Racial Stereotypes In Huckleberry Finn Essay

The reinforcement of racial stereotypes in literature and films can be a difficult topic for many individuals. There have been a great deal of works throughout the history of our country that have encouraged and promoted racial stereotypes among the African American race, such as the sambo; the buck; the mammy and the magical negro. All of these racial stereotypes have desensitized the American culture and created the view that racism in literature and films is acceptable. In the movies and novel The Help, The Whipping Man, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the rude and offensive ways in which African Americans were seen and treated, only worked to promote the horrible, racial stereotypes that many people are still trying to challenge to this day. The Help, is a film based on the lives of a young woman named Skeeter and two African American women named Aibileen Clark and Minny Jackson. Skeeter, who dreamed of becoming a writer took actions into her own hands

From the racial slurs and the speech of the African Americans, to the cartoon like depictions of blacks, this classic novel was full of examples of racial stereotyping. However, the most obvious stereotypes shown in the novel, were the ones placed on Jim. During the time the novel was written, African Americans were regarded as a completely separate species from whites. Frequently, they were seen as undeveloped and simpleminded because of their superstitious and childlike beliefs. Jim who was seen as a very happy, smiley, irresponsible and carefree man in the novel, acquired the sambo stereotype. This stereotype refers to African American men that are very cheerful, naive and foolish. There were many instances in the novel that reinforced this stereotype. For example, the time when Huck and Tom Sawyer played a prank on Jim by hanging his hat from a tree while he was