What Does The River Symbolize In Huckleberry Finn

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Twain and Shakespeare use symbolism as a technique to criticize society. The mississippi river represents for Huck and Jim freedom and possibility. The river is taking Huck out of child abuse and taking Jim out of slavery. Huck feels confined by both society which figuratively kept him imprisoned by its restrictive rules and by Pap who lock him up. The river is the only route they can take if they want to be free both in that present moment and in their respective futures. Huck said “So in two seconds away we went a-sliding down the river, and it did seem so good to be free again and all by ourselves on the big river, and nobody to bother us. (Twain 29) To Huck the river represents a life beyond the rules of society and that's a life he could get used to. To Jim…show more content…
Juliet had said "What's in a name? That which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet." (II, ii, 1-2) Here she was referring to Romeo and no matter what his name was she would still love him. If we look at the quote from a literal point of view, Juliet is saying even if a rose has another name it would still smell so sweet and have the same beauty. Shakespeare could be criticizing love in hate in humans and the metaphor he is trying to prove is when the rose is alive it represents love and when it's almost dead it represents hate and when it's dead it represents death. Romeo and Juliet were in love and their families were keeping them apart until they eventually died. In Huckleberry Finn, Twain is criticizing society and its rules. Huck wanted to run away from society's expectation. He didnt want to follow what Miss Watson was teaching him, he wanted to express himself the way he wanted. Twain is also criticizing how in many places around the world many people don't have freedom and this is caused from the types of governments there are in the world and the stereotypes. Slavery in some countries to this day still
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