The Concluding Sentence Of The Book: What It Means :: essays research papers

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 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ 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.