The American Experience
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    • Jay Gatsby
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    • Huck Finn
    • Willy Loman
    • R.P. McMurphy
    • Beneatha Younger
    • Jim
    • Daisy Buchanan
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  • Embracing the New
    • Huck FInn
    • Strive for New Traditions
  • The Tragic Pursuit
    • A Flawed Huck
    • A Flawed Willy
    • A Flawed Walter
    • A Flawed Holden
  • Chasing Ideals
    • Gatsby Loves Daisy
    • Beneatha and Walter's Deferred Dreams
    • Willy the Dreamer
    • Holden the Dreamer
  • Unity
    • Follow the Leader
    • Jim and Huck
    • Walter and His Family

Huck Finn Embracing the New

Picture
Mat Kearney debuted his single, "Runaway" based on the real-life surfer Bethany Hamilton, who survived a shark attack in her 


home state of Hawaii. A tiger shark had severely bitten her arm off from the shoulder down, causing her to lose over sixty 


percent of her blood. Despite the trauma of her surfing incident, Bethany was still determined to get back out in the ocean 


and start surfing again, even if she only had one arm. The general plot of the song is about wanting to become free and 


expressing their dream and ambition. It expresses ambition, 
coming of age, and overall helps the individual to find their identity.

Tonight you're letting go, under the burning glow
We're too young to hold this all on our own
All that came and went riding them by the winds
Blowing through the trees, she could feel it on her skin
Walking the lost streets, no one ever shares
Cry yourself to sleep, waiting on a little prayer
Bags are by the door, hearts are on the floor
There's a bottle of tears on the dresser drawer

Nobody knows the trouble we've seen
Nobody knows the price of this dream
And nobody knows what it took to believe
Nobody

She wants to be free, like a runaway, ay ay ay
Trying to believe, gonna find a way, ay ay ay ay
We got just one life, tonight we're running all the lights
Trying to break free, like a runaway ay ay ay ay ay

The road below our wheels, all that we fought to heal
You close your eyes and cry, dying for the right to feel
I hear it coming down, oh the sweetest sound
Of forgotten tears falling on the solid ground

Nobody knows the trouble we've seen
Nobody knows the price of this dream
And nobody knows what it took to believe
Nobody

She wants to be free, like a runaway ay ay ay
Trying to believe, gonna find a way ay ay ay ay
We got just one life, tonight we're running all the lights
Trying to break free, like a runaway ay ay ay ay ay

Oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh

We're singing "How did we get this far riding on a shooting star? "
It's like flying on the wings of God

She wants to be free
Like a runaway ay ay ay
Trying to believe, gonna find a way ay ay ay ay
We got just on life, tonight we're running all the lights
Trying to break free, like a runaway ay ay ay ay ay

Analysis

In the beginning of the novel, Huck already knows that he doesn't like living the lifestyle according to Widow Douglas and Miss Watson's rules. He wants a change in his life; he wants to do things differently, but both of them differently. After being "dad napped" by Pap Finn, he is brought to the Illinois shoreline, which is the location of Pap's isolated cabin. 
Through Mark Twain's commentary, he suggests that society is selfish, dishonest, and manipulative, and suggests that nature is tranquil, free, accepting, but an escape at the same time. How this song relates to Huck is the idea of coming of age, but also finding one's identity. When Kearney sings, "Nobody knows the trouble we've seen nobody knows the price of this dream", it shows Huck's desire to flee society because it's cruel. But how is it "cruel"? When first meeting the Duke and Dauphin, he obviously knows that they aren't who say they are. His first initial reaction suggests an idea of phoniness and cruelty, as Holden Caulfield would have thought. Society is gullible. The two conmen continue to scam the Wilk's family by stealing their inherited money. What this line from Kearney's song means is that Huck is embracing all what he has in order to flee society. First, he observed the school life and rejected it, then he experiences the scams of the conmen, further help him conclude that society was never right for him: "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 been there before." 
Chapter 23 of Huck Finn also shows another side of cruelty and self-centered motives of society. The Duke and Dauphin had put on 
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