Huck Finn Essay, Research Paper

In Twain s time, nigger was a synonym for slave . The language is appropriate to the setting and time. The portrayal of Jim proves that the racial stereotype of Twain s day was wrong. In the book The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain displays many different groups of society through

his point of veiw. The main factor that makes up the plot of this novel bases on the connection of these different

groups. Twain shows four main classifications of society in the book. They are listed as follows: black and white

social boundaries, when looks are decieivng, people being followers and not leaders, and also greed among society.

Many points in the story hint about the different classifications of the society created in Twain s mind.

Twain often used prejudice as a building block for the plots of his stories. Twain even stated,

The very ink in which history is written is merely fluid prejudice. There are many other examples in which Twain

uses prejudice as a foundation for the entertainment of his writing. At times he even made some of his prejudice

remarks quite humorous. Twain himself was not a racist man, but he wanted to make his book more like a duplicate

of that point in time. In order to do that, racism was a key element to involve in his writing. In

The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn Twain shows the barrier between black slaves and the white community

created by caucasians themselves.

White people and black slaves are the main two classifications contrasted in the novel. Throughout the novel

Twain shows white people as a more educated group that is higher in society compared to the black slaves presented.

At one point in the story Huckleberry Finn s father becomes threatened and eventually angry when he notices that a

black man seems to be more educated than himself. In Twain s era black people were considered to be lower class,

uncivilized, and uneducated. They were also thought of as nothing but a piece of property to be owned by white

people. All through the novel Twain shows this by adding the term that was often used by the caucasians in that

point in time. In the novel during certain dialogue of white people, black people were called the derogatory term

nigger . In Twain s time, nigger was a synonym for slave. The language and actions of the characters is

appropriate to the setting and time of the novel. The depiction of Jim proves that the racial icon of Twain s day

was wrong.

The next classification of society portrayed in the novel is greedy people. In the novel there are

plenty ideas of selfishness among the people. It seems that the only ones showing any guilt of being greedy are the

white people in the story. One example of selfishness among characters occurred when Jim and

Huckleberry Finn were traveling down the river one night. Huck had left the raft and traveled ashore. Two men

had stopped Huck and asked him who was on the raft he had left afloat. Knowing Jim was on the raft, he claimed

that his family was on it and that they were all infected with smallpox. Afraid of obtaining the highly contagious

disease, the two men paid Huck a small amount of money and advised him to go to the next town down river to find

medical attention.

Another example of greed among the characters is Miss Watson. She was planning to sell

Jim to New Orleans. Miss Watson cared nothing about Jim and his family. To Miss Watson Jim was nothing

but a profit. If she were to sell him, he would be farther away from his family. That is what caused him to

become a runaway slave.

One last example of greed in the story revolves around the two entertaining characters; the

King and the Duke. They present a great amount of greed into the story. The King and the Duke are two frauds

who travel from place to place cheating people out of the money. They are two cons who later begin traveling with

Jim and Huck in the story. Toward the end of the story they pose as a deceased man s brothers to inherit his

riches. Eventually, they are

tarred and feathered.

The next group of people that is classified in society is people that choose to follow and not be a

leader. The mob scene in the novel is a great example of this classification. In the mob scene it s most likely that

half of the population of the angry mob that stormed the house probably didn t even know why they were there.

They really didn t think they needed a reason to be angry. This proves that many people in society are more

willing to be a follower rather than be a leader no matter what the cause is.

The last classification of society in Huckleberry Finn s era is where people s looks can be

deceiving. Even today looks can be deceiving. In Huck s time many people s looks seemed to be deceiving. One

example of this is the appearance of the King and the Duke. They seemed like two sensible men. From the

moment Huck met them he could tell they were liars, but Huck believed it to be harmless. After he had realized

that there is more to the King and the Duke than just lying to people, he became angry and began to believe that

what they were doing was wrong.

Another example of looks being deceiving was the way the Grangerford s and the

Shepardson s appeared to Huck. They appeared to be two civilized families with moral values. After he had gotten

to the point of understanding the two families differences he had realized that they really weren t as civilized as they

appeared. The two families had been fighting an ongoing battle for many years. They had been feuding for so

long that they had even forgotten the reason of their disagreements. Once again, this is also an example of people

rather being followers than leaders.

In conclusion the entire plot of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is based on intolerance

between different social groups. Without prejudice and intolerance The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn would not

have any of the friction and communion that makes the narrative worth reading