Racism in Huckleberry finn
Uploaded by Boming on Nov 26, 2007
The book, Huckleberry Finn, explores the ideas of racism and slavery through the eyes of a young white boy during slave times. Throughout the book, Huck is confronted with people and ideas that force him to question the morals with which he was raised. Twain expresses his anti-slavery views through the use of satire, to show how slavery is wrong, and through Huck’s search for a moral truth to demonstrate the need to question existing societal values.
Huck learns to question his values based on events that occur as a result of his friendship with Jim. An example of these conflicts occurs when Huck is confronted by runaway slave catchers. He is forced to decide whether turning Jim in is the right thing to do. The law tells him that he must betray his friend, but his conscience tells him to question this law. He chooses, as he does many other times in the book, to continue helping Jim to obtain his freedom despite the fact that it seems immoral to him. He is driven by his friendship with Jim to challenge the rules of morality in his society. Clearly Twain is using Huck’s choices in these circumstances to express what he thinks about slavery. He shows how societal values are incorrect in this case. If one thinks for themselves they will realize that slavery is wrong and that it is every human’s duty to continue to question the status quo when matters of conscience are involved.
Another time Twain demonstrates the immorality of slavery is during Huck’s moral crisis after Jim is recaptured. The friendship between the two proves to be more important to Huck than his moral system. “All right then, I’ll go to hell.” (207) Huck decides that he would prefer to suffer extreme consequences rather than desert his friend. The idea is very clear that, although Huck has no problem with slavery, he considers Jim his equal and a friend. Twain is trying to convey those ideas of equality trough Huck’s actions and thoughts. Huck converses with Jim as if Jim was a parental figure. Jim proves himself to be Huck’s caretaker when he refuses to let...