The Night Thoreau Spent In Jail

Huckleberries are an important symbol in this two part play. In The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, Henry tells Deacon Ball about how students scramble for ideas the way they hunt for huckleberries. In this part of the play, huckleberries symbolize ideas. Good ideas are searched for just like good, ripe huckleberries are sought after in a field. They also symbolize how Henry thinks education should be. Searching for ideas the way you would search for huckleberries, not being afraid to get dirty, and being in the open where it is easiest to learn. Henry doesn't believe that education should be served, he believes it should be discovered. So the act of huckleberry hunting symbolizes education.