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Huck Finn Racism Quotes

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Racism is not establishing one class of people as superior or inferior to other groups. Racism has been an ongoing struggle in society as it often results in discrimination and being prejudice. Martin Luther King jr once said, "The time is always right to do what is right." This quote could not be more when applied to the novel of Huckleberry Finn. Huck, who is the main character in the novel, experiences a complete honest and ethical transformation upon needing to determine decisions that will outline his life when going on a journey to begin a new one. Huck lives with his father who is a drunk as well as very abusive. He really has no direction from adults he looks up to. Huck begins without having any concept of rights and wrongs. Later, Huck meets Jim who is a runaway slave …show more content…

Huck looks up to his friend named Tom Sawyer. Tom decides he is going to create a gang. One of the requirements of the gang is agreeing to murder their families if they disobey rules established by the members, but they soon come to realize Huck has no real family. Huck states, “They talked it over, and they was going to rule me out, because they said every boy must have a family or something to kill, or else it would not be fair and square for the others. Well, nobody could think of anything to do-everybody was stumped, and still set. I was most ready to cry; but all at once I thought of a way, and so I offered them Miss Watson-they could kill her” (17-18). At this point in Huck’s life, he has no sense of right from wrong. Someone with a set of morals would not voluntarily end the life of another person strictly to be part of a gang. Because Huck has no direction from his family or other adults, he does not understand that is not something someone would think is ok to do. The fact that he would even think killing a family member is ok shows his

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899 Words | 4 Pages

Huck dislikes being with his father so he fakes his own death and runs off to meet Jim, who has also run away. The two go on adventures together down the Mississippi River. Huck and Jim encounter a steamship swarmed with murdering thieves and being taken in by a family which is eventually murdered. Jim then is taken away to a plantation. Huck is loyal enough to try and rescue Jim and they ride off into the sunset when Jim is freed of slavery.

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2304 Words | 10 Pages

When one reads The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain, themes involving morality and conscience become heavily prevalent. The protagonist, Huckleberry Finn, portrays a manifest dynamic character. His actions and statements ranging from the outset of the novel through its ending show Huck’s development of a more concise sense of morality and conscience prevailing over the societal influences of “right and wrong”. In the nineteenth century American South, the inescapable system of slavery and social hierarchy would have discouraged an interracial bond. Yet Huck, while escaping his abusive father, chooses to befriend Jim, the runaway slave whom he encounters, and shares a pivotal stage in his life with his newfound companion, whereby contradicting

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639 Words | 3 Pages

So, when Huck picks up Jim, a recently escaped slave, and heads up the Mississippi River, he gets nervous when Jim begins to talk about how he will soon be free and plans to buy, or even steal, his wife and children. This was during a time where Huck would be committing a crime by helping a slave escape. He has a difficult time deciding to be loyal to his friend and let Jim continue up the rest of the way up north so that he can be freed, or to turn Jim in as an escaped slave. Huck fears getting in trouble, but he also is very torn because of the relationship that he now has with Jim. Huck’s askew sense of sympathy and morality are conflicting each other.

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1090 Words | 5 Pages

Huck thought “Being Tom was easy and comfortable; and it stayed easy and comfortable till by-and-by I hear a steamboat coughing along down the river. Then I says to myself, spose Tom Sawyer come down on that boat?” (Twain 225). In this quote, Huck

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1339 Words | 6 Pages

Both seeking freedom, they embark on a journey down the Mississippi River. On this expedition, it becomes clear that Jim and Huck are family to each other because they have a strong bond that is based on trust. As their voyage unfolds, Huck and Jim are faced with many different obstacles such as separation, encounters with robbers and con artists who could potentially turn Jim in, the struggle of keeping hidden identities, and Huck’s internal battles of what is morally right and what is lawfully correct. Since Jim is a runaway slave and at the bottom of society, Huck would get in serious trouble, and Jim would end up getting lynched if they got caught. As they travel down the river, the relationship between Huck and Jim grows.

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1266 Words | 6 Pages

Huck’s initial thought, to treat people equally, is countered by society’s need for separation. Huck promises to keep Jim's secret after he learns of his escape from Miss Watson. “Well I did. I said I wouldn’t, and I’ll stick to it. Honest injun, I will.

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1724 Words | 7 Pages

These reasons show why Twain may have intended to discourage racism. In the novel Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain it is a story of a troubled young boy and his good friend Jim. In the story Twain is not trying to portray racism toward the character Jim but rather is discouraging it. We see examples in the novel where Twain shows how Jim differs from other White men who cheat others, how he describes the white and black symbolism, and shows empathy for Jim.

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1752 Words | 8 Pages

Huck defies the societal hierarchy, beginning to see Jim as an equal. He not only apologizes to a black person, but he also tries to help thieves and potential murderers, showing that he is looking beyond social categories. After saving himself from the sinking boat where a group of criminals are trapped, “ [Huck] begun to worry about the men—I reckon I hadn’t had time to before. I begun

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305 Words | 2 Pages

Huck doesn 't really have much of a family besides his drunken, abusive father who comes and leaves when he pleases. Huck never had a real family but when Huck met Jim he almost automatically accepted him as family because Jim was always there for him even though Huck was raised in a community where blacks were not treated as people. They were more treated as objects and huck was treated to have no respect for them. Huck was taught that if you treat a black man well than you 'll go to hell. Huck was a nobler person when not exposed to the hypocrisy of civilization when he apologizes to Jim.

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1270 Words | 6 Pages

Huck realizes that, in the world around him, his character often goes against the norms of society. As he witnesses acts of cruelty, such as the lynchings and shootings within the novel, (Chapter 22) Huck realizes that this goes against his morals, solely based on the fact that everyone seems extremely worried about getting revenge instead of focusing on the fact that men are being wounded and are dying. Huck is in constant conflict with these social norms at various points within the novel. The reader can see this unnecessary violence vividly through the Sheperdson vs. Grangerford feud.

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429 Words | 2 Pages

Huck has grown up with these influence all around him. He has been taught that what the Duke and King do is okay. They include Huck in there scams and try and convince him to do illegal thing. Huck is really faced with two sides of society. He has the side that Jim has taught him which is caring and compassionate and the side that he has grown up with and the King and Duke place upon him.

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895 Words | 4 Pages

It was awful thoughts and awful words, but they was said. And I let them stay said; and never thought no more about reforming” (Twain 194-5). At this point in the novel, Twain uses Huck’s breakthrough to prove to the reader that everyone is made equal. Regardless of skin color and ethnicity, everyone is the same. If Twain wanted to make Huck Finn a racist novel, he wouldn’t have led the story to this climax, especially a big breakthrough like this

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565 Words | 3 Pages

The society and the people within are cruel. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Huckleberry is the main character that learns about the society when he tries to get a slave to freedom. Huckleberry's opinion of society and the people within can be best described by racist, unfair and judgmental. Huckleberry Finn believes that the people within the society are racist. “It was ‘lection day, just about to go and vote myself if I warn't too drunk to get there; but when they told me there was a state in this country where they'd let a nigger vote, I drawed out”(p.27).

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494 Words | 2 Pages

Twain uses Huck Finn as one of the main characters and in the way he is treated by others around him we see racism. Throughout the novel Huck is constantly criticized and judged by the people around him. They believe that because he does not always go to school, he smokes and does

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2185 Words | 9 Pages

In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, racism is one of the main topics that the story is based around. The story’s protagonist Huck, has grown up around slaves and even has a father who would rather never vote again than to see an African American vote freely. “When they told me there was a State in this country where they’d let that nigger vote, I drawed out. I says I’ll never vote again…I says to the people, why ain’t this nigger put up at auction and sold?”. (Twain 24).

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