Mark Twain is a very famous and respected writer who is often criticized for his racist language and accused of being racist himself, especially with a particular novel. This novel is called The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and is about a runaway slave and a young boy’s adventures as they attempt to escape and the young boy, Huck, struggling between his own morals and society’s racist attitude. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is not a racist novel because of Huck’s morals representing Twain’s own, Twain’s use of realism in the book, and his positive characterization of slave characters, like Jim. In this novel, Huck has his own moral opinion of Jim as a slave, which represents Twain’s own morals in his real life.
RACIAL HYPOCRISY IN THE NOVEL Racial Hypocrisy is one of the most important themes that Mark Twain talked in this novel. Hypocrisy is defined as “a pretence of having virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.” Huck’s father is one of the most remarkable examples of the hypocrisy in the novel. He is an abusive, racist and drunk father.
The narrator was aware of the injustices to his black heritage, which did contribute to his choice to live as a white man. Johnson had contributed to the narrator’s choice because he is trying to relay to the reader that the injustices done to the black culture will continue, but only in altered ways. The sense of humanity that Johnson tried to call upon was not one of sympathy, but one of observation. The element of humanity the narrator draws upon manipulates the narrative to appear more realistic because readers are assumed to be aware of inequalities. The unreliable, yet realistic telling of this supposed autobiography entails the viewpoint that humanity exists, but is
I was stuck”(91). Through Huck’s eyes, following white societal standards is supposed to be the good moral high ground; however, the justification of slavery confuses him. All through the novel, Huck is constantly questioning his own morals. He feels guilty for wanting to help Jim; however, he eventually acknowledges Jim’s humanity while society deems it wrong. As the audience, we know slavery is wrong.
Huck’s feelings toward Jim changes from thinking he is just a slave, to a friend, and eventually more like a father-figure. There is more to this novel than just two boys floating along the Mississippi River. It addresses the seriousness of racism and abuse and talks about the importance of friends and family. Even though Huck and Jim come from different races, the time they have spent together really helps to surpass the discrimination happening and become not just friends,
This can be noticed throughout the book and in the three scenes talked about before because the white characters in the book often times make irrational comments about slaves that relate to what they are doing themselves. Twain’s use of irony the scene about Huck being upset with the fact that Jim would steal his family back if he had too, shows that Huck did not think Jim should be able to and was not deserving enough to have his own family. This shows the greater truth of slavery because even though Huck likes Jim, he did not agree with Jim’s want to have a free family. The scene where the Duke, the King, and Huck are categorizing slaves as thieves, when they themselves are thieves shows the greater truth of slavery that slaves were categorized into certain types of people, even though it was not true of all slaves. The scene were Tom says that he would hang a slave if they were ungrateful and ranaway shows the greater truth of slavery that if a slave disobeyed, they deserved death.
Finally, Twain mirrors the flaws of his own self-centered 19th century society through the world of his fictional book. In Huckleberry Finn, lying is a self-serving act that everybody does. Despite the idea that many readers see Huck as a moral sinner, he ultimately lies for his own self-interest and protection. With Huck as the narrator, the reader is more likely to sympathize with him and his motives and agree with his thoughts and morals.
The second one is Tom Robinson’s, telling the whole story the way he sees it. But still there is no sure evidence that he is innocent. As Harper Lee uses specific stylistic and language devices through different characters at the trial, such as ‘’you’re a mighty good fellow, it seems-did all this for one penny?’’- Mr.Gilmer, the reader slowly starts to sympathize with Tom Robinson and sees the trial from the same point of view as the narrator (Scout Finch) In a way the author manipulates the reader with mainly the language and innocence image of Tom. When Tom comments during a conversation with Mr.Gilmer that he ‘’felt sorry for her (Mayella) ‘’ Lee then widens the vision of Tom as an innocent man with ‘‘the witness realized his mistake and shifted uncomfortably in the chair.
When Huck and Jim first encounter each other, Huck plays many pranks on Jim because he believes what society has told him about slaves. As the story unfolds, however, Huck goes against society’s rules and
Novelist Harper Lee, in her book To Kill a Mockingbird, depicts the racism and inequalities in the town of Maycomb by having a white man, Atticus Finch, defend Tom Robinson who was black. Lee’s purpose is to show the world is unfair between races and we need to have compassion for others. She adopts a serious tone to appeal to people’s morals to do the right the thing by those seeking changes for equality. Throughout his closing argument, Atticus ensures credibility, mentioning God, and by presenting evidence that Tom Robinson is not guilty but someone in the courtroom is, to explain Mayella’s reasoning to lie.
Harper Lee explores prejudice in ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ through the contrasting characters in Maycomb County and how these characters differ with others of similar roles in similar situations. This essay will look at the contrasting attitudes of the two fathers; Atticus Finch and Bob Ewell and how they are both involved in racial prejudice. Aunt Alexandra and Calpurnia will also be compared in how their roles involving social prejudice differ. Atticus Finch and Bob Ewell are two fathers with clear contrasting morals which Lee uses to explore racial prejudice.
“Between the world and Me” is a book concerned with police Brutality and the consequences of being a black man in America. In section 1 Coates tends to go on about different types of violence that non-whites have encountered in America as the result of white culture and a community trying to accomplish or gain with effort control and control over non-white bodies. He goes on to suggest that this is
In the book "The Adventures if Huckleberry Finn", Mark Twain's writing mirrors the society and problems it had in that time. This book promotes seeing African-Americans as people, which is absolutely groundbreaking and unheard-of in the time it was written, right after the Civil War. Throughout the book,, Huck has a complete change in his feelings towards Jim, starting with his highly influenced young mind, only able to view Jim as a slave, all the way to seeing Jim as a father-figure who can protect and provide for him. Although Huck tries to see Jim as a friend and fatherly-figure, society's beliefs don't allow him to see Jim as anything but a slave.
Although The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was written over a century ago when the U.S. looked very different than it does today, the themes that it contains are still relevant in society. One of the most present themes in the story deals with racism and the treatment of African-Americans. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was set in a time and place when slavery was a part of life, and the attitude of white characters towards black characters reflects this; even more open-minded characters like protagonist Huck Finn seem to regard African-Americans as part of an inferior species. This theme is still relevant today because even though racism is in many ways less of a problem than it was in the time of the story, people, whether consciously
Compare and Construct the development of a theme in assigned texts by two different writers we have studied. In this case, I am going to use the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain and the Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller. These two writers have some similarities in their works as follows: Hard-working: Both Twain and Miller show the reality of hard-working men, for example, in In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck is working hard to free Jim. In another word, I can say that Huck struggles ideologically to free Jim.