“The form of freedom in Huckleberry Finn (1970)” by Alan Trachtenberg critiques the change of the characters and event of the before to the after in Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and makes connections to the history that is happening during that time period. He is more focused on the history and interaction between the character than the Literature that it's written in. Both the book and the article are focusing on the history and the treatment of the different people based on their economical stability or the color of their skin. Trachtenberg targets the growth of Hulk during his journey with Jim but also critiques Twain’s idea of the future.
Trachtenberg starts out by mentioning “Huck once more wins our approval, but more important, he wins a self-conception which issues into an action- his apology “to a n*****.” This helps on building the idea that Hulk has grown as a person and it trying to live into the expectations Jim has towards him. Jim relies too much on Hulk like any color person relies on a white male but Hulk sees far from color or what society expects him to do. Hulk is looking the other way and is helping a slave escape not take into consideration what rules society have set for his race. Not only is Jim in a lower structure that Hulk who had nothing but with the apology we can see that for Hulk there is no social class or difference between races. He has turned into a well mannered and opened minded gentlemen hoping to help this slave be free and have its family with him. Twain does not state that Hulk has grown as a person but we can see it from the events and all the obstacles he has been facing to arrive to the Northern free states. Trachtenberg has an identical perspective on how view Hulk because earlier in the article Alan starts out by mentioning how Hulk was before all this occurred a boy without manners that always was looking for trouble while now he is a well manner boy who has in his hands the future of a figurative who has to figure out how to provide for both and be safe. “He wins a self-conception” are very important words that Alan uses in the article because that’s the moment in which we can say Hulk realizes what he has gotten into and how much Jim values and admires him for all the things he has done. Hulk through the story gains our support with all the different types of things he puts himself to do in order to achieve Jim’s dream.
While I see how Alan critiques Hulks growth I don’t manage to agree with his criticism towards the future Twain predicts. “Mark Twain’s work as a whole suggest that he seriously doubted the possibilities of personal freedom within a social setting. He seems to have taken freedom as true only when absolute and abstract outside time.” I understand that Alan thinks what Twain is trying to say is that Jim won’t be able to be free in the society that they live during this time period which is very true since even the color man that was incorporated in the book was treated as a slave even though he had an education. They could be free from all the hard work and being owned; they were allowed to take the actions they wanted without having to deal with a master. They were not completely free but they were free and could take their own decisions and as of now we are not necessarily free but our future is in our hands. Just like Alan said before Hulk is being trapped from his freedom by the standards society have of him while Jim is trapped from being free. They are two stuck in different forms of enslavement but in the future as we can see we get to be freed from everything.
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