Bigotry Within Huckleberry Finn Essay, Research Paper

The world in which Huckleberry Finn lived was one of racism and bigotry. This is very important to shaping this novel for it shows how satirical and hypocritical racists are, as well as how it is possible for one to reject the racist ideas taught and become friends with the same person they are supposed to hate. Seeing how these characteristics develop make this novel amusing and interesting. There are a few different groups contrasted in this book. Each one provides horrifying hate as well as hilarious satire. There are the conflicts between whites and blacks, the educated and the non-educated, and more specifically the two feuding families, the Grangerfords and the Shepardsons. The most often contrasted of these groups are the whites and blacks. Whites are generally portrayed as the more intelligent, civilized people. Although most of the white characters speak broken English, all the blacks speak in nothing but broken English. One example of this is this excerpt from a heartbreaking story Jim is telling Huck, “I crope out, all a-tremblin’, en crope aroun’ en open de do’ easy en slow, en poke my head in behine de chile, sof’ en still, en all uv a sudden, I says pow! jis’ as loud as I could yell.”

Although the dialect suffices in portraying blacks as the less educated race, the context portrays it just as simply. Many times we are shown how gullible and stupid Jim is. Huck is very often able to manipulate and fool him. Also, whenever Jim is not sure about something, he will ask Huck. Huck who has no idea what he is talking about tries to explain the topic, and usually Jim pretends to understand everything. Huck has been taught from birth that blacks are not human. He has grown up in a world where slavery was not only accepted, but a large part of the economy. One of the main struggles throughout the course of this novel will be his trying to overcome his racism. We see in different points that he does not quite understand why Jim feels the way he does because he doesn’t think blacks have the same feelings as whites. One example of this is an excerpt from Huck’s narration right before the previous conversation, “I do believe he cared just as much for his people as white folks does for ther’n…He was a mighty good nigger, Jim was.”