Term Papers on The Roles Land And Water Play In Selected Pieces Of American Literature

Term Paper Title	The Roles Land And Water Play In Selected Pieces Of American Literature
# of Words	2239
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	8.96

The Roles Land and Water Play in Selected Pieces of American Literature

April 6, 2004

Engl 206

WATER:  1.)The liquid that descends as rain and forms rivers, lakes and seas.    2.)  a natural mineral.

            Water serves as nourishment to our bodies, for it is the one thing, besides air, which as humans, we can not live without.  Water is the building block in all living things.  Water is the home to many creatures.  Water is an escape to vacationers in the summer, and in the winter, water becomes an escape from school to young children.  Most of us learn to swim at a young age, and even come out of the womb ready to delve into more water.  Water is around us all, and water links us all—the rivers, lakes, oceans, our lives are secretly powered by water and have been for all of time.

            Besides all of these uses for water, it has also been used in literature as a symbol of motherly love and nurturing for many years, across many regions and cultures- the Greeks and Egyptians even worshipped gods designated to care for the ocean and other bodies of water.  The motif carried across the ocean into America and her writing, and continues on today, showing up in short stories, plays, novels, and poetry.

            American classics such as Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, and The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemmingway, all serve as excellent examples of the positive roles played by water, and contrarily, the negative roles played by land, in the plots and amongst the characters.

            Huck Finn presents a sharp contrast in behavior in what occurs, plot wise, on land, and what occurs while on the river.  It is important to first recognize the fact that all negative events occur on land, where man has taken over in an attempt to civilize people, and in turn, the towns and their people become symbols of corruption.  Oppositely, Huck and Jim’s time on the water proves to be some of the most peaceful times shared by any of the characters, as well as the times when the two were furthest from harm, either physically or mentally.

            From the beginning, land was portrayed as a sort of binding place for Huck and his ever growing thoughts and beliefs.  Land meant school, the Widow Douglas and her unending rules, Tom’s merciless horseplay, cruel racism, and also money problems.  Huck, like water was a character of the earth and for the earth; he did not want to be in school all day long, learning things he never thought he would be able to use again, and he didn’t want to obey Widow Douglas.  Although she took care of him as was his main caregiver, or nurturer, Huck finds his true nourishment and peace on the river later.  Tom and Huck have a good time playing together normally, however there numerous tricks designed to fool and make fun of Jim and the other slaves, are cruel and belittling to Jim himself.  As Huck spends more time on the river, he begins to see this and he doubts the appropriateness of the treatment of slaves in America.  With life on land, Huck is also in constant fear of his Pa returning for him and his money.  On the water, there is no need for money, and therefore, no coinciding problems with Pa and his drunken rages.  Finally, throughout the entire novel, Twain introduces us to many characters in towns along the river-some are inherently bad, and others appear to be good.  That is the problem with all that is on land, that even if it appears to be good, it is only that- an appearance.  Frauds like the Duke and the Dauphin are swarming all areas on land, and anyone is ready to kill anyone for a chance to get ahead or make some money.  Even the supposedly innocent characters such as the nieces of Peter Wilks( or the people at the revivals and plays the Duke and Dauphin put on, are representative of how naļve society was to the evils and injustices occurring all around them (Twain, 240).  Beyond fraudulent ways, the true stupidity of humans is explored through the Grangeford and Shepardson episodes- with feuding going...

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