Saturday, 9 March 2019

ENGLISH TEST

ESSAY
Mark Twain’s 1885 novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is among the most
celebrated works of American fiction. Much of the novel derives its power from two central
symbols: the river and the shore. In the novel, Huck lives in two different settings. One of the
settings is on land with the widow and with his father and the other is on the river with Jim.
On land, Huck has more rules to live by and has to watch himself so as not to upset the
widow nor his father. On the river, Huck didn't have to worry about anything except people
finding Jim. There are many differences of living on land as opposed to living on the
Mississippi River and both of these settings are symbols for two opposing worlds.
To begin with, in the novel, the river has a much deeper meaning than just a
compilation of water. The river offers a place for the two characters, Huck and Jim, to escape
from everybody and even everything in society and leaves them with a feeling of ease. More
symbolically, the river stands for freedom. For Jim, freedom is concrete - it means he would
no longer be a slave and property, but a free man. He can literally float to freedom, to a state
which does not allow slavery. Huck says, “He was thinking about his wife and his children,
away up yonder, and he was low and homesick; because he hadn't ever been away from home
before in his life; and I do believe he cared just as much for his people as white folks does for
their’n." (Twain 117). Jim is on the raft because he is trying to get to a free state where he can
start over and make a new life for his family. The Mississippi river shaped Jim's life, because
without it he would not have been able to get to the free states. Although Jim did love
spending time with Huck on the river, Jim was starting to miss his family. However, for
Huck, freedom is more abstract - it means he will not have to deal with constraints of society.
He can get away from the burdens of having to wear formal clothes, go to school, and be
beaten by his father.
On the contrary, the shore seems to represent civilisation and all the problematic
people who live in it. Huck quickly learns that civilization is not too “sivilized”. A factor
contributing to the rejection of civilization is greed, which is exemplified by the duke and
dauphin. When the duke and dauphin try to steal the Wilks family’s fortune, Huck says, “It
was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race,” (Huckleberry Finn 159). Huck is
disgusted that society would be able to commit such a crime of cruelty to innocent people. He
cannot go back to civilization, which he has no respect for. In fact, it is on the shore, among
the “civilised” society, that slavery and abuse takes place.
Furthermore, it can be seen how the experiences on both the land and the river makes
Huck grow and mature. In the first part of the story, Huck is seen as an immature child. He
struggles between doing what he wants and what society would have him do. On the raft,
Huck realizes what his own beliefs are because of the people he meets in his journey. Huck’s
biggest transformation is through his relationship with Jim. Although Huck isn’t a wonderful

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person, by the end of the book he has matured extraordinarily. At the beginning of the novel,
before he has gotten a chance to explore what he believes is right, Huck has grown tired of
dealing with society and what society thinks is right and civilized. Huck says, "The Widow
Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me...I got into my old rags
and my sugar hogshead again, and was free and satisfied ( Huckleberry Finn 1)." Huck
prefers living free and being able to think what he wants, rather than being “sivilized.”
In conclusion, the novel describes how Huck changes his views on slavery by
spending most of his time with a runaway slave named Jim. Huck also escapes the organized
and civilized life society offers him, because he strives to be a nonconformist and to follow
his moral standings in the end. He finds safety along the Mississippi as he travels through his
life. The river serves as an excellent symbol of Huck's dream life, and illustrates escape,
safety, and the nonconformist aspect and changes Huck throughout the story.
ACADEMIC TERMS
• Sycophant - a flatterer
• Pernicious - having a harmful effect
• Ubiquitous - found everywhere
• Non sequitur - a statement that does not follow logically from evidence
• Diatribe - a bitter verbal attack
• Slipshod - sloppy
• Nefarious - wicked
• Precursor- forerunner
• Impregnable - unable to be captured or broken into
• Demure - modest and reserved in a manner
• Jingoistic - nationalistic
• Implacable - unyielding
• Affinity - fondness
• Coquette - flirtatious women
• Harangue - a lengthy and aggressive speech
• Bemoan - express discontent or sorrow over something
• Misogynist - someone who hates woman
• Abhor - to hate deeply
• Talisman - a good luck charm
• Placid - calm, peaceful
• Bovine - resembling a cow or ox; sluggish
• Facetious - humorous, not meant seriously
• Contrite - feeling regret for having committed some wrongdoing
• Erudite - scholarly
• Anomaly - deviation from what is normal
• Noxious - poisonous
• Bilk - to cheat
• Replete - filled up with
• Blasphemy - an act showing contempt for something sacred
• Absolution - formal release from punishment
• Cantankerous - bad-tempered

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• Deride - to ridicule with contempt
• Debacle - a complete failure
• Temerity - recklessness
• Abstain - refrain
• Haughty - arrogantly superior
• Tenacious - persistent
• Lampoon - a written satire to ridicule someone
• Curmudgeon - a cranky person, usually old
• Sojourn - a brief, temporary stay
• Gregarious - sociable
• Augment - to enlarge
• Insidious - sly, treacherous
• Engender - to produce, cause or bring about
• Nuance - a subtle variation
• Covert - sheltered, secluded
• Renown - fame
• Tangent - going off main subject