Symbolism of the River and Society

I think that the river is a symbol more than a metaphor because it represents many different topics. The first topic is about freedom., and when Tom and Huck are on the river, there are no promlems. Once they wonder off the river and into the towns where there are more people, then they start having problems. The river is their "happy place" in the book because they can talk about anything and dont have to worry about anything. The things they would be worrying about would be Tom getting caught and brought back to his owner, but his owner already granted his freedom but he does not know. Huck is running away from his dad and everyone back home because he hates it there. He also does not realize that his father is also dead and he does not have to deal with him now. Tom and Huck are closer then you think to eachother. Both running away to get free from someone, and they were already free in the first place.