Changes in the twentieth century could change drastically concerning racism, prejudice feelings and hate. If this were to happen, it could be attributed to the education people now have by reading such novels as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain addresses these issues of racism, slavery and education in a humorous, almost childish way in order to keep the readers attention, yet the effectiveness is clearly visible. Twain uses Huck Finn and Jim as the ideal characters because they are the ones at the end of the novel who realize slavery is wrong. Mark Twain is trying to portray them through the protagonists and criticizes the failure to live up to them by portraying them through the antagonists.
             Prejudice can be observed throughout the novel by the way the other characters treat Huck. Twain portrays Huck as a normal boy of his time, being mischievous, adventurous and funny. The society Huck lives in labels him "uncivilized" because he has an abusive, drunk father. "... by and by pap got too handy with his hick'ry and I couldn't stand it. I was all over with welts."(27) Here the reader can observe how much of an uncivilized person he is. Pap is an alcoholic, a dead beat and a racist. Society also considered Huck "uncivilized" because he did not wear shoes, did not always attend school and he smoked. Society criticized Huck as uncivilized due to physical appearance when really Huck turned out to be more civilized than any other character in the novel because he learns how to respect Jim. Through the ironic criticism of society trying to civilize Huck, Huck ends up teaching us a lesson on being civilized.
             In the novel, Jim runs away from his slave owner Miss Watson. By doing a thing like that Jim could have been killed or beat. The people of Jims society would not have even listened to him or even considered his reason. "Well, you see, it 'uz dis way. Ole missus-dat's Miss Watson- she pecks...