Haha, I used Shakespeare's famous line (in a way) as the title of my research: "To fear or not to fear: the role of NMDA receptors in appetitive and aversive learning."
Overall, I feel as if the river serves as an allusion to the biblical snake that persuades Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. As Huck goes further down (or up?) the river, it seems as if the events he witnesses just get worse and worse; it seems as if he's losing hope for humanity and developing a digust towards it. First, when he witnesses the shooting of a drunk man in front of his daughter, then the lynching mob followed be an ironic turn of events, when Sherburn confronts the mob with a rifle. It seems as if Huck is also witnessing social revolution in away. Then primarily, tagging along with the fake Duke and daulphin. Huck feels utterly repulsed by them because they just lie and con again and again.
Theme-wise, Twain seems to question social conformity. Therefore, I suppose, one of it's theme would be "always be observant and never conform to a society without thinking 'Why?'" Huck witnesses very extreme social conventions and he does question them unlike the others. For example, the cause of feud between the Grangerfords and Sheperdsons are unknown yet they still fight. Why does racism exist? Why are women/children considered second-class citizens? Is it okay to lie? What is friendship? Twain generally seems to satirize western society.
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