Racism in Huck Finn
Ever since it was written, Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn has been a novel that many people have found disturbing. Although some argue that the novel is extremely racist, careful reading will prove just the opposite. In recent years especially, there has been an increasing debate over what some will call the racist ideas in the novel. In some cases the novel has even been banned by public school systems and censored by public libraries. The basis for the debate is how Jim, a black slave and one of the main characters, is depicted. However, if one was to look at the underlying themes in the novel, they would realize that it is not racist and could even be considered an anti - slavery novel. The most popular problem people have with this book is the use of the word "nigger". It must be remebered that during this time period it was not considered much of an insullt. You can also notice in the book it was not meant offensively by Huck, or taken offensively by Jim. This is what Stephan Shepard had to say about the banning of the book and the use of the word "nigger":In addition to removing Mark Twain's novel from the
The first time the reader meets Jim, a very negative description is given. Blacks were slaves with no legal rights werefaced with high degrees of discrimination. And on those occasions when Twain does compare blacks and whites, the comparison is not flattering to the whites. Other white characters include the King and the Duke who exploit, cheat, and steal from anyone they can find, having no morals whatsoever. Also, it is important to remember in Chapter 15, the reader is told of an incident which contradicts the original childlike description of Jim. Because Jim lives, as the Times column pointed out, "on a higher ethical level than anybody else in this book including Huck. Huck's father believes that he is superior to this black professor simply because of the color of his skin (Twain 69). Twain paints a sad image of the morals of most white characters in the story. Twain wants the reader to see the foolishness of this notion. By the end of the novel, Huck and the reader have come to understand that Jim is not someone's property but an equal. If this novel can teach its reader about the evils of the past, then, perhaps, such evils will not happen again (Smiley 1).
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