and kept them between theirknees.^ (Twain 142) was just one example. In the time of Twain'slife that he wrote this novel, the Civil War had just ended. The warhad tested society's morals. The issue of slavery was important toTwain which was the reason morals were portrayed in this way.The freedom and peacefulness of the river soon gave way to thedeceit, greed and prejudice in the towns on the bank of theriver. Huck stated, ^ It was kind of solemn, drifting down thebig, still river, laying on our backs looking up at the stars^^(Twain 86) and ^We had mighty good weather as a general thing, andnothing ever happened to us at all-that night, nor the next^^(Twain 86). One day, Huck and Jim were separated while on shore.Huck was told by another runaway slave, ^those old fools made atrade and got forty dollars^^ (Twain 274). This quote showed thegreed and prejudice of Southerns. They actually sold slaves formoney. It was as if people were not regarded as humans unlessthey were white. Many of the towns Twain described were based onhis hometown and nearby towns along the Mississippi shores. "Irose up, and there was Jackson's Island." (Twain 47) and ".whymama, struck out for this town of Goshen." (Twain 80)were a justfew quotes from the novel, which were based on real places.Jackson^s Island was located just a few miles down the MississippiRiver from Twain^s childhood home, Hannibal. Goshen was also atown located a few miles down the river from Twain^s home. Thesetwo runaways, a beaten boy and a slave built a place to escape toon their raft. Eventually though, the values of the people onshore found their way into Huck's and Jim's thoughts. This becamea major theme in the novel. During the Civil War, many peoplewere divided on the issue of slavery. Even when they tried toignore the problem, it crept its way into their minds. Whiletraveling down the Mississippi River on the raft, Jim, the"runaway nigger", was free (Twain 76).