Racism in The Mark Twain's Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn Essay Sample

As a child who grew up around the 1840s, Mark Twain, author of many controversial books including The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, “had no aversion to slavery” and was “not aware that there was anything wrong about it” according to Stanford Magazine. This is to be expected of a child receiving biased education and living in a segregated community. Yet as he grew older, Twain realized and analyzed racism’s history as well as the negative influences of prejudices, and amazingly, he was able to fight against the almost unavoidable social norm of internalized prejudices, and interchange the sense of social superiority for objective facts and equal criticisms in his books. He may, however, have been more open-minded simply because he, a closeted queer minority who would have been ostracized had he fully expressed himself, questioned his perceptions of prejudice as many victims of exclusions do. Twain’s stature as a hidden victim of prejudice does not exempt him from the accountability of the use of discriminatory language, but as it allowed him to ridicule indiscriminately and thoughtfully in his works as a way of promoting equality, Twain was not racist.

Throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain ridicules almost all of his characters. His works are meant to be funny and controversial, criticizing indiscriminately and lightheartedly. Twain even prefaces the book by breaking the fourth wall at the back of the front book cover to humorously tell his readers that “Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.” Conversely, he does in fact build strong themes and employs rhetoric to criticize the hypocriticality and immorality of prejudiced characters. He passionately criticizes characters ranging from violent conformists like the Grangerfords to criminals who act out of greed and corruption like the King and the Duke, and white supremacists and racists like Pap. Twain’s use of irony is prominent when Pap, a white man who is socially expected to be supposedly civilized and intelligent, drunkenly rants about how a well-dressed and educated black man “could vote… [and] couldn’t be sold till he’d been in the State six months (20-21)” when Pap himself is an illiterate and abusive alcoholic. In Pap’s rant, Twain uses many terms that are not respectful and no longer normalized in today’s society, but purposefully emphasized the harmful effects of racism brought on by those in Southern white society. Twain hoped to appeal to people’s fundamental beliefs in attacking targets like humanity, religion, and slavery. In this example, Twain’s use of satire attacks the idea that black people do not deserve the same right their white counterparts do, and in extension, the satirical irony of Pap’s ignorance asking why that black man could not be “put up in an auction and sold” is that Pap himself represents the lowest class in society which he so scorns.

Although we see that Twain insults characters of all races and walks of life, his prominent use of stereotyping and disrespectful language is equally hurtful regardless of underlying genuine motive. Not long after the publication of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” many Americans even pushed to ban the book, as at first glance it may be misunderstood as “racist, coarse, mindless, [and] irreligious, ...” as they described it. At a closer look, however, it is clear that Mark Twain himself has no intrinsically racist notions; rather, he aided the abolitionist cause by exposing the hypocrisy of the culture in which he grew up. Twain intentionally describes Jim as having more common sense than Huck and his best friend, Tom Sawyer, as well as being more talented. He is depicted as a kind and respectable role model for Huck, always choosing the best course of action for the two of them to take. When they first arrive at Jackson's Island, for example, Jim notices the uneasy behavior of birds and correctly predicts that it will rain. As the storm strikes the island, Jim is established as an authority figure, and Twain allows readers to appreciate his wisdom and intelligence. Jim’s insight is also obvious when he recognizes the Duke and King as liars. He does not risk stopping the con artists from taking over the raft, but he tells Huck that "I doan' hanker for no mo' un um, Huck. Dese is all I kin stan' (117)". As we see Twain build Jim’s well-rounded character to be one combating harmful racial stereotypes, he clearly understood and studied the issue in-depth, creating his own opinions and reflecting on what societal norms that needed change, and therefore doing much more to advocate against racism and prejudices than for that cause.

The question of why Twain was able to overcome the norms of the uninclusive society he grew up in is also one to consider in the analysis of his attitude toward not only racism, but prejudices overall. According to Stanford Magazine, by 1876, “Twain was becoming increasingly embarrassed by his failure to question the racist status quo of the world in which he had grown up.” One may wonder what prompted his want to research and open his mind to anti-discrimination? One aspect of Twain’s moral journey may have been sparked by the fact that he himself was a minority, but a hidden one. Many sources, through interviews and collected letters, have established that Twain, “beyond a scintilla of a doubt, [was] bisexual”. In questioning one’s own identity and conquering fears of our own impulses, prejudice sentiments are often more easily abandoned. Novelist Richard Armory perfectly sums it up with the observation that “Homosexuals and other pariahs are gifted with a double vision — we see what society tells us to see and also what we know is there…”. The derogatory dialogue Twain expresses through his characters is the side society sees, and also what critics labeling his books as racist and mindless only saw, but his passionate criticism of said prejudiced dialogue and the development of his characters opposing the societal norms is the side he saw and knew he had to advocate for.

Racism is a serious topic that is extensively discussed in “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. Throughout his books, Twain makes clear his feelings of disgust towards slavery through ridiculing characters deliberately and satirically to attack prejudice ideologies prevalent in Southern white society. Being objective and an abolitionist himself because of personal experiences and prospective prejudices against him, Twain uses the disdainful dialogue and language he does simply because of necessary appeal as an author which comes from the humorous and indiscriminate criticism of his varying characters. Ultimately, in emphasizing the unpleasantness of his prejudiced characters, Twain tactfully ridicules white society’s shortcomings in a way that advocates against discrimination and intolerance.