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Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel written by Mark Twain and was first published in the United Kingdom. The novel follows the events that materialize in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, an additional novel written by Mark Twain. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in short, encompasses a young boy in the 1840s named Huckleberry Finn, who later runs away from home and floats down the Mississippi River. Along the way, he meets a runaway slave named Jim and the two undertake a series of adventures. In the novel, numerous social groups are represented, as well as in abounding ways. A social group is defined as two or more people who interact with one another and share similar characteristics. For instance, the social group of African Americans. …show more content…

A member of this group would be Jim, the runaway slave that Huckleberry meets on his voyage down the Mississippi River. African Americans talked differently than most people in the novel. The dialogue of these African Americans is composed mainly of broken English. An example of this would be when Jim and Huckleberry were discussing the reason Jim ran away; where Jim declares, “Well you see, it 'uz dis way. Ole missus-dat's Miss Watson-she pecks on me all de time, en treats me pooty rough, but she awluz said she woudn' sell me down to Orleans." Although this is the spelling of how many African Americans from the boondocks used to speak, Twain only associated the argot with Blacks and not Whites throughout the novel. There is not a single sentence in the novel where African Americans do not talk this way. This is just one example of how the author, Mark Twain, expresses different social groups through different …show more content…

In the novel, most did not care about their remarks towards African Americans, mainly because racism was not as big of a deal as it was later in time. Mark Twain includes quite a few racist comments throughout the novel. The comments made by other characters in the book are usually geared toward Jim, the runaway slave. Even though the topics mentioned include some racist remarks, there is even more racism throughout the novel. “...here was a free nigger there from Ohio—a mulatter, most as white as a white man. He had the whitest shirt on you ever see, too, and the shiniest hat; and there ain't a man in that town that's got as fine clothes as what he had; and he had a gold watch and chain, and a silver-headed cane—the awful- est old gray-headed nabob in the State. And what do you think? They said he was a p'fessor in a college, and could talk all kinds of languages, and knowed everything. And that ain't the wust. They said he could VOTE when he was at home. Well, that let me out. Thinks I, what is the country a-coming to? It was 'lection day, and I was 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 that nigger vote, I drawed out. I says I'll never vote agin.” Pap makes this racist remark in the beginning of the novel. “It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and

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He argues that “.. Negros should not be deprive by the unfair means of franchise, political agitation alone would not save him, and that back of the ballot he must have property, industry, skill, economy, intelligence, and character, and that no race without these elements could permanently succeed…”(p,95) This kind of approach does not seem to threat anyone’s ideal of living, rather it inforce the idea of the Negros are their

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He attending predominantly white schools and churches and although black, had no of discrimination of his white counterparts. His belief was for man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellow man, and without having the door of opportunity closed roughly in his face. (pg.695) He criticized Washington teachings as “tending to make the whites, North and South, shift the burden of the Negro problem to the Negro’s shoulders and stand aside as critical and rather pessimistic spectators”. (pg.707) He viewed the reconstruction of the south as a debacle and emphasized the efforts to transform the South into a society free of social and economic exploitation; when in fact the burden belongs to the nation, and the hands of none of us are clean if we bend not our energies to righting these great wrongs.

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Jim is a runaway slave owned by a white lady named Miss. Watson; while his partner during his adventures down the Mississippi River, Huck is a young boy raised in a slave-owning culture. Jim will have to struggle with Huck’s moral dilemma of whether or not to view Jim as an equal; Twain continues to set Jim

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In chapter 16, Huckleberry Finn begins to contemplate whether or not he is doing the right thing by helping Jim escape to Cairo. Huckleberry Finn then comes to a realization that he has to help Jim because it is the right thing to do. Jim then expresses his thanks to Huckleberry Finn for helping him escape and tell him that “Jim won’t ever forgit you Huck; you’s de bes’ fren’ Jim’s ever had; en you’s de only fren’ ole Jim’s got now. ”(Twain 89). While Huckleberry Finn and Jim are on the raft, Huckleberry Finn disconnected from society's views on African Americans and eventually built a strong friendship with Jim.

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The website, the-artifice, claims, “Twain was passionate within the racial equality debate, feeling that it was a moral right for America to allow African-Americans the same freedoms as whites.” This feeling is translated in the character of Jim, a slave of miss Watson who escaped and travels with Huck, who is a key plot point in showing the everyday race relations of the Deep south pre-civil war. The first example of this is when Jim was going to be sold off by Miss Watson for cash to someone down the river even though this would split him up from his family. This reveals a lot about the power dynamic between African Americans and whites in the rest of the book. Jim was never asked for his opinion on the matter and is instead treated as an

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In the story, society views black slaves as unequal and even as degenerates. Huck travels with Jim,a runaway slave, thinking what society taught him was true. However,the longer they travel together,the more Huck realizes that Jim thinks and care as much a white man does. This is seen while they are traveling on the raft when Huck and Jim take shifts sleeping. Huck takes his turn to watch and sees Jim crying about his family,who have been sold into slavery as well .

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The black man on the back porch is afraid of the rattle snake because it is bad luck, or the innocent little slave is quick to believe everything one tells them at the drop of the hat. These are just some of the many racist stereotypes of the 1840s. A character named Jim is the star African American whom Twain bestoys the mission of being the stereotypical black man to prove a point. He along with his much more pallor companion Huck go on exciting adventures that unfold the events which expose the racist conduct of the time. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain saturates his novel with potent images of acute racism severe enough as to create a satirical mien that exposes the absurdity of prejudice.

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Twain’s disapproval of racism is also largely portrayed through Jim, who is shown to be somewhat comical and dim-witted in the beginning of the

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Not only is Jim crucial in this story, he even becomes a father figure for Huckleberry Finn. A reason critics opposed the book, is because they believe Mark Twain’s work makes racial tensions worse. “As recently as 1998, an Arizona parent sued her school district, claiming that making Twain’s novel required high school reading made already existing racial tensions even worse” (“Twain”). One may be able to see what this parent may be thinking, but some may have to disagree. If people do not discuss racial injustices that have occured, society will never overcome what has happened in the past.

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The adventures of Huckleberry Finn is about a boy named Huck who lives along the Mississippi river in a backwater town with his guardian an old widow and his best friend Tom Sawyer who was the star of his own book written by Mark Twain. Huck undergoes a situation where he is taken by his abusive and racist father who leads huck along a wrong path. Huck devises a plan to escape by faking his death and partners with a runaway slave along the way. The two form a kinship and make there way to freedom together while Huck learns to socially accept the slave as a normal human being like him. However due to the time period the book takes place in there's a large amount of slang geared towards African slaves.

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Similar, Twain’s The adventures of Huckleberry Finn discusses about how Southern Americans frequently used of the racial slur ‘nigger’ and illusory depiction to treat the blacks as ‘the other.’ According to Twain, “‘…and first you know the nigger that does up the rooms will get an order to box these duds up and put 'em away; and do you reckon a nigger can run across money and not borrow some of it?’” (246).

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In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the racist attitudes of the Deep South in the late 1800's are shown. Mark Twain portrays a runaway slave, Jim, as a racist caricature who does whatever is asked of him and exhibits little intelligence. The reader can initially see this through the use of the word "nigger" that is all throughout the book. In the modern 21st century this term is taken offensively, but in the 19th century this term was commonly used and Twain took advantage of it.

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As a result, his statement acts as a predetermination put into motion by, of course, the color of his skin: “No black man had ever set foot in this tiny Swiss village.” Under these circumstances, one can notice the hint towards a premise all too mundane for Black Americans— a loathsome self-awareness. To clarify; from the moment of birth, a Negro citizen is made absurdly alert of the fact that, they are indeed, black. The pigment of their skin is to the world this oddity, carrying on a speculation that will seemingly never cease. It is so constant, that the mere idea of the absence of blackness prompts a state of awe: “It did not occur to me— possibly because I’m American— that there could be people anywhere who had never seen a Negro.”

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Mark Twain will often add slavery elements into his writing and hint at how wrong slavery really is. Since Twain’s writings are made in the late 1800’s early 1900’s, no one realized what he is really getting at with certain writings, such Mark Twain’s brilliant novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, featuring the two boys escaping society; Huckleberry Finn and Jim. In the novel, a country boy raised by Widow Douglas, Huckleberry Finn, is brought back to his abusive and drunk father, who left him when he was younger. Huckleberry then proceeds to escape his father by taking his canoe to the isolated Jaxson’s island, where he meets an African-American slave that had also runaway; Jim. Huck and Jim then leave Jaxson’s Island on a raft and start their long trek towards freedom from society and slavery.

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Mr. Garner went on to describe his slaves to another owner: “Y’all got boys,” he told them. “Young boys, old boys, picky boys, stroppin boys. Now at Sweet Home, my niggers is men every one of em. Bought em thataway, raised em thataway. Men every one” (Morrison 10).

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