Final Line of Huck Finn

"But I reckon I got to light out for the territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she's going to adopt me and sivilize me, and I can't stand it. I've been there before"

The final line of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, shows Twain's ability to provide closure for the reader, by demonstrating a lack of closure with regard to Huck. For Huck, this ambiguous future seems perfect, and so it is a perfect ending to the novel.

Throughout the novel, Huck is struggling to align his internal desire to act as he chooses to with the external societal forces. From the beginning of the novel, it is clear that thinking and acting in a manner that socially acceptable is always in direct opposition to Huck. "She would sivilize me: but it was rough living in the house all the time, considering how dismal she was, and so when I couldn't stand it any longer I lit out, I got into my old rags and my sugar-hogshead again, and was free and satisfied." (Page 1) Huck then goes on to say that he feels "cramped up" (Page 2) because he says, "All I wanted was to go somewheres; all I wanted was a change." (Page 2)

At the beginning of the novel, Huck is still open to the idea of civilization although it has flaws. By the middle of the novel, Huck is beginning to find even further that life in society is not as desirable as it seems. While floating on the raft with Jim, a runaway slave, Huck seems content. "Other places do seem so cramped up and smother, but a raft don't." You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft." (Page 116) It is important to note that Jim and Huck both feel best on the raft when they are free. Twain's brilliant pairing of these two people shows in a slave society, the slave is not the only individual who should be freed of societal restraints.

By the end of the novel, Huck has rebelled against society to the point where he has finally ridden from his constraints. Rather then accept his return to society, Huck dreams of going out west where his life can be whatever he makes it. While Twain recognizes that it is impossible to escape the influences of society altogether, he uses the character of Huck to show that individuals must not become complacent enough to not question it. Twain uses this final line to remind the reader of his first paragraph. It becomes clear that the "notice" at the beginning of the novel is meant to be rebelled against. For the novel does have a motive, a moral, and a plot. If the reader is banished from society for figuring out what Huck has, then he should embrace it. Just has Huck has learned to keep challenging and changing the society he lives in, so should the reader.

...