How To Be Unbiased In Huck Finn

In the small town of Hannibal, Missouri, a young author named Samuel Langhorne Clemens began to absorb his knowledge about the reality of life in the South during the early 1800’s. At the age of 41, Mark Twain, Clemens pen persona, had created one of the world 's most controversial but fantastic articles in American Literature. Throughout Mark Twain’s compelling novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a realistic setting of the old south is portrayed through the use of language including the disturbing ”N” word, satirical representations of Southern people, and typical southern scenery. Despite the book 's literary value and complete historical accuracy, select people and schools continue to either label the novel as racist or ban it in

Huck Finn was written when unjust and unruly treatment of blacks was a commonplace in society and the use of such a word didn’t get so much as a second thought. Over the course of the novel, Huck’s attitude toward his black friend, Jim, begins to shift for the better. Huck is not portrayed as the brightest bulb, but as the story progresses the reader develops a definite sense of Huck’s struggle with how society has always forced him to think. Huck gets upset when he is forced to apologize to Jim and attempts to justify something he and society believes is morally right in saying, “do him no more mean tricks; and I wouldn’t done that one if I’d knowed it would make him feel that way” (Twain 107). And also, “It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself to go and humble myself to a nigger” (Twain 107). This feeling still occurs in chapters up to around 31 where Huck still holds himself accountable to the strict racist rules of his community, where giving a black man power is perceived as a “low-down thing” . Huck 's language and “racist” comments help Mark Twain convey his racist setting and helping to focus that mirror on this time period. What could have the reader extracted from the book if Huck had no racist feeling toward Jim and did not have this underlying hatred and