Is Huck Finn A Racist Novel

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel written by Mark Twain. The novel was published in 1885 and depicts the Southern Antebellum society. The book sheds light on the issues of slavery and racism that were rampant during the era. The book shows the life of Huck Finn, a boy who does not want to conform to the norms of the so called civilized society. His struggle is shared with a runaway slave named Jim who accompanies Huck on a journey down the Mississippi were they forge an unlikely friendship. Throughout the book one can see Huck mature into a young man who embraces people of color as equals. Although the book accurately depicts the racism of the era, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is not a racist novel because it uses satire to demonstrate the nonsensicality of racism.

One can not accuse a book of being racist because it uses racial slurs or depicts racism. One must first understand the culture of society at the time that it was written. The word “nigger” was a very common word to call a Negro slave, but of course today, it is very offensive. If Twain wanted to write a historically accurate book the inclusion of the word is absolutely necessary. Huck is from a town in Missouri where slavery was an acceptable part of life. Mary Jane actually liked the blacks and was very sad when they were sold to another family. She says “and it was the niggers insert more quote” (p. 181) This shows that the word is not necessarily always negative. During that time blacks were not treated with the same respect as white people and Mark Twain needed to portray this. In order to make the book authentic, Mark Twain told it as it was, while probably not pushing his own ideas through anyone except maybe Huck. Some characters were actuall...

... middle of paper ...

...get an order to box these duds up and put 'em away; and do you reckon a nigger can run across money and not borrow some of it?" (26.97)

Some people may say that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a racist novel because blacks are depicted as being stupid and frequently called racial slurs. Huck tries to explain to Jim that there are other languages but he does not understand. ”Well, it's a blame ridicklous way, en I doan' want to hear no mo' 'bout it. Dey ain' no sense in it.” However this is not racist as a lot people were uneducated back then and especially black people. Twain is just being authentic.

This novel demonstrates the racial injustices of the time. Twain accurately describes how blacks were treated, but the itself is not racist or condones racism. Jim is never portrayed in a negative light and is often suggested to be equal with the white man.