How Does Huck Finn Show Racism

The novel Huckleberry Finn is a controversial book that uses racist words, talks about racism, and how Jim was treated extremely poorly. Ever since the book has been published, there have been many instances of students, teachers, and parents feeling uncomfortable about the terminology being used, or the way one of the main characters, Jim, is portrayed. It can be a painful book to read, there are still debates about reading a novel that is written by a white author with constant use of the “N word” and constant degrading of the black race. How can we read such a racist based book and learn from it? Students have reported themselves feeling uncomfortable, feeling like they shouldn’t have to read a book as discriminatory as this. The discriminatory …show more content…
Huckleberry Finn is one of the most significant and remarkable novels published, representing pure American Culture, and the conflicts of civilization and living freely. Huck meets Jim when he was on the run looking for food. Jim was on the run away from Miss Watson because he was afraid that she was going to sell him to someone from New Orleans. At first, Huck thinks Jim is a ghost, although he is not. Both characters had something in common, they were alienated from society. Huck Finn was raised to think that black people were lesser than whites. He did not know that he would form a friendship with Jim, go through struggles with Jim, and begin to even feel for him as a friend. Huck didn’t know he would need to rely on Jim as much as he did, and he ends up questioning his own views on slavery and racism. Huck uses the “N word” at times when he gets angry, or when he is casually talking about blacks, or even Jim. Huck and JIm were going through the Hunter’s bounty, and Jim claimed he did not like their adventures. Huck tells Jim stories about the Dauphin, and Jim refuses that the French don’t speak English. Huck thinks to himself, “ I see it warn’t no use wasting words- you can’t learn a (n word) …show more content…
He distances himself from people, and gets down on himself when he thinks he cannot do something. At the beginning of the novel, Jim is viewed as gullible and almost going along with anything. But, he is a very intelligent person. Jim doubts in himself sometimes, just because of his race and the environment of slavery he was brought into. Jim was taken away from his family as a young boy and thrown into slavery, he did not have the concepts of family or how wrong his race was treated although he desperately wanted to be with his family, he knew he could not. Jim chose to be stubborn and silent at times when he needs to, because he knows that the way he was being treated was wrong. Sometimes, Jim gave into Huck’s racism and commentary, but most of the time they were carrying each other in a good