Huckleberry Finn Apologization

In the year 1885, Mark Twain published one of the greatest and most critically acclaimed pieces of American Literature, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This novel is very closely related to another book by the same American author, it is named The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. This publication is from the perspective of a twelve year old boy, Huckleberry Finn, who grew up during one of the worst time periods of American History. He also grew up when slavery was legal during this era. At this point in time, slavery was considered a normal day to day thing for Caucasians, especially those people who lived in the south. 131 years ago, white people were more arrogant and bigoted than ever. In the simplest terms and most convenient definitions,

For example, "It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and HUMBLE MYSELF TO a ******; but I done it"(Twain 15). According to Merrian-Webster, the word humble means, having or showing a modest or low estimate of one's own importance. In this quote, Huck is saying that it took him awhile, fifteen minutes, to consider the action. After his deep consideration, he contemplated the idea of apologizing. Huck understood that if he expressed regret for what he had done to Jim, He would be showing Jim, a slave and obviously a person of African American descent, that he has some significance in Huck's life besides being owned by Miss Watson, Huckleberry Finn's guardian's sister. Also, to further support this claim, "But Rhett Jones refuses to exonerate Twain of charges of racism, for although Twain recognized the kind of double consciousness by which white people both affirmed and denied the humanity of blacks, by the end he diminishes and betrays Jim."(Bassett 7). This quotation states that Jim is belittled the whole time by the whites. Also, throughout the course of the book, people of Caucasian descent consider people of color less human. In summary, the publication uses 1800's 'acceptable', racist language to make reference to an African American person. Mark Twain's racist yet critically acclaimed novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is categorized as

He also has not cared about Jim's need to take this adventure that could end in being put back into slavery and sold in New Orleans. Huck also belittles Jim again, he does not consider him as being human. Also, Jane Smiley states that, "Hannibal may have been keen about historic preservation, but the history it chose to preserve involved little white boys playing marbles, not little black boys sold from their mothers." (Fishkin 5). Hannibal is a city in Missouri that is located along the Mississippi River. During the time era of this novel, Missouri was a slave state and this is very significant because if Jim was caught he could have been sold back into slavery. This quote also discusses that white people had it very easy at this time while African Americans were sold as