"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." .
Mark Twain.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain seems too many readers to be a racist book about slavery and the people of that time period. There are racist words used, racist comments, and many prejudices that are shared throughout the novel, but the novel shows that as people get to know each other there racist ideas, and prejudices go away and they find out they have more in common than not.
Many people that are racist were raised in homes where the parents were racist, and they taught their children to be. This is what happened to Huckleberry Finn. Huck's father Pap shows an example of racism when he objected to the governments granting of suffrage to an educated black professor. Huck's father believed that he was superior to this black professor simply because of the color of his skin. Huck's Father said "They call that a govment that can't sell a free nigger till he's been in the state six months. Here's a govment that calls itself a govment, and lets on to be a govment, and thinks it is a govment and yet's got to set stock-still for six whole months before it can take a -hold of a prowling, thieving, infernal white-shirted free nigger, and" (Pap p.27) Even though the professor was smarter then Huck's father, his father would still treat the professor with no respect because he was black. His father felt that the professor couldn't ever be equal to him, even though he was a free man. .
Huckleberry Finn starts to change his ideas of black people when he meets Jim, a black slave who ran away to the North, where he could purchase his family's freedom. Huck meet Jim on Jackson Island and decides to help Jim. During the story Huck get close to Jim, and Jim becomes like a father to him, and a life long friend.
Huck Finn was just one of the few characters that were brought to the reader via the theme of slavery. Huck was brought up living in an "uncivilized- manner. ... Soon Huck met up with Jim, "Miss. ... Huck learned that Jim had run away from Miss. ... The relationship and honor that developed between Huck and Jim would not have been possible without slavery. ...
Jim is in search of freedom from slavery and he is on the run from his owner who is Miss Watson. Huck is on the run from his abusive father and later into the story, we learn Huck is in search of a more "natural" freedom from the mainstream rules of society-he is forever questioning. ... Huck questions Miss Watson of manners and prayer 2.) Huck doesn't understand the term; "love thy neighbor" yet, enforcing slavery at the same time. 3.) ... Huck's thinking is that he has someone's property and therefore, is stealing, and by not turning Jim in, Huck is being a bad person...
It is seen some throughout the book that Huck sees Jim as a white man. ... The reader will observe that Huck acts based on his own ethics. ... Huck does not advocate slavery nor does he protest it. He views slavery as an ordinary incident in everyday life and the lower nature of slavery to be of little meaning. ... The ridicule of the slave race in the end permitted by Huck is more about pleasing the awes of Huck toward Tom. ...
Jim, being an African-American in the times of slavery, was not expected to be any more then a hard working man. ... The most controversial conflict that is dealt within the story is slavery. ... Slavery was simply a way of life in the southern United States, an important tool in the south's survival. ... Huck and Jim both faced major conflict with the issue of slavery. However, Huck had learned that slavery was wrong by the end of the story. ...
Twain is sending the message that although Huck has a free spirit that should not constantly be confined to organized societies like schools, and should be able to roam free, it is not bad that he is attending school and learning to read and write Many other ironies have to do with slavery and racism. ... This is an example of irony, because Twain, throughout the novel, gives a clear message that slavery is wrong, and yet has this character speak racist, insulting comments that are clearly pro-slavery. ... This is an example of irony, because throughout the book, Twain sends the message th...
Throughout the book, Huck strives to define his opinions of religion, slavery, family, and friends as he defies society's. ... The Widow takes him in and attempts to "civilize- Huck. ... Huck's partner in adventure and the mentor in Huck's moral life is an escaped slave by the name of Jim. ... Huck makes a large stride in his personal quest for a racial and religious perspective when he personifies Jim and decides he would rather spend the rest of his life in Hell than give up his friend, Jim to slavery: "I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. ...
Twain depicts slavery and racism through the eyes of Jim, Huck and the Southern society as a whole. ... Although this novel presents the issues of racism and slavery, it could possibly be considered an anti-slavery book because of Huck's actions and transformation. ... Jim faces many struggles trying to free himself from slavery. ... Twain uses Huck and Jim's adventures before and after the Mississippi to show the readers the vast problems of society, including slavery and racism. ... Because of his upbringing, Huck begins the story believing the slavery is a normal course of ...
Huck is helping Jim escape from slavery. ... Huck has no idea what to do. ... Huck is commiting this crime, this sin, by helping Jim find his family and escape from slavery. ... And for a starter I would go to work and steal Jim out of slavery again; and if I could think up anything worse, I would do that too; because as long as I was in, and in for good, I might as well go the whole hog. (206)" Hucks decision " forever, betwixt two things" is his decision between heaven and hell. ... Hucks decision to tear up that note. ...
The misperceptions and lack of sympathy, qualities associated with slavery in the "real world," have no bearing on Huck now, as he begins to realize that Jim is not merely a piece of property, but a human being with feelings, thoughts, and a family. Not even Huck has one of those. ... During the Duke and the King's final acts of immorality, Twain conveys another important message, which was, in fact, controversial at the time of Huck Finn's publication: the question of slavery. The men try to earn money by selling Jim into slavery, claiming him as a runaway; however, when Aunt Polly ...
