Racism in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

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Twain has always been a famous high school-reading book. Now this best seller seems to be into a deep racial issue. There is an actual wide spread rumor confirming that this book is racist. But is it really what people say, or is it just a misunderstanding? It definitely is a misunderstanding, and the reason for me to think that this book should not be taught at school. Before we analyze this issue we need to understand several things. First of all, we need to take the viewpoint of it being a satire. Second, we need to consider the environment Twain grew in, and third, the understanding of Jim as a character.

The main reason to consider this book as not racist is that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a satire. It is imperative that students in high school understand the satire used by Mark Twain. A misunderstood satire can be easily interpreted as racism, especially in a book where the author makes fun of slavery and bad treatment to African Americans in the late 1800’s. One reason not to understand satire, is because people don’t read between lines and don’t care about the ...

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