Racism In Mark Twain's The Adventure Of Huckleberry Finn

Judging someone for their race, ethnicity, or skin color is never portrayed as the right thing to do. However, these are some of the main themes in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This was taken place before the Civil War, when slavery was still legal. When Huck Finn and Jim meet, even though Jim is a slave, they connect immediately. Their friendship grows stronger and stronger as the novel continues, it got to the point where Jim was not only a friend, but a father figure to Huck. There was a couple of times where Huck realized that what he was doing was not only wrong, but illegal, and wondered if he should do the right thing, but decided against it. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck sees Jim as a slave, friend, and a father

Starting from a young age, everyone loves to go on adventures and have fun, just like Huck Finn. Growing up in St. Petersburg, Missouri, he is a white 12 year old boy and the son of a drunken father. In the beginning of the book, Huck is seen as a little innocent boy. Until he enters the world with his friend, Tom Sawyer, as they go on adventures, which creates problems and controversy through the history of the North and South, civilization, and racism and slavery. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Huck has many controversial experiences that are still a problem in today’s society, which is why we should keep teaching the book in school.

Smiley, an author of many books and magazine essays, writes her own criticism of Huckleberry Finn, “Say It Ain’t So, Huck”. Smiley has very strong arguments as she compares her own opinions and backs them up with Twain’s words from the book. Smiley argues that Twains real meaning behind the book is based off of racism. Twain never allows Jim to become a real human, as Jim will always be a slave whether he knows it or not. Although Huck and Jim end up creating a very strong relationship like brothers, Smiley believes that “Twain thinks that Hucks affection is a good enough reward for Jim” (Smiley 460). He would not ever get the treatment Huck did, and Jim’s character was never allowed to grow.

An issue of central importance in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is the controversial topic of racism. In chapter six, Twain manipulates his reader’s response to racism by controlling the speaker and surrounding circumstances of the bigoted statements in a way that pushes the reader to reject the racism because they have already rejected the speaker. In order to influence his readers, Twain utilizes the rhetorical devices of characterization and satire to show the immorality of the racist message.

In Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn, he utilized diction to illustrate the change in Huck’s view on slavery and more specifically, Jim; from believing that all slaves are subhuman and ignorant to befriending and respecting Jim as his equal.

Jim not only demonstrates loyalty towards Huck but also extends that loyalty towards Huck’s friends as well. In the novel Jim states,"white genlman dat ever kep' his promise to ole Jim", and with this quote Jim expresses how he is eternally grateful. Since Huck keeps his promise to Jim, he repays Huck by remaining loyal to him. Jim also shelters Huck from the fact that his father is

Famous novelist, Mark Twain writes his novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, to criticize the moral conditioning of society. Twain satirizes racism through slavery as Huck, the protagonist, goes on a journey with Jim, a freed slave, that he helps in escaping. Huck feels guilty throughout the journey because in helping a slave escape, he goes against the social ethics of society. His journey teaches himself that what society taught him is morally wrong, and he is willing to burn in hell to make things right. Twain uses satirical irony, mockery, and absurdity to achieve his purpose in criticizing the treatment toward African American slaves.

Jane Smiley argues that Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn suggests only “a recognition of the obvious -- that blacks, slave and free, are human” and therefore does not deserve to be shelved on the western canon nor taught in schools (Smiley). Contrary to Smiley’s statement, the story educates on many more morals and philosophies in addition to racism and depicts the protagonist Huck fighting against deeply rooted societal conventions at the time (and even in places today) that a black person amounts to less value than a white person. This novel deserves to be on the western canon as it is far more nuanced than Smiley suggests; Huck’s fighting societal prejudices, teaches people to defeat stereotypes and value people not

Huck is bigger than his journey down the mississippi. A perfect example that Huck changed throughout the journey is when Jim said this about him: "Dah you goes, de ole true Huck; de on 'y white genlman dat ever kep ' his promise to ole Jim" (87 Twain). Huck is making promises to a black man, and keeping them? This is rare to find during this time period. A white person treating a black person equally was completly agaisnt the ‘rule’ of

The novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is a story about a young boy who is trying to find who he is during the civil war. In this novel by Mark Twain it speaks about this young boy, named Huck, and how his original morals are beginning to change while he helps free his friend Jim, who is a slave. Though People have argued that this book uses many racial slurs that demoralize the African American race. Though there is solid reasoning why those are not Mark Twain's true intentions. In the book it shows how Jim differs from other White men who cheat others, the novel also describes the white and black symbolism, and shows empathy for Jim. These reasons all give solid evidence on how Twain is not intending to

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.

Mark Twain portrays Huck as a character superior to Tom by making Huck as the complete opposite of Tom. In this book, overall, Huck has foresight about in which event will happen; for example, Huck’s notable quote “I’ll go to hell” implies that he is completely aware of the fact that he will eventually get punished for his action, which was to release Jim--an act that is not accepted by the public. Additionally, Huck is introspective (deep), realistic, and mature; even though ironically, Huck lies in order to resolve the situation. Huck’s maturity is shown in his beliefs, where he believes that Jim (or possibly other black slaves) should be treated equally like any other whites and views the minorities as equal people. On the other hand, Tom simply believes Jim should be released just because Tom believed the story of releasing Jim would make a great adventure. Moreover, Tom’s overall craving for adventure exhibits his childlike and fantastic qualities, which contrasts Huck’s quality of being a mature boy. By describing Huck as a boy who is more thoughtful than Tom, Mark Twain deliberately makes Huck to be superior to Tom (which ultimately implies Twain’s contrast of realism and romanticism).

Huck considers telling off Jim to return him back to slavery. “Dah you goes, de ole true Huck; de on'y white genlman dat ever kep' his promise to ole Jim. Well, I just felt sick.”(Twain 67). This shows Jim responds by saying things to make Huck feel guilty. This is significant because it furthers their relationship by helping Huck realize he truly cares about Jim. Although Huck doesn’t notice this is a lie, he thinks it over and comes to view Jim as a friend.

Rosa Parks once said, “Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome.” She describes that the future of our world has to be aware of things that have happened in the past, such as racism. The NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, is a civil rights organization that displayed their position on this certain situation. The NAACP position is correct in that Mark Twain’s un-sanitized version of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be taught because the book describes the important awareness of the historical oppression of people, it provides a value of morality from that time period that students should learn, and gives an important lesson about race that should be taught to students.

Racism and Slavery are a hand in hand subject, without Slavery, Racism wouldn 't have been a broad topic. Although modern day slavery is nowhere to be found in America, Racism is still an existing matter. Racism against African Americans was a byproduct of permanent and inhumane enslavement of the black population. Although slavery was not only among Afro- Americans, it was also towards white slaves, and indentured servants who all received the same treatment, were punished equally and worked the same hours. The need to solve economic and social problems drove the Colonists to strip Afro-Americans down from their basic rights and such, which rose to naming all blacks, slaves.