“Remember he ain't in his own country and amongst his own folks”: The Exodus of Huckleberry Finn

Abstract Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has a significant relationship to the Bible's Exodus, demonstrating that Huck's use of metaphor measures his awakening moral consciousness. Indeed, Twain's novel is a metaphoric tale reinforcing the Bible's lesson “love thy neighbor as thyself,” an easy goal, but also “love the stranger as thyself, for thou hast been a stranger,” harder because it requires metaphorical reciprocity and memory. Though usually seen as an odyssey, understanding the novel as an exodus clarifies its moral intent and solves another problem. In the end Huck sells himself and Jim out to Tom. Exodus explains this ending and brings the story full circle. It begins and ends with Moses and Tom, two endangered children in the “bulrushers.” This detail and others suggest Twain's self-conscious reliance on the biblical exodus to sharpen his focus on civilization's moral core.