Twain shows that he believes racism is able to be unlearned regardless of a person’s surroundings through white southerners, like Huck, who come to the realization that despite skin color, blacks are as humane as any white person. Huckleberry Finn, the main character in Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , gradually discovers that anyone, regardless of their race, is capable of being a companion and being an ethical human being as he ventures down the Mississippi River with the slave of his foster mother’s sister, Jim. Before his camaraderie with Jim, Huck was indifferent towards the treatment of slaves and considered them the white man’s property, but through their friendship he was able to show that racism is taught and one can choose …show more content…
The first time that Jim is mentioned in the book, during the scene where Huck and Tom Sawyer went to play a trick on him, Huck continuously referred to Jim as “Miss Watson’s big nigger, Jim” (Twain 25). The fact that he refers to Jim as “Miss Watson’s nigger” to then say his actual name shows that he viewed Jim as a white person’s piece of property. Huck’s decision to play the joke on Jim despite his fear of Jim waking up shows that he feels comfortable bothering Jim and using him as a source of entertainment, seeing as he went to play a trick on him. The depth of Huck’s racism and his initial feelings towards black people is also shown when Jim first tells Huck that he ran away, and Huck replies, “People would call me a low down Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum--but that don’t make no difference” (Twain 50). The fact that Huck has to fear being called a “ low down …show more content…
When Huck and Jim were still on the island Huck decided to play a trick on Jim by putting a snake in his bed and endangering him for fun, and forgot that he planted the snake which ultimately led to Jim getting bitten and in response Huck, “ slid out quiet and throwed the snakes clear amongst the bushes; for [he] warn’t going to let Jim find out it was all [his] fault, not if [he] could help it” (Twain 60). The fact that Huck “slid out quiet” shows he was sneaking because he knew what he did was wrong; Huck deciding that he “warn’t going to let Jim find out” shows his intentional decision to not let Jim know it was him who put him in danger which shows a lack of maturity on Huck’s part and also a lack of respect for Jim as another human being. Rather than being upfront Huck decides to play dangerous tricks on Jim and then doesn’t own up to his tricks which highlights that Huck saw Jim as a play toy that he could poke fun at whenever he saw fit and didn’t even respect Jim enough to tell him about the tricks he played on him. In addition, Huck’s inner struggle between whether or not he believes Jim’s impending freedom was good or not is shown when they begin sailing down the Mississippi River and Jim continuously gets excited because he thinks he’s nearing freedom while Huck begins to
Even though Jim and Huck had a lot of good times, there was some bad times. For example, after Jim was taken back into slavery Huck mabe a plan to get him out but he said, “... it’s a dirty low-down business…” (Document F). This shows that Huck knew Jim was a slave and he knew messing with slaves a very low on the totem pole. Another example, would be when Huck was going to write a letter to Jim’s owner explaining where he was during that time, Huck says, “... everybody naturally despises an ungrateful nigger, and they’d make Jim feel it all the time… “ (Document E). This proves that by the end of the story Huck was thinking of Jim as a slave. However, a few bad moments do not define a
This is exactly the kind of behavior that twain didn’t like. However, the main theme in this book is breaking free. He urges his readers to do the right thing, not necessarily what everyone else is doing. He illustrates this ideal with Huck. Most everyone else thought of Jim, along with blacks in general, as something less than human. Huck knew this was wrong, and his actions followed this when he rescued Jim. Main characters Huckleberry Finn Huck is the narrator of the story and for the most part is honest to us, the readers. He dreads the rules and conformities of society such as religion, school, and everything else that will eventually make him civilized. A big debate surrounds Huck on whether he changes or not throughout the story. Huck, in the beginning, seems very set in the south’s anti-black ways, however, Huck states that he will go to hell to keep Jim out of slavery. At this point it seems like he does change, but at the end of the book, Huck plays yet another joke on Jim and seems as though any change was temporary. Huck has little sense of humor, which is ironical, considering the book is satirical. Twain has also been criticized about Huck’s character, in that it seems as though Huck knows too much for his age. In one of the movies Huck was about seventeen, in another he was about eight. I figure from the book that Huck is
Many view Huckleberry Finn as a racist book for the portrayal of the runaway slave, Jim, but Twain writes from Huck’s point of view, who was a product of his society. In the book, while using dialect and actions accurate for the time and location, Twain never portrays Jim in a negative light. In contrast to Huck’s father, Jim cares about Huck. For example, when Jim and Huck are reunited after getting lost in the fog, Jim tells Huck, “my heart wuz mos’ broke bekase you wuz los’, en I didn’ k’yer no mo’ what become er me en de raf” (p. 157), as opposed to Huck’s father who only wants him around to prove he has control over Huck. This shows the difference between his white father who should be a strong male figure in his life, and a black man who actually looks out for Huck. Throughout the book, Huck comes to realize more and more that Jim is human just like
Originally, Huck believes that he should turn in Jim, a slave running away from being sold by Widow Douglas and Miss Watson. He does not see it as following the law, he just believes that it would be immoral for him not to turn in Jim to the cops. Huck Finn was raised to accept the idea of slavery which has been shaped by a society who accepted slavery. The pranks that Huck Finn pulled on Jim reflects Huck Finns attitude towards Jim 's intelligence. In the scene after Huck Finn and Jim get separated in the fog, Huck thinks Jim is stupid enough to believe that none of it
Mark Twain’s classic novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn took place during a tense period in U.S. history. Heated debate over the morality of slavery had sparked and deep divisions were emerging between the northern and southern states. Born in Missouri, a slave state, the novel’s protagonist Huckleberry Finn was raised on values of racism and prejudice. He adhered to these principles as they were all he knew. However, over the course of his journey, Huck’s formerly provincial morality was challenged by his real-world experiences, and he was forced to derive a new set of morals for himself. At the start of the novel, a blind acceptance of slavery was present in Huck’s mind. This was revealed when Huck thought, in reference to Jim’s plan to free his children, “Here was this nigger, which I had as good as helped to run away, coming right out flat-footed and saying he would steal his children – children that belonged to a man I didn’t even know; a man that hadn’t ever done me no harm” (137). Although grateful for Jim’s companionship and reluctant to report him to the authorities, Huck still believed slavery to be a moral practice. As evidenced by this thought process, Huck held on to the values of the slave-owning states in the south, believing that Jim’s children, as slaves, were property. He even felt remorseful at the thought of a man’s slaves being stolen. Regardless of his budding friendship with Jim, Huck was still concretely in favor of slavery. This static view on
On Huck and Jim’s journey to Cairo, Jim begins to speak about when he is free he will go and find his children and take them from the slave owner. This rubbed Huck the wrong way; his standards of Jim had been lowered because, from Huck’s point of view, why would Jim steal his children away from a man who has done nothing to him? Huck’s conscience began to come into play and he had made up his mind: He was going to turn Jim in when they reach shore. He was sure of it until Jim began to sweet talk Huck, telling him that Huck was the only white man that had ever kept a promise to him. This comment went directly to Huck’s heart; he could not possibly
In the middle of the book, Huck starts to distinguish what is the right thing to do. He starts to think if all the things he was doing before with Jim and Tom were too mean and stupid to do. One specific example is when he decides to steal the money that the king and duke have, “I got to steal that money somehow; and I got to steal it some way that they wont suspicion I done it." (Twain 133) After Huck stole the money Huck and Jim didn’t feel bad at all, and knew that they did the right thing after all. He learns that not everyone can be scammed on, that the real life is important and that you can’t do anything stupid like that. He sees eye to eye with Jim and realizes that he cant have someone taken advantage of just because of their
Because blacks are uneducated, he sees them as stupid and stubborn. He frequently tells stories to Jim, mainly about foreign kings and history. When Jim disagrees with Huck, Jim becomes very stubborn and refuses to listen to explanations. Huck eventually concludes, "You can't learn a nigger to argue". Jim also seems to accept that whites are naturally superior to blacks. He knows that Huck is far smarter than he is. When Tom Sawyer and Huck are planning an elaborate breakout for Jim, he allows their outrageous plan to continue because they "was white folks and knowed better than him". This mutual acceptance of whites as superior to blacks shows how deeply rooted slavery was in Southern culture. This made it very difficult for Huck to help Jim. When Tom Sawyer says he will help free Jim, Huck is very disappointed. He had never thought that Tom Sawyer, of all people, would be a "nigger stealer". Huck had always considered Tom respectable and educated, and yet Tom was prepared to condemn himself to damnation by freeing a runaway slave. This confuses Huck greatly, who no longer knows what to think about his situation with Jim. When Huck is forced to make a decision regarding slavery, he invariably sides with his emotions. Huck does not turn Jim in, despite having several chances. His best chance to do what he believes is right comes as they are rafting towards Cairo, Illinois. Huck finally
As Europeans expanded south during the Age of Exploration, they made their way into the African slave markets. When Portuguese explorers sailed down Africa’s west coast in the 15th century on their way to Asia, they traded copperware, cloth, horses, guns, wine, and iron tools for gold, ivory, raw copper, cloth, spices, exotic animals, and slaves. They established good relations with Africans who had won the civil war and used this relationship to trade manufactured goods for prisoners of war, especially in the Kingdom of Kongo. African sellers were not associating their slave sales with race, since people of all ethnicities bought and sold each other. Aboard the slave ships, crew shuffled the captives so that people from different villages would
Less subtle are Huck’s observations of Jim as their relationship progresses. Jim at first is nothing but a source of amusement for Huck, but Huck slowly discovers the real person inside. In Chapter 23, Huck states, “…I do believe that he cared just as much for his people as white folks does for ther’n.” Later, Huck goes even further to say, “I knowed Jim was really white inside.” From Huck, this naïve statement was the highest compliment he could have given Jim, and reiterates the idea that a black man can have true emotions and real feelings, something that was not commonly believed at the
Huck’s relationship with Jim evolves through out the first chapters in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Before their relationship evolved into a friendship, Huck saw Jim as an inferior, and Jim saw himself as one as well. Evolving into the end of Chapter 16, Huck has thoughts of apologizing for a trick he played on Jim, showing that Huck saw him as an equal, and a friend. The first time Huck speaks to Jim is on Jackson’s Island, when they are both runaways. “‘Well, I b’lieve you, Huck. I—I run off.’ ‘Jim!’ But mind, you said you wouldn’t tell—you know you said you wouldn’t tell, Huck.’ ‘Well, I did. I said I wouldn’t, and I’ll stick to it” (45). When Jim tells Huck the reason why he is out on Jackson’s Island, Huck is surprised, as Jim became nervous and tried to use Huck’s word against his own. Clearly there still is not a lot
His whole life has been taught that “niggers” are property and are not meant to be free but In his heart he knew helping Jim was the right thing to do, no matter what anybody else says. “both Huck and Jim are depicted as characters who are capable of learning from their own mistakes, empathizing with others, and acting on the behalf of others” (Evans). As the journey down the river continues they run into two con men. These men pretend to be the Wilks brothers in order to rob this family of all of their possessions. Huck couldn’t see them do this poor family wrong. He spends some time really contemplating telling one of the girls, Mary Jane, the truth about these liars (Twain 175). He knows inside that it is the right thing to do but he doesn’t want to put himself at risk. He plans out every little detail of how he is going to tell her and how he is going to expose these men (Twain 175-178). His actions result from his sympathy for others and his conscience and show major growth as the story continues.
An issue of central importance to Huckleberry Finn is the issue of race. The story takes place in a time of slavery, when blacks were considered inferior to whites, sometimes to the point of being considered less than fully human. But Huckleberry Finn challenges the traditional notions of the time, through its narrator and main character, Huckleberry Finn. While in the beginning, Huck is as unaware of the incorrectness of society’s attitudes as the rest of society is, he undergoes many experiences which help him to form his own perspective of racial issues. Through the adventures and misadventures of Huck Finn and the slave Jim, Twain challenges the traditional societal views of race and
This feminist study will define the commodity fetishism of the slender female body within the social relationships of patriarchal capitalism and sales marketing. In American society, the female body has a history of being exploited through patriarchal interpretations of the slender body as part of capitalist commoditization. In this manner, unrealistic expectations of the female body are enhanced in various advertisements, which show artificially photoshopped slender bodies. These distorted images show a patriarchal preference for women’s bodies that define the subjective market value imposed through marketing schemes to sell weightless products. Two advertisements showing this type of commodity fetishism will be defined through the marketing advertisements of patriarchal corporate enterprises. A Marxist evaluation of the marketing of the slender body will define these subjective social relationships that alienate women in the patriarchal commoditization of the slender female body for marketing purposes.
The order in which we read these books, I believe was perfect. The Gifts of Imperfection taught me to value myself. It showed me that despite my past mistakes; I am worth it. In addition, it has educated me in knowing that if I want to be loved and feel a sense of belonging; I must love myself first. This lesson is dear to me because before reading this book, I did not have much if any self-worth. After, reading this book I gained a better understanding of what it means to have self-worth through whole-hearted living.