The Awakening by Kate Chopin and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain share a number of parallels in terms of character and setting, including between Edna Pontellier and Huck and Jim, and the importance of the sea and the river to the aforementioned characters. Thematically, both novels also carry the same concept of a great journey. In The Awakening, Edna's journey, much like Huck's, is filled with excitement and is mostly unplanned. While Edna abandons her wifely duties, such as attending her husband Léonce's weekly Tuesday receptions, to pursue a life that invigorates her, perhaps through her affair with Alcée, Huck makes a similar decision by renouncing his “civilized” life (2) with the widow Douglas. and Miss Watson. Not only does he fake his own death, but he also flees the civilization he grew up in, in a physical act of rebellion against society. Edna's acts of rebellion are comparatively more subtle and limited, as her marriage binds her to more societal conventions than Huck's situation. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay Regardless, these two characters share a common sense of connection with different bodies of water; While Huck feels most comfortable drifting along the Mississippi River, it is the open sea that allows Edna to discover her true purpose and feel reborn. Symbolically, the fluid element of water represents healing and discovery, opening doors that allow Edna and Huck to better understand each other. Although Edna successfully realizes her new passion for pursuing art and then devotes her time to attempting to achieve true artistic talent, Huck does not seem to achieve any further character development beyond his great dilemma moral to send Jim back to Miss Watson. Once he reunites with his friend Tom Sawyer, it's as if Huck's decision to "go to hell" for Jim was for nothing, as he once again becomes Tom's accomplice in search of adventure and thrills. What this also reveals is that Huck does not have strong self-esteem throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which is depicted through Huck's endless escapades in which he takes on false identities, such as “Sarah Williams” (58), “George Peters” (63) and “George Jackson” (99). Similarly, Edna desperately attempts to search for her identity by spending a lot of time with the pianist Mademoiselle Reisz and, her foil, the "mother-woman" Madame Ratignolle, two women who seem to be at opposite ends of a spectrum. Despite all their efforts, it seems that neither Edna nor Huck are fully confident in who they are as individuals, which adds to the fact that freedom and self-discovery are endless, repetitive pursuits, just like the water seems to flow back on itself in an incessant cycle that could one day bring clarity. As for Edna and Jim, both characters seek to free themselves from different societal conventions. Edna's lackluster marriage has left her deprived of enthusiasm and passion, while Jim's slave status keeps him tied to his owner. This prevents both characters from becoming full-fledged individuals, making them unable to fully control their own lives and make their own decisions. Despite this, these two characters persist because they feel they do not fit the roles assigned to them by society. Edna, although having married Léonce by choice to spite her parents, did not possess the mother-wife personality that was common among married women of.