The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a book by Mark Twain written in 1885. The book is set in the 1830’s, and is about a 12-year-old boy named Huckleberry, or Huck, Finn. Huck goes on many adventures in the novel along with Jim, a runaway slave. The pair is traveling on the Mississippi River trying to get Jim to the free states. Twain uses the concept of slavery to develop Huck’s character during the story by making Huck have moral conflicts within himself as he and Jim progress. Over the course of the novel, there are many important lessons that Twain teaches his readers. However, one of the most important themes in the book is racism and slavery. For the duration of the story, there are many instances where Huck says racist things towards
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Near the end of the book, there is a section where Huck and his friend Tom are trying to break Jim out of slavery for the second time. Tom has a very theatrical plan that he wants to execute in order to free him, which involves Jim sawing off his own leg to get his chains off. Huck sees no reason for this, and convinces Tom to drop the subject. Tom agrees and says, “Jim’s a nigger, he wouldn’t understand the reason for it” (228). Tom honestly believes what he is saying, mostly because slaves were widely known back then as thick-minded and senseless.
Although this is said, we know today that how knowledgeable you are does not correlate to the color of your skin. In this instance, Twain is trying to relay to us that slaves were considered inferior to whites, and that they were illiterate and naive.
To conclude, Twain brought to light various examples of racism and slavery that were present in the United States in the 1830’s. Blacks were previously seen as criminals, as well as uneducated and substandard humans. Some of the topics that he wrote about could still be applied to us, and are still a controversial topic in life
Near the end of the book, there is a section where Huck and his friend Tom are trying to break Jim out of slavery for the second time. Tom has a very theatrical plan that he wants to execute in order to free him, which involves Jim sawing off his own leg to get his chains off. Huck sees no reason for this, and convinces Tom to drop the subject. Tom agrees and says, “Jim’s a nigger, he wouldn’t understand the reason for it” (228). Tom honestly believes what he is saying, mostly because slaves were widely known back then as thick-minded and senseless.
Although this is said, we know today that how knowledgeable you are does not correlate to the color of your skin. In this instance, Twain is trying to relay to us that slaves were considered inferior to whites, and that they were illiterate and naive.
To conclude, Twain brought to light various examples of racism and slavery that were present in the United States in the 1830’s. Blacks were previously seen as criminals, as well as uneducated and substandard humans. Some of the topics that he wrote about could still be applied to us, and are still a controversial topic in life