During the nineteenth century, numerous Americans felt that their voices were unable to be heard in such a large and busy society. Many people were busy working to provide for their families or were undermined by others in the government. This time period consisted of cultural turmoils around the nation, which also provoked the ideology of individualism to spread. Although this was a tough era for an abundance of the population, numerous people sought to express their thoughts on individualism that was pitted against the large roughneck society of the United States of America.
Individualism was expressed by Elizabeth Cady Stanton in her creation of the Declaration of Sentiments. This formal document was almost a replica of the Declaration of
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He was a slave that ran away and attempted to be himself without the judgment of others. Huck Finn, another main character, helps him in his endeavors but does not see him as an equal, calling him derogatory terms. Jim wanted to not feel oppressed by society and be lucky and rich as he thought he would be because of his chest hair, which is explained through "Ef you’s got hairy arms en a hairy breas’, it’s a sign dat you’s agwyne to be rich. Well, dey’s some use in a sign like dat, ‘kase it’s so fur ahead. You see, maybe you’s got to be po’ a long time fust, en so you might git discourage’ en kill yo’sef ‘f you didn’ know by de sign dat you gwyne to be rich bymeby” (Chapter 8). Jim never feels this luck until the end because of the entrance of two characters, the "duke" and the "dauphin" who sell him off as property. At the resolution of the story, Jim is saved and praised by many characters because of his perseverance to save one of them, and he finally felt individual appreciation. This story was made in favor of African American individualism and was purposed to combat the racial segregation that was occurring during that century. This race of people was placed at the bottom of the hierarchy due to the color of their skin and “lack of knowledge” everyone else presumed they had, but stories such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn brought