ipl-logo

Mark Twain Pessimism

1029 Words5 Pages

Mark Twain is pessimistic about American society and government because through his book ‘Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ it shows us how American valued racism and how they treated slavery in a brutal way and he even depicts some hypocrite behaviors by the American society so called ‘civilized society’. According to Belasco and Johnson (2008), Mark Twain’s main purpose of writing this novel is to protest against malice practices done by the America frontier society during mid 19th century.
In ‘Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ Mark Twain mainly focus in criticizing the American society by showing how Huck’s society value racism and how racist Huck’s society is towards black people. The examples of a racist society are shown through Jim’s character, a black person who works under Mrs. Watson. The main difference is shown when Huck and Jim both run away from home, people consider Huck as a abused runaway boy from his father Pap and Jim is considered as a runaway slave, so therefore people feel pity on Huck and help him as much as they can as he belongs to a white society. For example people give him money and shelter to live. Whereas for Jim people take advantage to catch him and get the reward as announced. This clearly shows how Jim is being discriminated by the society.
Not only through Jim’s character we get the concept of Mark twain’s pessimistic views on American society, he mostly mentioned many different characters to show each individual views on racism and how they

Show More
Related

  • Huckleberry Finn Rhetorical Analysis

    702 Words  | 3 Pages

    This is evident in the way that he portrays Jim --who is a good man-- a slave, who would “call [Huck], so [he] could go on sleeping;” although the citizens believe they are following the traditional protocol of capturing slaves, this is not considered humane to use other lives to support their own. Twain makes the society appear as a hypocrite in order to undermine slavery and expose their flaws demonstrating that a society that makes up civilization does not always depict civilized decorum. He directs the piece to the Confederates because the piece is written about racial problems even after the Civil War: he calls out for abolition when even Huck decided to “go to hell” to save his dear

    Read More

  • Allusions In Huckleberry Finn

    1999 Words  | 8 Pages

    Jim is locked up, forced to hide his face in the daytime, and laughed at. Twain was forced to display Jim’s treatment this way to keep the book sincere, despite the fact that it may not be the way Twain personally felt. However, we see that Huck does not treat Jim as most whites do: Huck does not see Jim as a slave; disposable and nameless, but as a friend, with a unique personality. This leads to Huck’s inability to turn Jim in, and Huck’s rejection of societial norms that tell him that blacks are inferior. Huck’s utter rejection of societal norms is evident in the quote “all right, then I’ll go to hell,” (283).

    Read More

  • Huck Finn Argumentative Essay

    1254 Words  | 6 Pages

    Huck does not see Jim as a slave anymore he sees Jim as a friend and he treats him like a friend. Huck would of never done this at the begning of his journey or when he found out Jim is a runaway. He evolved his morality, Twain finished the book after the civil war he did not believe in slavery it

    Read More

  • Dbq Essay On Huck Finn

    1030 Words  | 5 Pages

    The novel Huck Finn was meant to criticize, not endorse, such ideas and languages of racism — it takes a correct dissection of the text to understand this, only through reading the book correctly can one see Twain’s criticism of the American

    Read More

  • Huckleberry Finn Pap Quotes

    1236 Words  | 5 Pages

    He wants all blacks to be enslaved and work on the fields. The core beliefs of the society within The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn serve to promote class segregation and racism. Slavery was established as a cornerstone of their culture during this time period. These quotes show how Mark Twain was influenced socially by the public and individual events in his life during the 1800s. Pap talks a great deal about how much he hates a country where a man can't have control over his son and a country where a black man has the right to vote and be

    Read More

  • Should Huckleberry Finn Be Taught In High Schools Essay

    641 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mark Twain published the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in 1885. This book shows the story of a young boy, Huck Finn, who goes through challenges in the society. Huck Finn is full of controversies. Twain satires religion, authority, and the society of his time and addresses the issue of slavery. Throughout the novel, Jim, who represents an African American slave, is the character representing all the problems that an African American experienced during the period of slavery and racism.

    Read More

  • Huck's Nonconformity

    1603 Words  | 7 Pages

    In Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck and Jim bond closely to one another, regardless of the fact that they belong to different ethnic groups. Huck, a coming-of-age teenage boy, lives in the Southern antebellum society which favors slavery. At the beginning of the book, Twain claims that “Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; and persons attempting to find a plot will be shot” (Twain 2). Ironically, through his experiences with Jim, the uncivilized Huck gradually establishes his own moral beliefs, although sometimes struggling against the influence of society.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Racism In Huckleberry Finn

    142 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the racist attitudes of the Deep South in the late 1800's are shown. Mark Twain portrays a runaway slave, Jim, as a racist caricature who does whatever is asked of him and exhibits little intelligence. The reader can initially see this through the use of the word "nigger" that is all throughout the book. In the modern 21st century this term is taken offensively, but in the 19th century this term was commonly used and Twain took advantage of it.

    Read More

  • What Does Jim Teach Huck Finn

    1059 Words  | 5 Pages

    In Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Jim teaches Huck about civilization, family, and racial inequality. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Jim teaches Huck about civilization. He shows how the world around them is not as civilized as it should be. Twain shows an example of an uncivilized society through

    Read More

  • Huck Finn Racism Analysis

    1403 Words  | 6 Pages

    The black man on the back porch is afraid of the rattle snake because it is bad luck, or the innocent little slave is quick to believe everything one tells them at the drop of the hat. These are just some of the many racist stereotypes of the 1840s. A character named Jim is the star African American whom Twain bestoys the mission of being the stereotypical black man to prove a point. He along with his much more pallor companion Huck go on exciting adventures that unfold the events which expose the racist conduct of the time. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain saturates his novel with potent images of acute racism severe enough as to create a satirical mien that exposes the absurdity of prejudice.

    Read More

  • How Does Huck Finn Conflict With Society

    440 Words  | 2 Pages

    Twain does his best to deal with the conflict between society and the individual. Huck does not want to abide by society’s laws and does not want to conform in Mark Twain’s, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Huck is forced to be civilized in the beginning, so he leaves society for freedom and lives by his own rules but even that does not make Huck’s life easy. Huck has trouble obeying society’s rules from the start of the book. The Widow Douglas takes Huck in to try to sivilize him says Huck in the quote, “The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me”(Twain 2).

    Read More

  • Mark Twain's Use Of Satire In Huckleberry Finn

    939 Words  | 4 Pages

    To begin, Twain targets Huckleberry Finn's innocence and uses it as a way to show that anyone being raised in a racist, pro-slavery America was conflicted between morals and laws. At first, Huck is a "rebel" in his own mind, so to say, and tries to avoid becoming "sivilized" from the Widow Douglas. He sticks to what he knows, and uses his experience with people and his own judgment to make decisions like an adult, something quite

    Read More

  • Huck Finn Racism Quotes

    1724 Words  | 7 Pages

    Those who feel the novel encourages racism say that because of the stereotypes used when featuring Jim, how Huck and Tom treated Jim, and how often the N-word is brought up Twain had hoped to encourage racism. However there is still strong evidence that proves why that might be a misunderstanding. If twain was intending to encourage racism then why would he make Him seem so much of a better person than the duke, king, and Huck's father. Also when Twain illustrates the black and white symbolism he portrayed Him as white man and Huck's father, who is a white man, as dark and scary. Then throughout the story as a reader you feel empathy for Jim he begins to become one of the favorite characters in the novel.

    Read More

  • What Is The Corrupt Influence Of Society In Huck Finn

    884 Words  | 4 Pages

    Mark Twain emphasizes the theme that a person's morals are more powerful than the corrupt influence of society in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Based on how Huck Finn views the world and forms his opinions, he does not know the difference between right and wrong. In the novel, Huck escapes civilized society. He encounters a runaway slave, Jim, and together they travel hopes of freedom. But along the way, Huck and Jim come across troubles that have Huck questioning his motives.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Morality In The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

    1083 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the reader gauges morality through the misadventures of Huck and Jim. Notably, Huck morally matures as his perspective on society evolves into a spectrum of right and wrong. Though he is still a child, his growth yields the previous notions of immaturity and innocence. Likewise, Mark Twain emphasizes compelling matters and issues in society, such as religion, racism, and greed. During the span of Huck’s journey, he evolves morally and ethically through his critique of societal normalities.

    Read More

More about Mark Twain Pessimism

Open Document