Preview

What Is Racism In Huckleberry Finn

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
465 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
What Is Racism In Huckleberry Finn
It can be deemed as an American classic novel because of its well-written language and deep, complex characters that lure a reader into a world filled with timeless themes. Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is filled with endless escapades of Huck Finn and the people he meets along the Mississippi River. In the course of his dicey journey, Huck Finn meets a variety of predicaments that bring new experiences with people and places. It is regarded as the greatest American novel ever written because it is a novel that causes ageless double-entendres discussions. Throughout the novel, Huck Finn encounters trouble and misfortune with his companion Jim, moreover, controversy arises from how Huck’s point of view is racist, however, Twain …show more content…
The connotation of the term n***** has evolved over the past centuries, but it will always be associated with its hateful past, “even a cursory glance at the historical record will show that Twain’s use of the reprehensible word was an accurate reflection of that era” (Pitts 1). The history of the word n***** is dark and hurtful towards African Americans; that term represents the thousand of years of oppression and discrimination their ancestors had faced. Every time the word is spoken, it carries an ample amount of weight towards a person of color. Flashbacks of the stories they have heard through their grandparents causes African-American readers to develop a distaste for the novel because the word is commonly used. However, it is told from the innocent perspective of Huck, who had not been taught any better to not utter that word. Other times, people of the South that knew that the word n***** could be served a weapon, used it against others to indicate their hate towards people of color, “do you reckon a n*gger can run across money and not borrow some of it?” (Twain 198). The Duke was implying how all black men are thieves and spoke it in a disdain tone towards Jim. The term could be used to demonstrate how a person of color is reprehensible compared to a white person, and that was commonly done by people during the 1800s. Twain was depicting how

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In recent years, there has been increasing discussion of the seemingly racist ideas expressed by Mark Twain in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In some cases, the novel has been banned by public school systems and even censored by public libraries. Along with the excessive use of the word, "nigger," the basis for this blatant censorship has been the portrayal of one of the main characters in Huck Finn, Jim, a black slave who runs away from his owner, Miss Watson. At several points in the novel, Jim's character is described to the reader, and some people have looked upon the presented characterization as racist. However, before one begins to censor a novel it important to distinguish the ideas of the author from the ideas of his characters. It is also important to read carefully to sufficiently capture the underlying themes of a novel. If one were to do this in relation to Huck Finn, one would, without a doubt, realize that it is not racist and is, in fact, anti-slavery.…

    • 755 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Racist: having or showing the belief that one race is superior to the other. In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain the protagonist, Huckleberry Finn goes on an adventure down the Mississippi River with a runaway slave named Jim. During their time together we see Huck battle with his opinions of Jim due to the societal standards that Huck has lived with his whole life. Huck develops a positive relationship with Jim throughout the novel but still treats Jim with behaviors of racism. In the work Huck Finn; The Racist Protagonist by Laura Otten, she states that examples throughout the novel show that Huckleberry Finn is racist; which happens to be true.…

    • 328 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Satire in Huck Finn

    • 983 Words
    • 4 Pages

    During the mid-1800’s there was many “imperfections” in the world, and Samuel Clemens better known as Mark Twain decided to write a book to ridicule some problems concerning religion, greed, civilization, romantic literature, and Melodramatic art. Huckleberry Finn goes on a very complex and intense journey which helps him build a perspective on life as opposed to the ones dictated by those older than him. Throughout Huck encounters situations with problems that mimic actual problems in Twain’s world. Twain makes them look extremely pointless and senseless.…

    • 983 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Author Henry James has said that "it takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature.” For over one hundred years slavery had crippled the African American people and aided the white man; however, when the Emancipation Proclamation was put into effect it would become a slow catalyst of change that would take over a century for the Civil Rights Movement to be at its pinnacle. Racial limits would be pushed, lasting tension would arise. A great American novel of this time should depict the questionable change in racial demographics of the United States. Set before African American freedom, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain has been incessantly praised by authors and critics of all levels for pushing boundaries. It needs to be placed “in the context first of other American novels and then of world literature” (Smiley 1). Much like the American way of leaving the old country behind and immigrating to the United States, the novel’s loveable, young country boy of a narrator, Huckleberry Finn, pulls in readers of all kinds and feels the loneliness of being on his own travelling in the south, save for his runaway slave friend Jim. Along their adventures up and down the Mississippi River to free Jim, the reader follows Huck’s moral development, which is built up during different episodes in the story, but ultimately undone in the end. Although the “roundabout” nature of the end of the novel and Huck’s moral regression has rendered distaste, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn deserves its place in the literary canon of American literature for its variable structure, good-natured narrator, and reflections of Antebellum America.…

    • 3904 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, racism is a key theme. Throughout the novel, Twain reveals to society the evilness of mistreating another person simply because they have a different skin color. Twain masterfully shows the effects of racism on the character of Jim, a black slave and sometime companion of Huck during his journeys, by allowing the reader to feel what Jim feels when he is being mistreated. He accomplishes this empathetic move between Jim and the reader by giving accounts of Jim's mistreatment as witnessed by Huck.…

    • 749 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huckleberry Finn is a racist. That’s what many people believe, but it’s simply not true. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Huck is not a racist because he helps Jim to freedom, befriends African Americans, and he generally respects Jim.…

    • 397 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mark Twain’s The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn is an American masterpiece. Contrary to The Algerine Captive Mark Twain‘s satire and irony is emphasized through the style and the use of the American “vernacular” dialect for the first time as well as the use of the African-American dialect. Therefore Huckleberry Finn remains the work that elevates this onetime rustic humorist into the ranks of literary genius. It is considered by Satirist Dick Gregory once said that Twain “was so far ahead of his time that he shouldn’t even be talked about on the same day as other people Huckleberry Finn is considered as the first American Novel and aimed at forging an American identity independent from the European one. The Novel, hence, satirize the paradoxical issues of slavery and the hypocrisy of the society as well as the deep intuitions of America.…

    • 1160 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 1177 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an important novel that shows how the two worlds of Huck and Jim collide to bring out the problems of racism and slavery before the civil war. Huck was a young, naive boy who is oblivious to the outside world. Jim was a slave with a big heart who looked at the world in a whole different perspective. Throughout the journey together Huck and Jim’s relationship was shaken by the cold reality of racism and slavery, thus slowly opening Huck's eyes to the world around him and creating a new foundation for friendship. When Jim and Huck go on their journey outside of St.Petersburg, Missouri a whole new world was opened up to them, they saw the country like never before.…

    • 912 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Huckleberry Finn: Racism

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In Mark Twains' The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the main character Huck, makes two very important decisions. The first one is how he treats Jim when he first meets him at Jackson's Island and the second is to tear up the letter to Miss Watson because he cares deeply for Jim. When Huck first runs away from Pap he goes to Jackson's Island and thinks that he is the only person there. He soon finds out that this is not true, and that "Miss Watsons Jim"1 , is taking crap there as well. Many people would hate to be alone on an island with a "nigger"2 , but Huck is happy to have someone to talk with. At first Jim thinks he sees Hucks ghost and is scared. Huck gets Jims feelings by changing the subject and saying "It's good daylight, le's get breakfast"3 , showing that Huck is not only real but he does not mind that Jim is black. Jim feels that Huck might tell on him for running away, but he then decides that it will be okay to tell him why he ran away from Miss Watson. Jim keeps asking Huck if he is going to tell anyone about his running away, and Huck say's "People would call me a low down abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum but that don't make no difference I aint gonna tell"4 . Hucks response truly shows that his ignorance has no showing over his kindness. When taken into consideration good decisions are much more important in the long run than being the smartest person. After traveling with Jim for quite some time Huck begins to feel bad about harboring a runaway slave. He decides to write a letter to Miss Watson explaining the whole story, because Jim had been sold and he does not know where he is. Huck was indeed confused about what he should do so he dropped he dropped to his knees and began to pray. He felt by helping Jim he was committing a sin, but he later realized "you can't pray a lie"5 . Huck saying this shows that he feels what he has done for Jim is not wrong; instead what others had done to Jim is wrong. Still not sure of what to do about the…

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huck Finn Racist

    • 916 Words
    • 4 Pages

    “Thoughtful examination of Twain’s use of the word “nigger” can help teach students the importance of understanding the context in which a word is used.” (Apstein). The word can help students learn about how African-Americans were treated and viewed back then. He wanted to show the importance of the word. He couldn’t have just switched out the word for slave, because anyone can be a slave. Also if Twain didn’t want to use that word, he wouldn’t have. Twain put that word in there for a reason, he wanted it to spark conversations and controversy. He wanted the readers to understand what type of language people used back then and how certain people were treated and…

    • 916 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huck Finn and Racism

    • 924 Words
    • 4 Pages

    to look past conformist and the effects of his environment. Huck was born into a…

    • 924 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huck Finn Racism

    • 652 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Considering that Mark Twain is a revolutionary writer and must use detail from an era to make the story unique he shouldn’t be considered racist. Their time period is set around the Civil War which was fought for abolishment of slavery. Huck to some people would be the argument for Twain’s racism, but Huck was raised from a boy by people with extreme hatred towards blacks such like Pap and Miss Watson. Even if bigotry was part of Huck’s attitude towards blacks it should be excused. Towards the end of the novel Huck encounters Aunt Sally who makes a remark towards blacks. She remarked that thank god no one was hurt but it was okay if a black person was. This is just a fine example of the extremities that Huck was raised under and the society’s views towards blacks. Twain is merely revealing the harsh truth of society in a subtle tone. It is also important to remember that Mark Twain’s description of Jim was not being racist but honest. Back in their era majority of black slaves were non-educated, ignorant, never allowed independence, and were maltreated. Twain was merely using the historical accuracy to his advantage in the novel for a heightened impact.…

    • 652 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Huck Finn Racism

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages

    All Southerners are racists, or so Mark Twain’s storytelling would have his readers believe. The novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by American writer Mark Twain was a source of controversy back when it was published and still remains a source of controversy to this day, having been banned in public schools and libraries across America. The character Huck Finn is a racist; the reason Huck is a racist is his belief that African-Americans are somehow inferior to white people, use of offensive racial slang, and him stating he has a guilty conscience for helping Jim.…

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    but that it is the candid viewpoint of a boy that grew up in that era.And…

    • 1699 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays