As a child you believe no one knows what is right and good for you except for yourself, this story is about a young man that decided to act on those feelings and the adventures that came along the way. In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin by Mark Twain, Huck and Jim a Negro slave have experiences on the river which very greatly change from whenever they go onshore. The Mississippi River is the ultimate symbol of freedom and sovereignty for the two. Alone on the river the runaways manage to escape the boundaries of their society and answer to no one but themselves. Civilization is the only thing that is able to steal that freedom from them and the two will do all in their power to steer clear of the imprisonment of society.
The river frees Jim from the oppression and devastation of slavery, and allows him a chance at being a free man. For Huck the river is a safe haven away from the Widow Douglas and Miss Watson and society's constant strain on appearance and manners which Huck has no intention in following. Huck's displeasure with society could not be more evident, "The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would civilize me but it was rough living in the house all the time, considering how regular and dismal the widow was in all her way; and so I couldn't stand it no longer I lit out"(3). Here Huck establishes his opposition to civilizing, which seems natural for a young boy, what isn't natural is him to act on it. Huck has lost all patience with society this is an obvious cry out for something different, he longs for some kind of transformation. "All I wanted was to go somewhere; all I wanted was a change, I wasn't particular" (4). Here Huck is itching for a change he is on the edge of escaping his restrictive and confined society as he knows it and entering nature and a world of adventure. Huck and Jim have to divert from all kinds of civilization to avoid capture and imprisonment.