Racism in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Essay Example

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain is a novel that has a lot of criticism gained over the years because of the way it was written. It is centered around race and racism and people question whether Huckleberry Finn, an uneducated boy, is a racist kid. Huck starts off with a racist attitude- simply because Jim, an enslaved African American was black, but that changes throughout the novel. Huck meets Jim and helps Jim escape the system of slavery. But, Huck still uses racist derogatory terms towards Jim that indicate that he is racist. But, he helped Jim escape slavery which indicates otherwise.

Huck and Jim start their friendship off by meeting on Jackson’s Island. They then escape their home and make their way back to Jackson’s Island where the difference in their skin color begins to blur as they become best friends. They begin to bond and identify a raceless friendship where it is just two friends who are just like every other same-race friendship. They help each other throughout the novel and even make a plan for Huck to fake his own death by killing a pig. 

Both Huck and Jim are different than the average teenagers at the time. Jim is enslaved and his friend is trying to get him out of slavery. Huck is attempting to get his friend out of slavery, and his dad is drunken and abusive to him. His dad shows up in chapter 5 demanding money from Huck because he was adopted into a wealthy family. Huck has to fake his own death to escape the beatings from his Pap. He kills a pig and spread its blood all over the cabin. But Huck and Jim don’t seem to be bugged by the racial differences between them. Yet, Huck is still using racial slurs towards Jim. It could just be the time this was written in, Jim thought it was normal for a white boy to say words like the N-word. 

As we know, Huck is white and Jim is black. In this time, Jim is seen as less than Huck because of the skin he was born into. Jim and Huck seem to blur that stereotype and it doesn’t seem to matter to them. In chapter 9, we see Jim become a brother to Huck when Huck loses his father. Jim tries to protect Huck by saying “nemmine why, Huck—but he ain’t comin’ back no mo’” (page 

After Huck and Jim go on many adventures to try and free Jim, they find out that Tom Sawyer, a difficult boy with a crazy imagination, is not as innocent as he portrays. Tom reveals to them that he has known all along that Miss Watson, Jim’s enslaver, had died 2 months ago and freed Jim in her will. Huck is surprised, but he is happy for Jim. This shows that even though at this time, and before he knew Jim he was racist, people can change. 

Huck Finn and Jim started off as the traditional enslaved man and white privileged male back then. But then they blurred the stereotypes and realized that a person is a person. They can be friends if they want even with the racial difference, and they could even be family if they wanted.