Morality In Mark Twain's Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain’s masterpiece Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a story about an uncultured Southern boy, Huckleberry Finn, and a runaway slave, Jim, who travel down the Mississippi River in search for freedom. Protagonist Huck Finn, following his own conscience and establishing his own principles based on his interpretations of morality, narrates this story. Though Huck himself undergoes a moral transformation in this work, considerable debate rages as to whether he is an epitome of goodness or the exemplification of “racist trash.” While many literary critics praise Twain’s work to be thought provoking, reflective, and rightly critical of the institution of slavery, there are others who believe this novel to be offensive and disparaging of African

Americans. Critics further believe that Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in fact belittles African Americans to the point of immorality. The casual use of the word “Nigger” coupled with the derogation of black characters further promotes the theory that this novel is a flawed one. While this literary masterpiece can assuredly appear discriminatory or immoral if assessed with the same critiquing criteria of present day literary work, it is unreasonable to hold a nineteenth century composition to the same standard of moral principles we stand for today. Hence, the repetitive use of the word “Nigger” does not render this work to be a racial composition, as this vernacular utilized in Twain’s masterpiece, which serves to transport his readers to a time before the American Civil War. In fact, by portraying protagonist Huck Finn as the embodiment of goodness, who is able demonstrates loyalty and friendship towards Jim and by depicting Jim as a selfless and courageous man, Mark Twain is effectively able to prove that Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is not a racist or flawed literary work.

The relationship established between two individuals from the lowest rung of society, a poor uneducated boy escaping a drunk, abusive father, and a kind man who escapes slavery is central to Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Both individuals, yearning for freedom from the constraints of society, are able to accept each other as friends. Huck Finn embodies goodness when he defies conventional norms and accepts Jim as his good friend. Huck’s effort to protect Jim from slavery and slave-owners and his attitude towards Jim prove this. Critics of this novel, refusing to read between the lines, question the relationship established between Huck and Jim. One such critic, Jane Smiley, addresses this in her critique, “Say it Ain’t So, Huck: Second Thoughts on Mark Twain’s Masterpiece.” By portraying Jim as a “side kick” of Huck who does not take “James’s desire for freedom at all seriously,” Smiley rejects the so-called goodness of Huck. She further asserts that Huck makes no attempt to help Jim cross the Mississippi to Illinois, a free state. Had Huck been truly loyal to Jim, Smiley believes that he would have managed to guide his friend towards freedom. Believing that the simple recognition of Jim’s humanity is insufficient, Smiley is critical of the fact that neither Huck nor Jim was proactive in taking a stand against racism.

Smiley’s views of Jim being a subordinate and obedient sidekick with no voice is opposed strongly by Leo Marx, in his work “Mr. Eliot, Mr. Trilling, Troubling Book and Huckleberry Finn.” In this essay, Marx refutes Smiley’s assertions. While Huck may not have helped Jim escape to the North, Huck does not want his friend to be captured and does everything in his power to protect him. Marx states, “From the electrifying moment when Huck comes back to Jackson’s Island and rouses Jim with the news that a search party is on the way, we are meant to believe that Huck is enlisted in the cause of freedom. ‘git up and Hump yourself, Jim!” he cries. “There ain’t a minute to lose. They’re after us.’” “Us’ is the critical word, according to Marx, because it unites the two men against the strictures of society. Huck fully comprehends that their journey will be a failure unless it takes Jim to freedom. The critical moment when Huck decides to discard the note he penned to Jim’s owner, Miss Watson, regarding his whereabouts, demonstrates his loyalty to his friend and the depth of his selflessness. “All right, then, I’ll go to hell,” says Huck as he goes against the traditional mores of society and refuses to look at Jim as a subhuman commodity. It is his friendship with Jim and memories of his kind and gentle nature, which lead Huck to defy his conscience. “I see Jim before me all the time: in the day and in the night time, sometimes moonlight, sometimes storms and we floating along, talking and singing and laughing,” says Huck. It is this pivotal moment when Huck demonstrates that he is indeed an embodiment of goodness as he is able to rise above the injustices of society and show compassion for his friend.

Although Mark Twain’s negative stereotypical depiction of Jim as an unintelligent, simple-minded, superstitious slave originates from the tradition of the time, the author effectively provides his reader with a clear view regarding this man of humanity who exhibits great depth of selflessness and acts of courage.

While on one hand Jim is depicted as a superstitious and ignorant slave who believes “witches bewitched him and put him in a trance” when he can’t find his hat, there are other moments when the reader realizes that Jim is in actuality wiser than Huck. Critics of Twain’s work argue that Jim, the novel’s primary example of a slave, is often portrayed as childlike and naive. One such critic, Julius Lester, addresses this in his critique “Morality and Adventure of Huckleberry Finn.” By portraying Jim in an inferior manner, Lester finds the portrayal of Jim as subservient and gullible quite offensive. Lester believes Twain’s depicts, Jim the “black hero” as “only type of black that whites have ever truly liked—faithful, tending sick whites, not speaking, not causing trouble, and totally passive.” A black hero is an obedient slave. Lester further accuses Twain of writing a racist composition. By drawing similarities between the confinement of Huck by his drunkard father to enslavement, Lester believes Twain has diminished the horrors of slavery. Author Henry Nash Smith in his essay “A Sound heart and a deformed Conscience” rightfully refutes these arguments. Smith sees Jim as a man of silent dignity who shows loyalty to his friends and family, exemplifies humanity, and stands up for himself. When Huck plays a prank on Jim by convincing him that that the separation in the fog was a dream, Jim’s dignified rebuke shows the slave in his true light. Although it took a few minutes for Huck to “humble himself to a nigger,” Huck apologizes to Jim, which validates the respect that Jim so rightly deserves. Smith states “Huck’s humble apology is striking evidence of growth

in moral insight.” Huck’s embodiment of goodness is evident, as he is becoming conscious of the fact that Jim is a human being. In fact, Mark Twain never authors a negative portrayal of Jim; furthermore, he is never seen as a criminal or a drunkard. Twain does however cast an aspersion on Huck Finn’s alcoholic father and the con artists, Duke and Dauphin, who interestingly are white. By giving Jim a central voice in this novel and by demonstrating Jim’s capacity to feel deeply, Twain portrays a man of strong character who is kind, dignified, and loyal.

Despite the repetitive use of the word “Nigger” by Huck Finn when addressing blacks in this literary work, Mark Twain is able to effectively prove that Huck’s language is more a reflection of time than his feelings about Jim. In order for Twain to write a historically accurate book, the inclusion of this derogatory word is absolutely necessary. While debating the topic whether Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was Masterpiece or Racist Trash, Barbara Apstein, a retired professor of English, informs the readers of the generated controversy. When parents and public school officials objected to the classroom use of Twain’s work, “They specifically objected to the inflammatory word nigger which appears on almost every page… they argued that Jim embodies the stereotype of the darky. He is superstitious, and gullible and often appears more child like than Huck himself.” While Apstein does not share her own point of view regarding this matter, she is able to bring this matter in front of her class to see where they stand on this debate. Although her class, which consists of only one black student, concludes that the book is appropriate for mature high school students, the token black student articulately points out that, “She resented his being reduced to a clown” and expressed bewilderment when she hears the term “Nigger.” The word she believes conjures decades of African American humiliation and degradation.

Critic Julius Lester, a black author, shares this view. Although he opposes banning the book, he supported the removal of Twain’s novel because he could not “separate literature, no matter how well written, from morality.” While Twain’s use of the word “Nigger” has provoked some readers to renounce his work, supporters of the novel find it difficult to imagine how Twain could have written this book without using this word. In David L. Smith’s article “Huck, Jim, and American Racial Discourse,” Smith states, “The specific function of this term in this book… is neither to offend nor merely to provide linguistic authenticity. Much more importantly it establishes a context against which Jim’s specific virtue may emerge as explicit refutations of racist presumptions.” Smith further argues that the term “Nigger” is synonymous with slave. When Huck references Jim as “Miss Watson’s big nigger,” it is understood that he is an owned property, a slave to his master. By not including the word “Nigger” or sanitizing the language, readers may very well forget about the time when whites denied the humanity of black Americans. Reading the work in context with the time of when it was written allows readers to not only engage and learn from this novel, but also to transcend this shameful time in American history.

Praised by literary analysts, writers, and the public, Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn commands one of the most elevated positions in the canon of American literature. This novel is neither racist nor flawed. By portraying protagonist Huck Finn as an embodiment of goodness, Twain effectively uses this narrative to reveal Jim’s humanity, who emerges as an astute and wise individual, which supposedly “the negro” lacks. Even the repetitive use of the word “Nigger” is not offensive, as it lends to the linguistic authenticity of the novel and transcends readers into the era preceding the civil war. In fact, through his work and by portraying Jim and Huck in the manner that he does, Twain is fighting racial stereotypes. The critics who view Huck as one who has defied the conventional wisdom, which defines Negroes as subhuman merchandise and accepts Jim as his good friend, are not mistaken. They see Jim as the hero and Huck as a boy who gave up heaven for Jim’s freedom.