Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is about a boy named Huckleberry who becomes a witness to a variety of the bondages of society, such as emotional, physical, and mental bondage, and to the variety of people who are affected by them. He watches as people helplessly are enslaved by other people, by tradition, and by their emotions.
Jim, Huck's companion, is a literal slave, and the members of the camp meeting as well as the family and friends of Peter Wilks are bound by their emotions and are not able to think clearly. Also, the reason for Grangerford/Shepardson feud is not known but the feud is only carried on because it has been a tradition for generations (the people have become enslaved by tradition). The three main bondages that Huck witnesses are physical, emotional, and mental bondage
Jim, the slave, portrays the first and most obvious form of bondage in the story: physical bondage. Jim is a literal slave; he is under the ownership of another. He is physically bound by uncomfortable living conditions and other restrictions (for example he cannot own property), and physically and verbally maltreated by others. Throughout the story he is constantly called a nigger, which suggests that he is lower in status than everyone else.
This is verbal oppression and he is called a nigger several times in the book. “Miss Watson's big nigger, named Jim…” “I wouldn't shake my nigger [referring to Jim] would I? the only nigger I had in the world and the only property.” “Do you reckon that nigger [again referring to Jim] would blow on us?” Not only is Jim degraded by being called a nigger, but he is also referred to as property. Also Jim is sold by the king and duke and forced to live with another owner.
“How can he blow? Hain't he run of?”
“No! That old fool sold him [Jim], and never divided with me and the money's gone.” Jim is physically put into bondage and he is verbally rejected from society. The bondage that Jim must go through may be the most severe bondage because there is actual physical discomfort and verbal rejection.
The family and friends of Peter Wilks and the people at the camp meeting portray another form of bondage, emotional bondage. At the camp meeting, the king presents himself as a pirate who has changed his ways and is in need of money. Although the story is obviously a trick, the peoples' emotions override their sense of reason. They are so swept up by their emotional feelings that they do not even stop to logically think, they act on the instinct of their emotions: “And then he [the king] busted into tears, and so did everybody. Then somebody sings out, "Take up a collection for him, take up a collection” (pg.100).
No matter how ridiculous the story, their sense of emotion overturns their ability to reason. In the instance with the Peter Wilks family and friends, the same thing happens. The duke and the king pretend to be the brothers of the deceased Peter Wilks and they arouse compassion from the family and friends of Wilks by pretending to cry over his grave. Again, these actions of compassion, shown by the Peter Wilks family, are not of free will but they are pushed by emotion.
The emotions of the people replace their reason so they act out of their emotions. The only people who are not overwhelmed by their emotions and still act on reason are Dr. Robinson and Levi Bell, the lawyer. They see the false acts preformed by the duke and the king because they are able to act on reason whereas the other people are completely blinded by their emotions. This emotional bondage is probably the most referred to bondage in the story.
Additionally, the feud between the Grangerfords and the Shepardsons shows mental bondage. This can also, in a sense, be described as bondage by tradition. In the story, the reason behind the feud is unknown; someone killed someone, then someone killed another person and it went on and on. One instance in the story, Buck (a Grangerford) and Huck discuss how the feud started and Buck doesn"t even know and yet the tradition still continues.
“What was the trouble about Buck-land?
“I reckon maybe-I don't know.”
Well, who done the shooting? -was it a Grangerford or a Shepardson?
“Laws, how do I know? It was a long time ago.”
“Don't anybody know?”
Oh, yes, pa knows I reckon, and some of the other old folks; but they don't know, now, what the row was about in the first place” (pg 82).
The Shepardsons and Grangerfords basically feud because they are carrying out tradition; there is really no other reason. Everyone else before them did it so know they are doing it. That is why this mental bondage can be known as bondage by tradition as well. Since they don't know the tradition that they follow, they have become enslaved by it, and they have the uncontrollable urge to pass it on and on even though they don't know what it is. This is an example of mental/traditional bondage.
In conclusion, Huckleberry Finn is about a boy named Huckleberry who witnesses physical, emotional, and mental (traditional) bondage. Jim, the slave, is a portrayal of physical bondage because he is a literal slave who suffers from physical and verbal actions. Also, the unreasoned compassion pushed by the camp members and the Peter Wilks' family and friends' shows the emotional bondage, and the feud between the Shepardsons and the Grangerfords shows mental/traditional bondage because they are following a tradition even though they don't know how it started. These are the three kinds of bondages that Huckleberry Finn witnesses in the story.
