The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Coralie Casimir
A.P English
Mr. George
August 24, 2009
Essay

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
In today’s society there are many circumstances that may restrain an individual from gaining a certain prestige or obtain certain positions, but nonetheless race is no longer be one of those primary reasons. If someone works hard enough to achieve their goals it is only fair that they feel all the satiations, it was not always like this. Up until recently, people of different race did not have the same opportunities. In his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry, Finn Mark Twain was able to criticize the racist culture that was at play in the South, prior to the Civil War. Through the eyes of his young protagonist Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain takes his reader on a journey down the Mississippi river. Huckleberry was accompanied by a runaway slave name Jim. Coming from a racist society, Huck thought that Jim was being an ungrateful for running away and believed that Jim was also stupid like every other slave. In Huck’s mind nothing that was good could really be associated with blacks. It was the way he was brought up and to think this way. To an extent, it was fair to say Huck was a product of his environment. Through his characters Mark Twain was able to critique different aspects of society during the antebellum though he characters; slavery was one of the prominent themes but hypocrisy, falsehood and deliberate killing of human beings also played a role in the story.
In the novel, Huckleberry Finn was a young boy who lived his whole life in state where racism and slavery was accepted. He was the poster boy image of racism during the antebellum. To him, being black came with its detriment in many ways. Blacks were not supposed to be free, intelligent, or ungrateful for being enslaved. Like everyone in the world, Huck Finn was not born a racist but was taught racism by his father and everyone around him. They inherited their racist view from the people who came before them. Nonetheless, when Huck went on a trip with Jim, runaway slave who belonged to Miss Watson. He was quite taken back by him because Jim did not fit the stereotypes of black slaves. Huck did not really know how to react to that: “I never see such nigger” (Twain 90). Huckleberry Finn felt like black slaves were not human, intelligent, and did not have wisdom existed in them. As result, he treated them as if he was superior.
For many people nothing good could be associated with blacks. When Tom was hurt, Jim offered to call for him a doctor. Huck felt like, “he white inside, and I reckoned he’d say what he did say” (290). This way Huck’s way to justify the humanity he found him Jim and also there friendship. Huckleberry was taught that only white had those characteristics. There he was completely disregarding the fact that they were not any difference between him and Jim except for the color of their skin. Huckleberry Finn did not understand that Jim did not to be white to feel compassion for another individual, or want freedom for him and his family. This was why he was a critique for people in the south. The white people felt so superior to the slave by neglecting their feelings and they were human being as well. The lack of sympathy for other human beings was one of the many immoralities that went on during this time period.
On his journey down the Mississippi River Huck encountered a wide variety of people and each other those character depicted a stigma in that society. First Huck met the Grangerfords family who are feuding with Shepherdsons family. These two families have been fighting for generations and no one knows for what reason. Many people have lost their lives and no one wants to talk about the feud or stop the fighting because of pride and trying to uphold a family name. When the Grangerfords’ daughter runs away with the one of the Shephersons’ son. As a result, it caused chaos. Buck who was the Grangerfords’ son and Huck’s friend lost his life trying to find his sister and trying to kill her mate: “I crept along down the river bank a piece, and found the two bodies… I cried a little when I was covering Buck’s face” (127). The feud seemed to be pointless the only thing the families really cared about was if their sons and daughters would stay loyal to them and be proud to be part of the family. They really would not have made such a big deal if their daughter or son run off with some others stranger. This two family shows ignorance and stereotypical family because of their feud. They are ignorant because they have been fighting among each other and do not know the reason why. They are stereotypical because they stereotype the other family and judge the other family. The same ignorance and stereotype is the same way slavery operates.
Next, Huck met King and Duke who were two con artists. They seemed to care and there only concern, that was making money. They were going to make money but any means necessary. They joined Jim and Huck on their journey down the Mississippi river and Huck and Jim could do anything about because Huck was just a child and Jim was a runaway slave. They went from town to town while conning people of their money. They went as far as posing as two English men so they could trick a family who just lost their father into giving them the daughter’s heritance money. Huck who felt bad for the girls he stool the money and hide it. He would later tell them where he had put the money so the daughters could have it. King and Duke went as far as to turning Jim in, so they could get the two hundred dollars for his return. This shows how much they do not care about anything else but money. They even two timed Huck and Jim who helped them out for money
In his search for Jim, Huck ends up at the Phelps family who were Tom Sawyer's aunt and uncle. Phelps was also nothing but hypocrites: “Jim told him [Tom] Uncle Silas come every day or two to pray with him, and aunt Sally come in to see if he was comfortable and had plenty to eat” (262). They were slave owners and they were planning on sending him back into the slavery. They pretended they cared and wanted to do something good for Jim. They did that so they can sell him and catch him off guard. They could not try to get to know Jim like Huck did. Huck tried and did everything to stop this from happening. During his trip, he learned a lot and changed. He even made a great friendship and a bond with Jim. Unlike Huck, the Phelps could not see and overcome the skin color difference and still looked as Jim as a slave.
The characters in this novel represent the typical southern before the Civil War. Huckleberry Finn was a typical white boy who grew up in a bigot family that accepted and mistreat slaves. He was raised and taught out of ignorance and hatred. He went on adventure with slave name Jim. Throughout his adventure, he starts to change his view for Jim and slaves. In the beginning, he treated Jim as he was more superior to him. Later on, he realizes that he was a typical human being that had feelings. Then, their friendship and their bond grew when they overcame obstacles and meet different interesting people. Mark Twain was also able to show the many aspects of society through his characters. Huck he was able to show the racist side of society, through King and Duke he portray greed, and the Phelps hypocrisy. Mark Twain shows society’s faults in the hopes that they will have a change of heart.