is running away from his master, but he is also moving closer and closer to the deep south while on the river. In the deep south a black cannot escape from slavery, and it usually means your enslaved for life. Jim first decides to run away when one night I creeps to de do' pooty late, en de do' warn't quite shet, en I hear old missus tell de wider she gwyne to sell me down to Orleans, but she didn' want to, but she could git eight hund'd dollars for me, en it 'uz sich a big stack o' money she couldn' resis' (Twain 43). It is the fear in Jim that drives him to run away from his masters home. Jim plans to use the Ohio River, which is attached to the Mississippi River to escape slavery once and for all and move up north. In the north, slavery was more often opposed and Jim would be able to live as a free man. Rivers are a concrete form of resistance that will never change and will always provide a means to freedom. In this sense, the river is a tool for Jim because it provides him with hope. As a slave, Jim doesnt have much of an identity outside being a worker. This is why the river is so crucial for Jim because it means everything for him since he has nothing. Another usage of the Mississippi River is to add important symbolism necessary for the novel to instill important ideas in the reader. The river represents many different things in the novel; summarized into one word, the river can be seen as a deity, or godlike figure. Similar to gods, rivers are powerful, natural forces that control the fate of all the inhabitants living near it. As a natural resource it has a very positive connotation because it provides life and hope for the towns built around it. For example, Huck and Jim feel that there warn't no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don't. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft (Twain 116). In juxtaposition, the river provides a pathway straight to a lifetime of

enslavement in the deep south and also threatens their voyage with dangerous physical conditions. When Huck is traveling on the river the fog closing down, and it made me so sick and scared I couldn't budge for most a half a minute it seemed to meand then there warn't no raft in sight (Twain 80). Just like a god, the river controls how easy or difficult their trip will be, and in turn controls the book in its entirety. These drastically different ideas of what the Mississippi represents in Huckleberry Finn show that it does not represent one single idea. Just as a god does not represent one single type of person, there are numerous opinions from the diverse people living on Earth and that is what the river represents. In conclusion, Mark Twains uses of the Mississippi River as a literary device helps drive the plot, reveal new character nuances, and create symbolism in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The river helps maintain action in the story by creating issues caused by the natural environment, and meeting new characters in the different towns they pass. The river is an effective device to illuminate Hucks inner growth of maturity as the protagonist of the story. It also clarifies the inner conflict within Jim and his journey towards and away from slavery. The Mississippi also acts as a god like figure to control the life and death of all those brave enough to live near it. The Mississippi River creates important details in the book that would otherwise leave the book devoid of important content, and helps unify the story and characters.