Huck Finn
...betrayed him. He sought freedom for the benefit of his mind and future. Jim believed that life would offer him better opportunities as being independent instead of being “owned” and “property”. He also had his mind set to find his children. Freedom is capable of bonding many different situations. Both Jim and Huck suffered emotionally somehow. Otherwise, freedom wouldn’t have been an option. They were both exploring something they didn’t already have. They both searched for internal happiness. Living the way society implied compared to the way they wanted to live differed greatly. Freedom was the clear answer. However, both Huck and Jim started out with different beginnings. Huck appeared to have had a better beginning. He had the opportunity to learn to read and write. He had friends. He experienced many invigorating adventures with Tom Sawyer. He had a religion by his side and faith and prayers supplied by his home. Although he didn’t have much parental support, he was provided with many blessings. Jim, however, being an African-American, dealt with a more difficult beginning. He was a slave. You don’t hear much about him having friends or much loyal support. He didn’t have a say in his position in life. Rita Williams Garcia in her book Like Sisters on the Homefront displays freedom in a modern perspective. The main character, Gayle Whitaker, is having her freedom snatched away from her feet by the minute. Having a six month old baby at age 14 takes away from everything you have. Soon after, when she got pregnant with her second child, her mother forced her to get an abortion. Still being a child herself, she was burdened with the responsibilities of raising one. Gayle also has a terrible attitude. She is disrespectful, feisty, quarrelsome, sullen, critical and streetwise. Feeling the need to teach her daughter a lesson, Gayle’s mother packs all of her belongings and moved her from the streets of Jamaica, New York, to the quieter parts of Georgia. These close relatives down south are taking her away from her freedom as well. They are requiring her to go to school on a regular basis, forcing her to work around the house all the time, making her take care of her child, and taking her to church every Sunday! She compares herself to a “slave” and complains about her lack of freedom to do as she pleases. Yet through the inspirational family elder, she learned about freedom beyond another level. She was freed from her distressed life in Jamaica, New York. She thought she was missing out on all ...