Racism In Huckleberry Finn

Many books have been banned from schools for various reasons, including racism, but racism is an important part of our country’s history that shouldn’t be hidden. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain brings out racial stereotypes of the pre-Civil War era, is historically accurate, and should be taught in schools. This book is very racist with is stereotypes, dialogue, and assumptions, but it is accurate. People may get very offended by this book, but these racist things are accurate and necessary for it’s pre-Civil War setting. The book uses the n word on almost every page and many people think it should be removed from the book, but it is accurate and was normal for that time period. The three main racist parts of the book are

Jim has to stay hidden in the canoe whenever Huck goes onto land because they fear that people will automatically assume that he is a slave and turn him in as a runaway. Two people that Huck and Jim run into on their journey are the duke and dauphin. When Huck and Jim first encounter them, they automatically assume that Jim is a slave. "THEY asked us considerable many questions ; wanted to know what we covered up the raft that way for, and laid by in the daytime instead of running— was Jim a runaway nigger? Says I: "Goodness sakes! would a runaway nigger run south” (pg. 191). The duke and dauphin are very gaudy characters, and Huck quickly realizes that they are con artists and lying about their identity. Throughout the time the duke and dauphin were on the raft with Jim and Huck, Huck assumed that Jim was addled by the duke and dauphin but he knew what was going on the whole time. Huck assumed that Jim wasn’t smart enough to be able to figure it out, but we learn that Jim is much smarter than people think he is. "What was the use to tell Jim these warn't real kings and dukes? It wouldn't a done no good; and, besides, it was just as I said: you couldn't tell them from the real kind" (pg 232). Much of the racism in this book is caused by people making false assumptions about Jim being a slave and being uneducated and

Jim was only seen as property because of the color of his skin, and that was the norm in that time, but we learn later that Jim belongs to no one because Ms. Watson died. Huck wants to help Jim escape and Tom Sawyer arrives at the Phelps house and wants to help Huck as well. But Tom’s plan was cruel and was basically the worst plan he could’ve come up with. They eventually get Jim back to the raft but Tom was shot along the way. While Huck goes back to the house to find a doctor, Jim risks his freedom for Tom’s life. When the doctor comes back to the Phelps with Tom and Jim, everyone wants Jim dead. The men were very impudent towards Jim. "The men was very huffy, and some of them wanted to hang Jim for an example to all the other niggers around there, so they wouldn't be trying to run away like Jim done, and making such a raft of trouble, and keeping a whole family scared most to death for days and nights" (pg 426). They wanted to show other runaways what would happen to you if you escaped. Once the doctor told them Jim helped save Tom’s life they agreed to not kill him, but still put him in chains. Once Tom reveals that Ms. Watson has died and Jim doesn’t have an owner, and Jim is freed. Jim’s rescue was racist in the sense that Jim needed two boys to “save him” because he was property and couldn’t save himself. All of the men at the Phelps house wanted him dead when he returned just to prove a