What Is The Racism In Huckleberry Finn

Although Huck is a bit racist to Jim at the beginning of their journey, the negative attitude held by Huck begins to fizzle as their adventure continues on. The more Huck and Jim go through together, the closer the two become. Huck begins to see Jim as a friend and vice versa. By the end of their journey, Huck disagrees with society's idea that blacks are inferior. One example of this is evident when Huck doesn't tell anyone of Jim's whereabouts. Huck doesn't tell anyone because he knows that if he does, Jim will be forced to return to slavery. Instead, Huck chooses to "go to Hell" for his decision. He has shied away from society's acceptance of slavery.

Although he predicts society will deem him to be "a low down Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum," he prefers to be shunned and to risk punishment and shame for the sake of freeing Jim (Twain 43). Clearly, Huck's fondness for Jim is evident when Huck intends to send a letter to Miss Watson returning Jim but chooses to rip it to save him instead. Huck responds, "‘I'll right, then, I'll go to hell'- and he tore it up" (Twain 214). Huck accepts his rebellious nature and terrible fate to hell as he escapes from civilized society and into a place driven by his instincts. Jim's desire for freedom puts Huck in a moral dilemma because he must decide whether to follow his innate sense of morality or the restrictive guidelines of society.

Twain’s purpose in writing that part was to get people to realize and understand how ridiculous it is to treat someone differently just because of the way they look. Twain’s depiction of Huck’s moral struggle has been just one of the ways he gets his readers to understand the idea he was trying to convey. Throughout the book, Huck begins to gradually change his views on the issues of racism and slavery. He is quoted saying, “Alright then, I’ll go to hell.” (p.195) Right before tearing up a letter he wrote to Miss Watson telling her where Jim was. Huck realizes that he would feel even more guilty if he turned in his friend. Throughout the book, it had been hard for Huck to separate himself from society’s view of African Americans, and this part is a definite turning point for him, but also an important lesson. Huck’s decision reminds the reader that society doesn’t always know what is best, and makes people realize that the right decision might not always be the popular one. As Huck’s friendship with Jim begins to form as the book progresses, he soon realizes that his perception of Jim and other African Americans isn’t entirely

In the novel, Huck learns a big lesson. Huck bonds with Jim causing him to rethink many things he is taught. Jim exclaims, “‘Dah you goes, de ole true Huck, de on’y white genlmen dat ever kep’ his promise to ole Jim’” (Twain 83). Jim is a slave, therefore, he is not treated with much kindness.

In the beginning, Huck is like all the town people and a follower that went with the norms of society he didn’t want to stand out. One example is when Huck’s morals seem to show no concern about Miss Watson’s ownership of Jim. Huck’s mentality thought it was perfectly normal to treat the slaves as a piece of property, play tricks for one’s personal amusement, and have the slaves do all the work. Huck uses his moral sense to expose hypocrisy in others and to try to correct such situations if possible. It’s very ironic that Miss Watson claiming to be Christian lets society norms influence her. Not only that, society was a hypocrite, love your neighbor and have an African-American as your slave. Huck let’s go of all the misguide concepts from the society. Huck could see how wrong his action towards Jim has been. Without the pivotal scene Huck wouldn’t have a stand up and truly analysis the norms of society. There is an evolution between the old Huck we meet in the beginning. Now, he slowly starts to change and matures “I know’d [Jim] was white inside,” indicates that Huck sees Jim as a human. Huck see’s Jim through the eyes of a human not as a white man. He is beginning to slowly escape the attachment of the white’s see. Twain want Huck to overcome all racists thinking and look at African-Americans as people with feelings, families, and friendships, even with

He struggles for a bit with the idea of Jim being in slavery and tried to write a letter explaining where Jim was, but ended up ripping it up and says: “All right, then, I’ll go to hell... (217).” This a major turning point in Huck’s ideals. He finally comes to terms with the fact that he does not agree with Jim being a slave. Huck decides to go try to free Jim, which shows that he is going against the social norm to rescue someone he holds dear. This speaks to how he has developed as well as how Jim and Huck have grown closer through the

Mark Twain has always been one of the most controversial authors of all time. Though in recent years, there has been increasing controversy over the ideas expressed in his novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In some extreme cases the novel has even been banned by public school systems and censored by public libraries. The basis for this censorship is the argument that Mark Twain's book is racist, but in reality Twain was against racism and used this book to make people aware of what was going on in the south. He did this by using the regional dialect of the south, showing the attitude of the other characters in the novel toward black people, and showing his depiction of black characters. If one were to "read between the lines"

Despite Huck’s initial intention to write to Tom Sawyer convey him of Jim’s location; therefore allowing Miss Watson to retrieve her “property”, Huck decides to follow his increasing sense of his conscience. Huck does expresses some worries that are selfish, such as the shame and isolation he would experience if anyone found out that he followed his moral compass and helped Jim reach freedom. Although Huck questions his conscience with these selfish thoughts, Huck worries equally as much for Jim in the fact that he may be condemned a slave forever. Huck decides to follow his moral compass and plans to free Jim from his confinement. This experience proves that Huck doesn’t follow the rules of society, but rather follows what he knows is the right thing to

Jim has treated Huck so much better than any white man has. Huck is learning to base his opinions of people on what they have done, instead of the color of their skin. Later, Huck finally writes the letter to Miss Watson explaining everything; however, he is unable to gather up the nerve to actually send it, and tears it apart: “‘All right, then, I’ll go to hell’—and tore it up” (215). Huck honestly believes that he will go to hell for helping Jim escape, but is willing to do it anyways. He is prepared to make an enormous sacrifice to help Jim.

Racism has played a role in U.S history ever since Columbus bumped into America and disregarded the true owners of the land, but it did not stop there. Once slaves were brought from Africa and then sold to the Americans, racism increased due to the fact that a subordinate race was not only in their towns, but also in their homes. It was not until relatively recently that our society thought to change their previously consistent views on racism. From our classic literature to our modern day news stories, racism is presented as a consistent issue throughout the history of the nation; however, it has widely changed in severity.

Often times Huck found himself in a moral dilemma on whether to do what society instilled in him or to do what he thinks should be done. Huck betrayed those feelings of “what society would want” him to do in order to be a good friend to Jim, putting his own self up at risk again for Jim. Jim was being held captive by Huck’s current host and Huck, abandoning his duties of his superior race and being a good Christian, as the Widow called it Huck suddenly has an epiphany “All right then, I'll go to hell!” as he goes to “steal Jim out of slavery” (212). Seeing the situation through Huck’s perspective it gives the reader every little detail that goes into his thought process in his decision making. These types of actions were considered wrong by society at that time and place but Huck sets that all aside and does what he feels is the right thing. Most of the time Huck has to think on his feet making the decision making process even more difficult, like the time when Huck was going to give Jim up as a runaway slave. “Then I thought a minute, and says to myself, hold on, s’pose you’d ‘a’ done right and give Jim up, would you feel better than what you do now? No, says I, I’d feel bad---I’d feel just the same way I do now” (91). Even through Huck’s dialect you can see him argue with himself on what the right thing to is, but he throws out what society would do and does what his heart tells him. Through Huck arguing

177). This seems to affect Huck in an important way because it started showing him that Jim is, in fact, human, and he begins to refer to Jim as a friend, not Mrs. Watson’s slave. This shows that the influence of Southern society is being removed and that he and Jim are becoming equals in his mind. As a result of Huck thinking of Jim as his friend, he protects him. When Jim is captured and his legs are bound, Tom suggests they just cut off his leg, but Huck is repulsed by that idea as he now sees Jim as human too. He decides to find another way to help Jim, and ultimately he succeeds in freeing Jim. This proves that Huck is no longer viewing Jim as property but as an equal human. That is a big contrast from the beginning of the book where he debated allowing Jim to escape slavery. In conclusion through getting rid of societies rules, seeing how much happier Jim was a free man, and having to protect someone he never thought he would, Huck was changed into someone who believes in equality; starting off as someone who debated even helping a slave out in the first place, but ending it as someone would risk what he had to give a slave another chance, an equal

For decades the constant battle of racism has filled an aspect of our lives that controls much of our actions or non-actions and our moral beliefs as an individual and as a society. During the time of the antebellum South, African Americans were poorly treated and lived in inferior circumstances. They were looked down upon by others in society and were not given a fair chance at success. There was little to no education for African Americans and any chance of moving up in society was limited. White people did not see blacks as humans, they saw them as less than themselves and as property that did not deserve respect or fair treatment, resulting in harsh

Despite an ardent view on slavery evident through interactions with Jim, Huck’s slowly shifting view of Jim from that of ignorance to seeming acceptance expresses his ability to stray from flawed societal values to his own developed moral code of conduct. This becomes evident when Huck protects Jim from men who board his raft, by hinting he has smallpox. Although one can see this as compassion for Jim, Huck questions with racist undertones, “s’pose you done right and give Jim up; would you felt better than you do now? No, says I, I’d feel bad” (Twain 127). However, he later affirms himself to “do whatever come handiest at the time.” (Twain 127). At this point, society still influences Huck, but his statement marks his decision to detach from societal values, and eventually allows him to form his own views on Jim. This comes slowly, as Huck cannot shake free from racism.

All over the country, Mark Twain’s masterpiece, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is utilized in classrooms for educational purposes, as well as a model of authentic American literature; however, due to its contentious diction and sincere depiction of the Mississippian region of the United States during the 1840s, many critics label the piece of literature as racist. As a result of the constant accosting, many academic institutions have banned the book from their lesson plans and new, censored versions of the original novel have been created to avoid an offended audience. These disdainful remarks, nevertheless, are incorrect. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is not racist, for the language used in the book is solely to establish the context of the time, Twain himself never concurred with the concepts of racism nor slavery, and the novel’s main character violates the norms of the racist society he was born into.