The Racism In Huckelberry Finn Essay Research

The Racism In Huckelberry Finn Essay, Research Paper

Twain a racist. The answers to these questions lie in the examination of

Mark Twain.s life and historical era, incidents and character comments

throughout Huckleberry Finn, and reviews by critics of many races.

Researching the life and times of Mark Twain led to various facts that

negate the popular opinion that he was racist. Born Samuel Langhorn

Clemens on November 30, 1835 in Missouri, Mark Twain witnessed an era

of accepted slavery and racism (Roberts, 5). Growing up in the slave state of

Missouri, Twain’s father was a slave trader several times in his many

occupational ventures. After his father’s death Twain spent several summers

with his uncle, John Quarles, who owned twenty slaves which provided

Twain with an up close view of slavery in action. Twain was deeply affected

by witnessing the brutal murder of a slave by a rock-throwing white man for

the crime of “merely doing something awkward. (Smith). Twain completed

Huckleberry Finn in 1884, at a time when black identity in American society

was undefined. Even though blacks had been granted citizenship in 1870 by

the 15th Amendment to the Constitution, Southern white society still looked

upon them as sub-human creatures without souls or feelings. .However, for

his time Twain was liberal on racial issues.. The themes of Huckleberry Finn

portray Mark Twain.s unrelenting belief in the equality of all races.

(Mark Twain, 530)

Although Huckleberry Finn is primarily a novel about freedom and the

quest for freedom, through the portrayal of the characters, Twain depicts the

human qualities of all, regardless of color. It details the story of a slave, Jim,

who breaks the law and risks his life to win his freedom and be reunited with

his family. Jim is accompanied by a white boy, Huck, who befriends him and

aids in his escape. This storyline of a white boy helping a runaway slave, and

in the process, perceiving Jim as an equal, in no way depicts racism and, in

fact, lends credence to Twain.s argument for the equality of all, whether

black or white. In order to change Huck.s initial misconception of .nigger.

Jim, Twain reveals Jim.s humanity in a profoundly moving story about a time

when Jim struck his four-year-old daughter, .Lizbeth.

.One day she was a-stannin. around., en I says to her, I says: .Shet de

do.!. She never done it; jis. stood dah, kiner smilin. up at me. It make me

mad . . . Jim tells her again, but she still does not respond, so he .fetch. her

a slap side de head dat sont her a.sprawlin..

Jim is unaware that his daughter.s recent scarlet fever has made her deaf. He

orders her to get to work one more time, but she still does not respond. Just

as he is about to strike her again, Jim notices that she does not react to their

cabin door slamming shut from a gust of wind: . .de chile never move!.. .

Jim finally realizes that his daughter never heard him. He knows now that she

could not respond to him because . .she was plumb deef en dumb.. .

Overcome with deep remorse, Jim tells Huck:

I bust out a-cryin. en grab her up in my arms en say, ‘Oh, de po. little

thing! de Lord God Amighty fogive po. ole Jim, kaze he never g

wyne to fogive hisself as long.s he live!’ (Twain, 337-338)

Huck is silent at the end of Jim.s story, leaving the reader to acknowledge

Jim.s humanity on their own. But, nowhere in the novel is Jim.s humanity

more apparent than when he offers the ultimate sacrifice, his freedom, to save

Tom.s life. Huck and Tom help Jim escape from the Phelps. Farm, and in the

process, Tom is wounded. It soon becomes apparent that his injuries are

serious. Jim volunteers to stay with Tom while Huck fetches a doctor, even

though he knows that he will probably be captured and forced back into

slavery. Believing that Tom would do the same for him if he were in that

situation, Jim says:

Ef it wuz him dat .uz bein. sot free, en one er de boys wuz to git shot,

would he say, .Go on en save me, nemmine .bout a doctor f.r to

save dis one. Is dat like Mars Tom Sawyer. Would he say dat: You

bet he wouldn.t! Well, den, is Jim gwyne to say it. No, sah–I doan

.budge a step out.n dis place, .dout a doctor; not if it.s forty year!

(Twain, 264)

Through closer examination of Huckleberry Finn, it is revealed that

Twain relies on satirical passages to further express his non-racial emphasis.

In one scene, for example, Aunt Sally hears of a steamboat explosion.

“Good gracious! anybody hurt.” she asks.

“No’m,” comes the answer. “Killed a nigger.”

.Well, it’s lucky, because sometimes people do get hurt.” (Twain, 213)

Anyone who believes that Mark Twain meant this literally is missing the

point. Rather, Twain is using this casual dialogue ironically, as a way to

underscore the chilling truth about the old south, that it was a society wh

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