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Themes of Race in Huckleberry Finn

            The theme of race played a huge part in the novel Huckleberry Finn. One of the most apparent examples of race in this novel is the constant use of the derogatory word "nigger ". Mark Twain wrote Huckleberry Finn in a time era where the South was still racist and the effects of slavery were normal. Jim Crow laws were also in effect at this time and designed to limit the power of blacks in the South. During this time black people were not treated as equals to white people. Mark Twain knew this and wrote about when slavery was still a normal part of life. The book has a character named Jim who is a slave. In Huckleberry Finn what seems like "good " white people such as Miss Watson and Sally Phelps are people who have slaves and don't care about the cruelty of slavery and separating him from his family. In Huckleberry Finn, Jim, a black slave runs away from his owner Miss Watson. Twain shows in the book how people are racist towards him and how they mistreat him. It is not a racist book because in the time era that the book was set it was a way of life. .
             Mark Twain uses Huck Finn to portray the stereotypical racism in the 1840s. The first time the reader meets Jim he is given negative description of Jim. The reader is told that Jim is illiterate, childlike, not very bright and extremely superstitious. Huck has been raised by extremely racist individuals who have put things on his mind. Even though that description of Jim sounds bad it is important to remember that it was probably true. Jim and all of the other slaves in the South were not allowed any form of education and they were never allowed any independent thought and were treated wrong and abused. Twain is only showing what a real slave was like back in that time period. .
             When Huck first meets Jim on the Island he makes the decision to not turn Jim in. Huck realizes that this man is not property but his friend and a human being through the book.


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