Stereotypes In Huckleberry Finn

Racism has existed from the beginning of early human civilization all the way to present day. In a main part racism has been allowed to thrive because of cultural unawareness between different races, and because of society's acceptance to generalized stereotypes. Many individuals feel that racism is a major problem and two authors who try to tackle racism are Mark Twain and Esha Dholia. In Twain’s novel, Huckleberry Finn, a young white adolescent named Huck escapes from his abusive father and goes on an adventure with a runaway slave named Jim. In Esha Dholia’s article of “Too Many Tropes” Dholia summarizes the top three stereotypes South Asians face in western media. The authors specifically utilize common stereotypes in their writing techniques

In Huckleberry Finn, Huck’s father curses the government for allowing a biracial man to vote. The biracial man is described as being well educated, well-dressed, and is even an esteemed professor at a university, but Huck’s father believes the man to be nothing more than "a prowling, thieving, infernal, white-shirted free nigger" (Twain 27). Twain illustrates that Huck’s father is not a very good person; he is an illiterate alcoholic child abuser. The colored man in contrast is very well educated and sophisticated. Although Huck’s dad is a white male and thought to be the supreme race, Twain breaks this misconception by proving that the colored man is actually better than the Caucasian man, and that the colored man breaks the stereotype of a thief or inferior individual that society portrays him to be. Additionally, in “Too Many Tropes” Dholia describes one of the biggest stereotypes portrayed in Hollywood is that "South Asian people are portrayed as...simple-minded," but Raj, a South Asian character Dholia mentions from Big Bang theory, is depicted as a world renowned astrophysicist (Dholia). Raj is suppose to be inferior to Caucasians, but is actually smarter than most of them. Utilizing Raj as an intelligent Indian Asian,

In the book Huckleberry Finn it is demonstrated that many people believe African Americans are compassionless and are essentially just low lives looking to break the law. Tom Sawyer, Huck’s Caucasian friend, gets shot while trying to help Jim escape from being sold back into slavery. When the doctor starts operating on Tom the doctor realizes that he cannot “cut the bullet out without some help” (Twain 287). Jim in the meantime is hiding out in the woods to avoid capture, but upon learning that the doctor needs help Jim steps up to offer assistance. Twain illustrates what an incredibly humane person Jim is; Jim risks recapture loss of freedom, and maybe even execution to save Tom’s life! Mark Twain, effectively portrays the absurdness of the stereotype that all African Americans are uncaring. Furthermore, in “Too Many Tropes” article Esha Dholia criticizes Hollywood for using "South Asian nerds [as] the most popular kind” of stereotype. Dholia goes on to state that an entire ethnicity cannot be placed under one broad and racist generalization. Mainstream media tends to portray the South Asian nerd trope quite often, but Dholia is stating that not all South Asians individuals fit into this category. By including references to how this trope is a broad generalization that