What Are The Similarities Between Huckleberry Finn And Black Boy

One similarity The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Black Boy had in common was they both prominently displayed the reality of life and society. In Huckleberry Finn, Twain based the book of his experiences from the South and he also use the writing style realism to depict life accurately. An example of Twain realism is when the Duke said, “...first you know the nigger that does up the rooms will 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?" (Twain 160). The Duke basically compared and see all black people as thieves making the conclusion that they can’t be trusted. Twain grew up in a slave state, in the late 1800’s blacks were blamed for the white’s personal

problem and was mostly accused of stealing the whites belongings. Twain use his writing to actually portray how Southern acted to African American. In addition, another example that display reality in Huckleberry Finn was in the dialects. Such as in a conversation of an educated boy named Huck and a slave named Jim,“‘No, but I ben rich wunst, and gwyne to be rich agin. Wunst I had foteen dollars, but I tuck to specalat'n', en got busted out.’‘What did you speculate in, Jim?’” (Twain 41).Twain illustrated realistic qualities in characters such as Jim and Finn. Being a slave, Jim is less educated and speak using shortened words and improper grammar. While Finn who went to grad school speaks properly. Twain use of the dialects that fits the characters, time period, and location in the time frame of the late 1800’s. On the other hand, Black Boy exhibits the reality of life because it was an autobiography of Richard Wright. “‘Why don’t you laugh and talk like the other niggers?’ he asked. ‘Well, sir, there’s nothing much to say or smile about.’ I said…. ‘I don’t like your looks, nigger. Now, get!” (Wright 182). The quote portrays a part of the Richard’s life and also portrays how African Americans were treated in the early 1900’s. Most African were treated horribly and whites were suspicious of blacks, if they didn’t act a certain way that meet the their standards. Richard uses his memories to help the audience understand a life of an African American. Moreover The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Black Boy, both illustrated how society actually is, but in different ways.
Another similarity is both The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Black Boy exhibits discrimination.

Throughout, Richard’s life he was faced with discrimination an example of his hardship with discrimination was, “‘Nigger, ain’t you learned no better sense’n that yet?’ asked the man who hit me. ‘Ain’t you learned to say sir to a white man yet’” (Wright 181). Wright forgets to say sir to the White and he gets beat up for it. This presents discrimination because the Whites thinks they're superior to African American. In the South, it was required for the African American to say sir or else they will be met by brute force. Another example of discrimination that Richard faced in Black Boy was “‘That nigger’s lying!’ Reynolds said ‘I’ll kill’im if he lies on me!’ Mr. Crane said. ‘Tell me what happened.’ What could I accomplish by telling him? I was black” (Wright 193). Richard’s co-workers wanted Richard to get fired because of his race. This reveals discrimination because some Southerners did not want to work with African American and they would threaten the African American to leave. Although Huckleberry Finn was a fiction story, it also showed numerous example of racism. An example is when Huck talks to Aunt Sally “‘We blowed out a cylinder-head.’ ’Good gracious! anybody hurt?’ ‘No’m. Killed a nigger.’ ‘Well, it’s lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt’” (Twain 197). Aunt Sally does not view blacks as humans and an equal. It also reveals she disregard the lives of black

people. Through discrimination blacks in the late 1800’s were treated as objects and less humane. To conclude, discrimination was seen throughout both books.
In spite of both books’ similarity there was difference such as writing styles.

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain uses humor, satire, and unique dialects; while in Black Boy, was writing in first person to portray how a Southern black life is shaped by many hardships. An example of Twain’s humor is, “We was all glad as we could be, but Tom was the gladdest of all, because he had a bullet in the calf of his leg" (Twain 243). It is humorous because Tom should actually be sad, not glad. Being injured with a bullet one of the worst event that can happen, but it is ironic that Tom is the gladdest person. Additionally another unique writing style of Twain was his used of dialogue. Dialogues such as Huck’s, “that ain’t no matter”(Twain 1) and “it warn’t no time to be sentimentering” (Twain 118). Twain purposely spells words wrong to emphasis on Huck's accent. Twain also portrays that Huck mispronounces words and contractions which was common in the South. With the use of dialogue, Twain was able to preserve and accurately represent the southern dialect. In contrast Black Boy was detail first person, “ One winter morning in the long-ago, four-year-old days of my life I found myself standing before a fireplace” (Richard 3). In the book, Richard writes descriptively of his life from the age of four to twenties. He is very detail of explaining parts and sections of his life. Despite the similarities, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Black Boy had their own genuine

writing styles.
In conclusion The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Black Boy, both had similarities such as presenting the reality of life and discrimination; while one of their difference was the styles that was use to write the books. In their own way, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn displayed life in the South at the late 1800’s while in Black Boy displayed life in the South in the early 1900’s. Both books portrayed discrimination of a African American living in the South. Nevertheless, both were written in different style such as Twain wrote from the perspective of the main character Huckleberry Finn and Richard wrote it in first person from his experiences. Overall The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Black Boy share some similarity and differences.