The Mississippi river is much more than a moving mass of water. To many, it symbolizes hope and freedom. This is certainly true for the two runaways Huck and Jim. In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. The river and the shore are viewed as a contrast between the freedom of the waters and the harsh corrupt society represented on land. Twain uses this setup to exploit how crooked culture truly is. Every time Jim and Huck stop on land, they have an encounter with the residents of one town or another that drives the point home to the reader that civilization is truly deceitful and dishonest. To Jim, the shore symbolizes slavery and confinement from which he tries hard to get away from. To Huck, land is more representitive of the custody he wants to get away from, especially including Miss Watson and his father, Pap.
After Huck and Jim's raft is run over by a steamboat, Huck finds himself at the Grangerford's. He finds this family to be very kind and caring, and the only thing that strikes him odd is the religiousness of a family that is and has been constantly feuding for many years. Twain uses satire to describe his view on feuding, and religion, while giving us a taste of how Huck views the situation. "Next Sunday we all went to church, about three mile, everybody a-horseback. The men took their guns along, so did Buck, and kept them between their knees or stood them handy against the wall. The Shepherdsons done the same. It was pretty ornery preaching- all about brotherly love, and such like tiredness, but everyone said it was a good sermon too."" 106. This is a great example of how even though Huck is an exceptionally nave character, we can see how twain comments on the family. He sees feuding as meaningless, and a horrible reason to try to kill someone, especially if the families could not remember what started the whole ordeal. Contrast of being a church member and being a church follower.
