The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

If you order your essay from our custom writing service you will receive a perfectly written assignment on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. What we need from you is to provide us with your detailed paper instructions for our experienced writers to follow all of your specific writing requirements. Specify your order details, state the exact number of pages required and our custom writing professionals will deliver the best quality The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn paper right on time.

Out staff of freelance writers includes over 120 experts proficient in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, therefore you can rest assured that your assignment will be handled by only top rated specialists. Order your The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn paper at affordable prices !

Mark Twain, or Samuel Clemens, wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in 1885. This was post-Civil War reconstruction time, when all of the former slaves were being integrated into society and the South was being rebuilt. He set his story in the 180's or 1840's, in other words pre-Civil War. At this time slaves were still very much a part of America, and racism was not considered a problem, but a way of life. Huckleberry Finn is a racist character, but is coerced by society, and by his upbringing in that society. Although he was brought up racist, much of the book's conflict and interesting plot comes from his rejection of society and attempts to escape from it. Jim, Huck's companion, contributes to Huck's change in beliefs, through the many intelligent and compassionate things that Jim does. The ending of the book returns us full-circle to the beginning with Tom Sawyer running the show. The actions of Jim and Tom continue to help Huck come to the realization that he doesn't agree with society's attitude towards slaves. Throughout the story one may ask how did society affect Huck's principles in terms of racism?

Racism ran rampant in the early 1th century. The American Heritage Dictionary defines racism as the belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others. The people of the United States didn't think of racism as a thing to be concerned with. The harsh treatment of the slaves was considered extremely natural, as a man wrote in that period; "I will maintain the ground that God always intended the relation of master and slave to exist; that Christ and the early teachers of Christianity, found slavery differing in no material respect from American slavery, incorporated into every department of society (Johnson 14). Many people of the time thought that it was a God-given right to have slaves and therefore considered it their moral duty. Although the slave-owners thought nothing was wrong with their practice, other people did, and many references from the bible had to be used in defending their rights;

So a slave who ran away from slavery, or anyone who helped him or her escape, was breaking one of the Ten Commandments, 'Thou shalt not steal.' And there was a keen sense that the slaves owners' property rights were sacred God-given rights. It is not surprising, then, that many in the South, and in the North as well, presented religious arguments in support of slavery. (Johnson 10)

Pro-slavery supporters used the bible to support their cause many times, using many different quotes. Reverend W. G. Brownlow in a debate in 1858 used this to help illustrate his views on slavery

Order College Papers on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

'Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.' The only true interpretation of this portion of the word of God is, that the species of property herein mentioned, are lawful, and that all men are forbid to disturb others in the lawful enjoyment of their property. (Johnson 16)

This is another view of a man on the side of slavery. Again in this case, the bible is quoted because of the importance of religion in that time period. These speakers didn't have to defend their cause until after the abolitionist movement began in 181. It began with the publication of the Liberator written by William Lloyd Garrison. In the same year, the Underground Railroad started. These two things started the abolitionist movement at roughly the same time that Mark Twain set Huck's adventure in. The views given above are all completely normal for the time period in which Jim was escaping. Reading this book 170 years after the book takes place gives us an entirely different viewpoint than people had at the time of its publication. So to understand the racism of the book, it needs to be put in context.

Huckleberry Finn is a racist. As shown in the last paragraph, this was completely normal for the time period he lived in. Huck shows his racism freely, as do other characters in the book. One person that Huck was exposed to countless times, and who made many decisions for him was Tom Sawyer. Huck doesn't always look at the world the same way that Tom does, but because he admires him he tries to give a narrative similar to Tom's views. "The opening chapters comprise what can be labeled as Tom Sawyers world...as a result, the slave Jim is regarded primarily as an object to laugh at and play jokes on, and slavery is represented as a natural institution. From this point of view, Jim is gullible and superstitious--a comic strip character rather than a human being with feelings and ideas" (Johnson 107). Huck's best friend is Tom, and Huck takes his ideas very seriously. Many of the racist ideas that Tom has are absorbed by Huck because of his admiration for Tom. Huck says the word nigger repeatedly in the beginning of the book when referring to blacks or "the nigger Jim". "Huckleberry Finn uses the pejorative term 'nigger' profusely. It speaks of black Americans with implications that they are not human" (Hutchinson 1). He says the word nigger because that is society's name for the African-American at that time. The use of a word for an entire race can only be gleaned from the people around you, the society you live in. Huck's principles on racism are continually being formed, and when you think that he has learned something from his time spent with Jim, you learn that it is much harder to reject society's teachings than it seems. This is made apparent when he talks with Tom's aunt "'We blowed out a cylinder-head.' 'Good gracious! anybody hurt?' 'No'm. Killed a nigger.' 'Well, its lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt'" (Twain 167). Huck has at this point in the story traveled with Jim for a long period of time, and has again and again, when given the opportunity, not turned Jim in, but as Chadwick-Joshua states, "Huck's insensitivity to the humanity of blacks is as ironically racist as hers" (116). Huck rejects society by helping to free a black slave, which is shown above as robbery, and doesn't follow the moral code of the time. Then, when talking again to someone who is part of that society, without thinking he goes back to his extremely insensitive racist self. According to Goodin, Huck only says and treats the African-American culture accordingly with the society that he was raised in (). In other words, Huck's principles when dealing with racism are defined by society; he has no real control over it.

Huck tries to escape from society. He "kills" himself, so that he can run away and leave his father. In Howard's opinion; "The underlying reason, however, is that he isn't satisfied with the role that society confines him in." This is his understanding of why Huck runs away from his father. He leaves because of his father on the surface, but really he leaves to escape society. Some of his racism is garnered from his father, who is extremely racist "The intensity of Pap Finn's blatant hatred and horrific racist dialogue reveals the import of the professors intellectual acumen, not to mention his voting right" (Chadwick-Joshua 7). This piece talks about Huck's father's reaction to a free black man who was allowed to vote. He tells this story to Huck; "'It was 'lection day, and I was just about to go and vote, myself if I warn't too drunk to get there, but when they told me there was a State in this country where they'd let that nigger vote, I drawed out. I says I'll never vote agin'" (Twain 0). Huck listens to this and learns to hate slaves even more, adding to society's influence on his principals. When he leaves home, Huck helps Jim escape and they live on the river. They attempt to avoid people by only traveling at night, and sleeping during the day. All of these things are his effort to leave society behind, and he does this because as Goodin says, his conflicts are because of his non-conformist attitude towards society (). Later in his essay, Goodin also states that, "The entire plot of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is rooted on intolerance between different social groups. Without prejudice and intolerance The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn would not have any of the antagonism of intercourse, which makes the recital great" (4). Goodin makes a point that shows no matter how hard Huck tries to change his principles he can't, they are imbedded by society. He also shows that without them the story would falter. In the opinion of Goodin Huck goes along, forming a conscience that is keenly aware of society's prejudices (). In freeing Jim, Huck brings himself above society's beliefs, and "his innate sense of what is right and wrong holds him to a higher moral standard than those of society" (Goodin ). Although at certain times Huck is above the principles of society, he can never fully escape them. He falters over and over, nearly turning Jim in "I got a piece of paper and a pencil, all glad and excited, and set down and wrote...I took it up, and held it in my hand. I was a trembling, because I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself 'Alright, then, I'll go to hell'-and tore it up'" (Twain 161-16). This speech by Huck is in regards to a letter he wrote to Ms. Watson to tell her that he had her slave. He succumbs to society by doing this, and then manages to pull himself slightly above by tearing the letter up. Although he does this, he is still influenced greatly in his racist ideas, because he thinks by helping a slave he will be doomed to hell. Every time Huck comes close to improving his principles, he shows us yet again how society has influenced him, and that he can't escape from it.

Throughout Huck and Jim's adventure on the Mississippi River, Jim shows himself to be more than what stereotypical slaves are. When they are with the King and the Duke, Jim is tied up everyday when they leave the raft. He knows that if he asks for a better plan, then something new will be proposed. So, "He spoke to the duke, and he said he hoped it wouldn't take but a few hours, because it got mighty heavy and tiresome to him when he had to lay all day in the wigwam tied with the rope" (Twain 118). This small thing is a sign that he is human in Huck's eyes, and doesn't feel okay about being tied up just because a white man tells him to sit still. This act brings Huck's principles a little closer to those of today and not of his society's. Later in the book though, when Tom reenters the story, Huck tries to imitate him. Hutchinson describes her outrage about this

The humiliation that Huck and Tom subject Jim to is baroque, endless, foolish, mind softening--and it comes after we have experienced Jim as an adult, a caring father and a sensitive man. If Jim had been a white convict befriended by Huck, the ending could not have been imagined or written it would not have been possible for two children to play so painfully with the live of a white man (regardless of his class, education, or fugitiveness). (8-0)

The boys both show their lack of regard for a black man, and their racist views by doing things to make Jim's escape 'by the book'. Jim tries to refuse, but is virtually ignored "Tom, I doan' want no rats. Dey's de dad-blamedest creturs to sturb a body, en rustle roun' over 'im, en bite his feet, when he's tryin' to sleep...' 'But Jim, you got to have 'em--the all do. So don't make no more fuss about it. Prisoners ain't ever without rats'" (Twain 18). In this dialogue between Jim and Tom, Jim is told what to do by a 1-year-old boy. It is again another instance of racism, because as Hutchinson said a white man would never be treated that way. Huck also goes along with this plan of Tom's, again showing how society rules his principles about racism. Huck tries to flee from society, but as soon as it finds him again, or he finds it, he again becomes the same person from the beginning of the book who just laughed at "niggers."

At the end of the book Huck is relatively the same racist boy who believes society's teachings. At the same time he rejects them, but can never completely escape them. According to Johnson, "The ending merely shows the power of society and Tom Sawyer to dehumanize Jim, which actually motivates Huck to leave civilization altogether" (7). At the end of the book, Jim is used as a plaything for Tom Sawyer and Huck, when Huck realizes that's what has happened, he decides to leave and go to Indian Territory. Chadwick-Joshua feels that, "Twain consciously leaves the wound of racism open at the conclusion of this novel, not to diminish Jim, but to awaken Huck and the reader to the continuing injustice and contradictions" (6). At this point, Huck has taken himself back to his original principles, including his racist attitude. Chadwick-Joshua makes a valid point by saying that Twain purposely leaves racism open to return Huck to his newfound principles, which are to some extent non-racist. This is how society finally affects his principle involving racism.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain was written in a very racist period. The setting of the book 40 years earlier is in a slave keeping society, which is much more racist. The attitude of degrading blacks and disliking them is an integral part of society in the setting of the book. Huckleberry Finn is raised by a society that teaches him to hate his fellow man, and degrade him. Although this is taught, it isn't done as a bad thing or a way to hurt the slaves, it was just accepted as correct. Huck dislikes many aspects of society and he bases his principles on certain non-conforming ideas. Although he does this, he can't escape from the upbringing of complete racism, except for short periods of time. When alone on the river with Jim, Huck sometimes sees that Jim is a real person and not just a "nigger." As soon as other people from society come into contact with Huck he slips back into his role as a racist. Society teaches him to degrade the black race. He does try to leave this model cast by other people, but no matter how much Huck varies from his fellow Americans, he can always slip back into this model when coerced.

Works Cited

Chadwick-Joshua, Jocelyn. The Jim Dilemma Reading Race in Huckleberry Finn. Jackson, Mississippi University Press of Mississippi, 18.

Goodin, Brent. "Individual v Society." Planet Papers. 6 Feb. 00http//www.planetpapers.com/Assets/47.php.

Hutchinson, Stuart. Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Chichester, Sussex Columbia University Press, 18.

Johnson, Claudia Durst. Understanding Adventures of Huckleberry Finn A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Westport, Connecticut Greenwood Press, 16.

Howard, Adam. "Racial Issues in Huckleberry Finn." 10, Mar. 00. http//www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/706/homework/homework.html

Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York, New York Dover Publications 14.

Please note that this sample paper on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is for your review only. In order to eliminate any of the plagiarism issues, it is highly recommended that you do not use it for you own writing purposes. In case you experience difficulties with writing a well structured and accurately composed paper on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, we are here to assist you. Your persuasive essay on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn will be written from scratch, so you do not have to worry about its originality.

Order your authentic assignment and you will be amazed at how easy it is to complete a quality custom paper within the shortest time possible!