Chasing Freedom

            The ending in, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, to some may make it seem like the journey was all for naught. The ending, however, can also be seen as a commentary of the time. Jim was “free” for much of the book, in retrospect but was he really.

            In Twain’s time black people were technically free but, not really. There were still many laws in a place of inequality. Though blacks were free they were not equal. There were still many societal constructs to make sure that white people were the dominant and oppressive group. Black people still had to fight to be equal even though they were free.

            Jim faced a similar situation. Jim, throughout much of the story, was actually a free man. He didn't know it but he was free. Despite that fact he still had to deal with so many hardships based on the premise of him being black. That is where Twain’s commentary comes in. Even though Jim was free, like blacks in Twain’s time, he still had many hardships to face and was only truly in a purely technical sense.

            Though the ending in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, in a way, takes away from the rest of the story it adds much more than it takes away. The ending allows Mark Twain to comment on an aspect of society that he would not have been able to otherwise. He beautifully intertwines Jim’s struggles with the struggles of black people in his time and critiques a societal construct in such a beautiful way.