The Theme Of Racism In In The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain
In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain helps Huck and Jim grow closer, and Huck no longer sees Jim as a slave, but as a human being. The main topic being discussed is racism, and Twain points out that there is hope for the future despite the lack of progress that has been made. In the end, at the time of the novel's announcement in 1885, Twain copied the state of the nation, showing in the end that while he is humble about the progress made towards racial equality, he remains hopeful about future growth.
Twain makes Jim and Huckleberry's entire journey a belief and value that a person has in society, as well as moral extremes. Twain's comment on the ignorance of the southern people and other protestors who criticise the government but don't really want to change anything is about Pap's rant where he refuses to take part in their country's government for letting a person of color vote. Misled political and ideological belief is equally hurtful as illustrated by the Grangerford- Shepherdson feud in which nobody knows “what the row was about in the first place”. With this example, Twain attacks the unconcerned Americans who don't care about the country, as well as the Mexican and Civil Wars nationalists. He also criticized those who claim that the country can be changed into an almost ideal state based on Christian morality by what the new judge seeks to do with Pap when he 'said he'd make a man out of Pap', but Pap responds by “trading his new coat for a jug of forty-rod” and getting “drunk as a fiddler”. These and other incidents in the novel at the time show the nation's social corruption and how many attempts will fail or even encourage the corruption to continue. Generally, Twain goes against any general strong belief in the country and refers to these views as the starting point for many of the troubles in society.
The main theme that Twain explores is racism which is done by explaining how Huck views the rights and wrongs of Jim's enslavement. When Huck approaches Cairo, he contemplates the involvement of Jim and his freedom and “feels so low down and miserable he wishes he was dead”. Later, when the Phelps family captures Jim and Huck decides to free him, Huck thinks of Jim as a friend and “couldn’t seem to strike no places to harden himself against Jim”. The progression may not meet Huck’s choice to help Jim escape, as shown by his belief, “He’ll go to hell” for freeing Jim from the Phelps family.Throughout the novel Huck lies, he takes part in schemes, steals, and yet almost all of his problems are about slavery. As Huck wonders what to do with Mary Jane when the King and Duke threaten to steal the inheritance, slavery becomes involved when Mary Jane tells Huck her fears about the slaves sold for the reason that “she didn’t know how she could ever be happy... knowing the mother and children warn’t ever going to see each other no more”. As Huck shows an interest in the issue of slavery as he cares less about any other social situation, it shows the novel's importance of slavery. Twain doesn’t have Huck consider common issues such as the justice of the national practice of slavery, Instead of trying to save Jim from the Phelps, Huck thinks of Jim as someone standing before him “sometimes in moonlight, sometimes in storms...talking, and singing, and laughing”, Twain shifts the focus from the common slavery issue to racism.
For all the characteristic doubts of Mark Twain, he ends The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn on a note which offers a hope for saving the future through the change in events of Huck Finn. By having Pap die and let Huck keep his six thousand dollars, Twain reveals that the protestors are dying off, leaving society in the hands of a younger generation that is familiar with a free, equal black race. Huck decides at the very end of the novel, “light out for the Territory ahead of the rest”. Having Huck do this, Twain shows that the nation can continue to progress and, in the years to come, offer the nation the chance to move forward and find opportunities to move above its acceptance of slavery. Twain, like many other Americans, saw hope in the future and in society for new beginnings. While not unusually flattering the nation in what has been done, Mark Twain shows confidence by stating that the opportunity for progress remains and the time may come when it is possible to recognize racial equality.
In conclusion, Mark Twain makes Huck realise that Jim is his friend. Twain makes Jim and Huckleberry's entire journey a belief and value that a person has throughout society, as well as moral extremes. Twain discusses racism, which is emphasized by showing how Huck considers the rights and wrongs of Jim’s enslavement. At the end, he still reveals that he has hope for the future.
