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Racism In Huck Finn

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Through Huck’s moral regression as well as his failure to recognize more than just Jim as his equal, the final chapters are inconsistent with the novel’s overall goal to satirize racism. Huck’s failure to continue his moral growth and undermines the earlier message that Twain conveys through satire. An integral part of Huck’s morality is his integrity and refusal to tell needless lies, and to “do whichever come handiest” (Twain 69). Twain has Huck go against convention and lie to protect Jim, demonstrating the power of Huck’s morality over societal racism. In the final chapters, Huck loses this aspect of himself and when caught in the cellar, says “I hain’t been doing a single thing” (204), a blatant lie to Aunt Sally. His lies are no longer …show more content…

While Huck progresses enough to recognize Jim as his equal, Huck never gives a second thought to the other slaves around him, continuing to call them “n–r” (Twain 166). He isolates Jim as the only black person he calls by name. Even so, Huck thinks of Jim as a “n–r” (178) instead of thinking of Jim by his proper name. In Huck’s own thoughts, he is free to express his ideas and morals without having to play any games. In addition, Huck fails to recognize true racial equality by saying that Jim “was white inside” (207). By saying that a black man could not truly hold these morals without being a “white” on the inside, Huck is being extremely racist. To internally call Jim such shows both moral regression and an inherent racism that Twain fails to address. Twain’s “racism… is just an elaborate justification… to facilitate [people’s] exploitation and abuse of other human beings” (Smith 373). While it is true that Jim is one of the most moral characters, neither Twain nor Huck extend their toleration of Jim to other slaves. Twain has Huck exploit other slaves, such as Nat and his superstition about the “witch-things” (189) displaying Huck’s apathy for the wellbeing of the other slaves, so long as he has a game to play. Huck’s moral regression even has him exploiting Jim by purposefully feeding him a

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In the book "The Adventures if Huckleberry Finn", Mark Twain's writing mirrors the society and problems it had in that time. This book promotes seeing African-Americans as people, which is absolutely groundbreaking and unheard-of in the time it was written, right after the Civil War. Throughout the book,, Huck has a complete change in his feelings towards Jim, starting with his highly influenced young mind, only able to view Jim as a slave, all the way to seeing Jim as a father-figure who can protect and provide for him. Although Huck tries to see Jim as a friend and fatherly-figure, society's beliefs don't allow him to see Jim as anything but a slave.

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This is seen in chapter 31, when Huck reflects on his journey as “good”, “laughing”, and “best”. Despite conflicting with societal values, Huck was able to enjoy Jim’s companionship. This is a direct result of him starting to believe that Jim is his equivalent and is worthy of being his friend. By referring to slaves as “n*****” and other derogatory dictions earlier in the novel, then calling Jim “white” and using joyful dictions, Twain highlights Huck’s shift in view from the typical societal view that slaves are “properties” to his own belief that people are not inherently

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Here, Huck clings to his own understanding of what is right, instead of accepting what others believe to be true. This is especially evident when he realizes, “But somehow I couldn’t seem to strike no places to harden me against him…” (Twain 215). Despite what he has been taught, Huck knows that Jim is a good person, and is just as human as a white person.

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This book proves that not everyone who grew up around racism was cruel, as Huck began to love Jim for who he is, despite the society he grew up in. An example of Huck maturing could come from chapter forty, "I knowed he was white inside, and I reckoned he'd say what he did say - so it was all right, now, and I told Tom I was agoing for a doctor." (Twain 301). This quote clearly shows that Huck is maturing, and seeing past the color of Jim's skin. The book shows us how hard it was to grow up in a racist society and not be racist.

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The novel contrasts Huck’s and Jim’s different forms of enslavement, and Lester believes that by doing that it “obscures the fact that, by definition, slavery was a horror”(342). Later in the novel we can see Jim and Huck start growing appreciation for each other on the raft. It is true we cannot deny Huck’s growing appreciation and love for Jim, but first we must acknowledge that Huck’s love for Jim does not mean Huck is not racist. An example of Huck’s racism is the scene in the book where they miss Cairo because of the fog, but Huck lies to Jim and tells him he has been there the whole time. Then, Jim gets really sad, and Huck feels bad about about lying to him and says, “It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger; but I done it, and I warn't ever sorry for it afterwards, neither.

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Lying In Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

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Twain defends the positive aspects of lying and trickery through the means which Huck escapes from the cabin that he is trapped in with his father. Due to his father’s abusive nature, Huck feels the need to escape from his custody before his Pap returns from the town up river. He cuts a hole out of the cabin, leaves a trail of pig blood, makes it look like a robbery gone wrong, and leaves scents to divert the search dogs. Huck ends the endeavor by saying that “they won’t sift the river for anything but my dead carcass”(34). While this type of lying seems immoral without context, the abusive nature of Huck’s father makes the reader support and root for Huck to succeed.

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He also thinks that a black person having white person’s feelings is unnatural, something that does not seem right due to years of societal influence. Huck almost views Jim as an equal and that slavery is wrong, but he just needs to overcome Pap’s and society's influence, which is going to be a strenuous

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1266 Words | 6 Pages

After lying to Jim and getting caught, Huck thinks on his actions. “It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger; but I done it, and I warn’t ever sorry for it afterwards, neither” (86). Huck knows that his actions are wrong but struggles to apologize to Jim because he is conditioned to believe that Jim has no real value. Huck tries to break free from the influence of society and in doing so, he realizes that his actions are not morally acceptable. With no interference from society, Huck is therefore able to humble himself to Jim and treat him in a way that opposes society’s expectations.

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Huck's Nonconformity

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Throughout his journey with Jim, the conscience guides Huck to care more about the consequences of the events happens around him which implies further development and consolidation of his moral beliefs. For instance, when Huck and Jim decide to “borrow” some food from the corn fields, Huck struggles to determine whether it is morally right to do it. On one hand, he justifies his actions by stating that, " Pap always said it warn 't no harm to borrow things, if you was meaning to pay them back, sometime” (56). In this case, he thinks Pap’s reasoning is actually logical. On the other hand, he also remembers, “but the widow said it warn 't anything but a soft name for stealing, and no decent body would do it" (56).

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1724 Words | 7 Pages

Those who feel the novel encourages racism say that because of the stereotypes used when featuring Jim, how Huck and Tom treated Jim, and how often the N-word is brought up Twain had hoped to encourage racism. However there is still strong evidence that proves why that might be a misunderstanding. If twain was intending to encourage racism then why would he make Him seem so much of a better person than the duke, king, and Huck's father. Also when Twain illustrates the black and white symbolism he portrayed Him as white man and Huck's father, who is a white man, as dark and scary. Then throughout the story as a reader you feel empathy for Jim he begins to become one of the favorite characters in the novel.

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1403 Words | 6 Pages

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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In his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), Mark Twain creates a satire of nineteenth-century slavery culture in the American south. To do this, he writes from the perspective of the titular preteen, who struggles internally with the issue of slavery. At the beginning of the novel, he sees no issue with the racist attitudes saturating his surroundings, despite his disregard for “sivilization”. By the end, however, his escapades on the run leave him more experienced in the ways of the world, and his modes of thought grow independent from those that he grew up with. The strongest way in which these changes manifest themselves is in his relationship with Jim, a slave who escaped from Huck’s household just after he himself did.

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Naturally, as his bond with Jim cultivates, Huck unknowingly treats him as a human. Through Huck’s sensibility, he states, “It didn’t take me long to make up my mind that these liars warn’t no kings nor dukes at all … I hadn’t no objections, ‘long as it would keep peace in the family; and it warn’t no use to tell Jim, so I didn’t tell him” (Twain 125). Correspondingly, Huck gains a consideration for Jim and his personal feelings, which he expresses nonchalantly through motley aspects of their journey.

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