Lionel Trilling's Huckleberry Finn

As Lionel Trilling states in his article “Huckleberry Finn”, “Huck himself is the servant of the river-god, and he comes very close to being aware of the divine nature of the being he serves..Huck is at odds, on moral and aesthetic grounds, with the only form of established religion he knows, and his very intense moral life may be said to derive almost wholly from his love of the river.” Trilling’s theory on Huck being a servant to the river-god contributes to the idea that the river symbolizes absolute freedom and how it leads to a destination where Huck Finn can be free from social constraints and his deadbeat father. Therefore, Huck always turns to the river when needing to move on. The river is the location where Huck found Jim on his way to escape slavery and is the basis for the continuous adventure.“So, in two seconds, away we went, a sliding down the river, and it did seem so good to be free again and all by ourselves on the big river and nobody to bother us” (206). A theory that wasn’t really explained more in depth in this article, is the idea that the river symbolizes life. Always moving and altering, ultimately leading to a final destination--eventual freedom from civilization and the evil human nature holds. As Huck and Jim drift down the river, they cross
The river holds the calm, carefree flow of silent tranquility that Huck wants to achieve from his escape. But even that get ruined by his spontaneous adventures with humanity (Duke and King, Grangerfords and Shepherdsons) that the river leads him to. “We catched fish, and talked, and we took a swim now and then to keep off sleepiness. It was kind of solemn, drifting down the big still river, laying on our backs looking up at the stars, and we didn’t ever feel like talking out loud..and nothing ever happened to us at all, that night, nor the next, nor the next”