Racism is an issue that has been around for a very long time. From way back to the time of the Egyptians and Hebrews, to the Middle Passage, to right up until the American Civil War, slavery has existed, and we still feel the effects of it today. Mark Twain wrote a controversial book about slavery and racism, called The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Many believe that it is racist, but, after further examination, the book is the opposite. When the book starts out, the character Jim does seem to be portrayed from a racist vies, but as the story goes on, he is shown to be more complex and round. The King and the Duke, who are the antagonists of the novel and are kind of flat, but they are disliked and racist. A racist author would most likely have made the antagonists anti-racist. Huck, as well, was not really racist and a racist author would have made the protagonist racist. Despite the fact that Mark Twain was alive during a time when racism and slavery were common, events and dialogue in his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn suggest that he was not racist and he disagree with slavery.
Jim starts off as the stereotypical, lying superstition, foolish black slave. Twain paints the picture of a superstitious slave when he writes about Tom and Huck tricking Jim into thinking he was “ridden by witches” by moving his hat while he was asleep: “Jim was monstrous proud about it, and he got so he wouldn’t hardly notice the other niggers… Jim always kept that five-center piece round his neck with a string and that it was a charm the devil gave him…” (16).
The Essay on Slavery & Racism
Slavery and racism were a big part of the American South. I think that the relationship between them is that Americans were racist against African Americans because they were different than them in a lot of different ways. Americans were wealthier; they owned land and had education. Because African Americans weren’t given the right to vote, or go to school everyone was racist against them because ...
However, as the story progresses, Twain shows the reader that blacks are not inferior. He shows that Jim is kind and caring after losing Huck in the fog: “…is dat you Huck?… It’s too good for true, honey… de same ole Huck, thanks to goodness!” (87).
In that same scene, Jim figures out that Huck tricked him and scolds him: “…I’s so thankful. En all you wuz thinkin’ ‘bout wuz how you could make a fool uv old Jim wid a lie. Dat truck duh is trash; en trash is what people is dat puts dirt on de head er dey fren’s en make ‘em ashamed” (88).
Jim knows the difference between right and wrong. Twain shows Jim’s softer side when he tells Huck the story of he deaf and mute daughter: “Oh, de po’ little thing! De Lord God Almighty forgive po’ ole Jim…” (154).
A racist author would not show the deep, complex, true Jim and would just portray Miss Watson’s slave as a stereotype.
The antagonists of Huck Finn, the King and the Duke, are both somewhat racist. They dislike Jim and the sell him, treating him like property. After the King sells him, the Duke explains it to Huck: “That old fool sold him, and never divided with me… Well you can’t get your nigger, that’s all…” (209).
A racist author would not have made the antagonists with views like his own. Also, the King and the Duke are not liked. In fact, they end up getting tarred and feathered by and angry mob: “…and as they went by I see they had the King and Duke astraddle of a rail…they was all over tar and feathers…” (223).
Most of the time, antagonists have the opposite view(s) of the author. So, it makes sense that the King and the Duke are opposite of Twain, or, racist.
The protagonist of the story, Huck grew up around racist people like Miss Watson and his father. But despite this, Huck knows what is right and what is wrong. Huck does not see Jim as a stupid slave but as a friend. His view and love of Jim is especially evident when he tears up the letter to send to Miss Watson and decides he would rather go to hell than turn his friend in: “But somehow I couldn’t seem to strike no places to harden me against him, but only the other kind…and how good he always was…and said I was the best friend old Jim ever had in the world… I’d got to decide…’All right then, I’ll go to hell!’” (207).
The Essay on Huckleberry Finn Huck Jim Twain
Mark Twain's masterpiece The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn through much criticism and denunciation has become a well-respected novel. Through the eyes of a thirteen-year-old boy, Huckleberry Finn, Twain illustrates the controversy of racism and slavery during the aftermath of the Civil War. Since Huck is an adolescent, he is vulnerable and greatly influenced by the adults he meets during his ...
In addition, Huck apologizes
