Freedom... Is it free?

In the course of human events it becomes necessary to read huge, over-interpretive essays. In my case it was “The Form of Freedom in Huckleberry Finn” a sprawling piece about power and freedom in the novel. The author, Alan Trachtenberg, focuses on how plot and word choice in the book change the way that Twain portrays freedom. Trachtenberg’s ideas are often seem odd or overly analytical but his essay really digs deep into the novel.

The first major idea introduced by the paper is the so-called paradox of “autonomy and conformity” Immediately upon beginning the book Trachtenberg observes that the carefree lifestyle that Huck experienced in Tom Sawyer has been replaced by one of where he is perpetually “cramped and confined”. In order for Huck to experience the freedom to be “Bad” he must submit to the appearance of “respectability”. Trachtenberg notes that upon the arrival of Hucks father “the paradox is reversed” now huck can lounge at the “expense of virtual confinement”.

Trachtenberg points out an interesting paradox, that gets down to the crux of a central issue in the novel: How can Huck truly free himself? The lifestyle he used to posses comes with it the chains of an abusive father and the interaction with the wicked Tom Sawyer comes with it the oppressive weight of forced “Civilized behaviour. This interpretation makes total sense to me, I feel that Trachtenberg has really hit upon a central point of Twain’s that there is no real freedom in the south as long as the idea of “Civilization” pervades everyday life.

The next major idea of the paper has to do with the escape of Jim. Trachtenberg supposes that twain uses the juxtaposition of the “two runaways” in order to free readers of “the normal historical ambiguities in order to accept as a powerful given the possibility of fulfilled freedom for Jim”. Looking beyond the academic hokum it seems that he is saying that Twain was trying to use the contrast between Huck and Jim to highlight the true meaning of freedom. The concept seems sound yet Trachtenberg doesn't really explain what this contrast actually highlights about the concept of freedom beyond that the “boundary between slave and free is unequivocal” which doesn't really even mean anything. He could have really pulled meaning from this idea and written a whole essay about how the contrast between Huck and Jim tells us about what Mark Twain believed about freedom. Instead he briefly mentions it in a smaller essay in passing wasting the potential for some great analysis as he rushes on to his next concept.

Trachtenberg’s whole essay is just like that. A headlong rush for him to mention all the ideas about freedom that popped into his head. It suffers because of that. Some of his ideas including the idea of Huck’s paradox of freedom and exploring his relationship with Jim could have been essays in their own right despite all that his ideas really bring new understanding to how freedom and power are portrayed in the novel.