Race in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay

Dont Judge a Book by the Cover

A large issue that is faced within Mark Twains Huckleberry Finn is the issue of race. The story takes place during the time of slavery, when blacks were considered inferior to whites. But Huckleberry Finn challenges the idea of slavery, through the narrator and main character, Huckleberry Finn. In the beginning Huck is as unaware of societys attitudes as everyone else, he goes through many experiences, which help him to form his own perspective of racial issues.

Huck is trying to escape a society that looks down on blacks. The society sees them as nothing more than slaves, possessions, readers see this clearly when Jim states, I owns mysef, en Is wuth eight hundd dollars. Huck starts to develop a different view of blacks throughout the story. It does not happen quickly, but gradually as he gets to know Jim. On event that helped Huck see a different side of Jim is when they were separated in fog. Huck plays a trick and says that he never left the raft, but Jim sees past this: Dat truck dah is trash; en trash is what people is dat puts dirt on de head er dey frens en makes em ashamed. Huck states, It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger-but I done it, and I warnt ever sorry for it afterwards, neither.

Each of their adventures brings Huck closer to seeing that there is something wrong with societys views of blacks. Huck has opened his mind to the view that slavery is wrong and helps Jim escape. Huckleberry Finn shows how Huck himself undergoes a change; he stops accepting the social norms and instead follows his own beliefs. He acquires these beliefs after many adventures with the slave Jim. In this way, Twain encourages people to be like Huck and not just accept something, because everyone else does.