Huckleberry Finn's Adventures on the Mississippi River - Essay Sample

Introduction

According to the analysis done by Baffai (2016, p34) Adventure of Huckleberry Finn is a novel of a young male character escaping his home and finds himself in the Mississippi River. On his endeavours, he comes across Jim, who is also a slave running for his life from slavery. The two becomes friends and embark together in the journey of adventure as described by Mark Twan in the text. These two characters go through a series of ups and downs as they were learning the extremism of the society they were coming across. His maturity grows when his closeness with Jim advances. He, Huck, seemingly meant and looks down upon Jim. Huck treats Jim like dirt because he is a slave.

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The end game of this story ends with Huck changing his viewpoint over Jim and accord him as his sincere friend. As they are still adventuring, they coincidentally meet the king and the duke who sends the on different root. Huck starts to face reality, and the view of right and good become meaningful to him. He is forced to choose between his healthy hypocrite life and all that Jim had taught him. Jim had created a picture of a true citizen who will always struggle to go against the racism way. Huck, therefore, finds himself in a severe dilemma. He finds himself in between the hypocritical religious world or the right to do what is useful to society. This is a sum-up of what the story entails.

The writer of this article is named Samuel Clemens but mostly known as Mark Twain. He got considered as a sharp and critical writer who used to criticize the ill happenings in society. He realized that his community was governed by people of falls pretence, always looking higher than the society themselves. The adventure of Huckleberry Finn got written in the early 1880s, during which the American nation was undergoing two distinctive norms and believed; that is the typical or non-official and the official. During this period, slavery was the case even though it had started reducing (Franklin, 2007 p, 1).

The non-official system presented inequity and restricted freedom while the conventional system advocated for free and equitable rights among the American. This created a division among the societal members where the less civilized were named salvages, and the privileged got termed as educated individuals. This system of life within society was the key reason why Twan wrote this novel. His main aim was to oppose and distance himself from such egotism and hypocritical life. Hypocrisy is one of the major thematic concerns the Twan was trying to address in this novel.

Discursively, there are two significant forms of hypocrisy in this text; racial or/and religious hypocrisy. These two themes are interrelated since agents and supporters of slave systems were churches and other religious leaders. Moreover, hypocrisy related to social status is also a subject even though it is not realized more openly open in the text. It gets achieved via the actions of Jim and his counterpart Huck who avails the in-depth of this kind of hypocrisy. Huck sense of belief of the world's points of view starts to change when he realizes that his believes are far different from what other people might believe in. In his point of view, a lot of issues are happening, and the society has taken such for a ride. An example of such scenarios is when a person of high calibre is discriminating the non-citizens of America and non-whites such as Black Americans. Miss Watson is a representative of this person of high quality who was known to believe that racial and societal hypocrisy are factors to emphasize on (Menaka and Shankar, 2018, p2).

Racism has been formed in this text by the texture of the characters created by Mark Twan. The characterization of any book must depict what the writer intends to deliver to his/her audiences. Many were against the novel relating it with the racial propagation of the whites against the Blacks in America. In his way, he brought up his characters to depict the life of the Blacks natives in America. Their ascent and language separated them quickly from other Americans just Twan developed in his characterization Baffai (2016, p36).

Jim is depicted as a good character that loves his people, serves dearly and portrays figurative ideas that alter the life Huck, his friend in the adventure. Nonetheless, Miss Watson sees this character as an individual with an ambiguous mind, non-educated, as well as less civilized who cannot deliver anything constructive. Miss Watson even relates him to Huck, who grew under the umbrella of prejudice and hatred against the blacks. Twan brings up this character, from the first chapters, as one with a lot of superstitions and believes that are not related to the whites. Generally, he was trying to develop a character that would represent a stereotypical and slavery world of the early 80s (Jocelyn, 2000. P16)

As Mariana (2014, p22) puts it, the sense of playing minstrel instrument was a signed of immature behaviour among the 'Negros' black Americans. Huck had realized that this kind of show was so popular among these blacks as opposed to other areas within America. As Joanna Wilks pledges to know how the life of the slave or the servants is doing, Huck responds by telling him that they are never entitled to any free time or a holiday the whole year. There were never shows, theatres, or any free place that the blacks were allowed to attend. Huck felt that the blacks were very happy doing and dully living their life, not as the whites could consider. To the whites, such shows got preserved as essential events that generated positive vibes to society. On the other side, the blacks were very much okay with their slavery life and could not bother looking at whatever cultural activities the whites would employ. As a result, the whites considered this stupid and illiterate that the blacks could not resist being slaves.

Another character who portrays racism is Pap. Under several circumstances, especially when he is drunk, Pap would illustrate the positivity of the ruling government on how they treat the slaves. He would speak ill of the blacks who were living on his land. Unluckily for him, the black could speak several languages alongside participating in the American elections, not their soil. It's like the government had failed him on one thing, the right to vote. He swore never to vote again with the blacks (Twan 29). This indicates Pap's racism character against the blacks being on the ballot box while it should be mindful to consider an educated black to rule equally as the whites (Ismail, 2017 p34).

Aunt Sally also depicts this theme of racism in this text. When she requested to know whether Huck got hurt after killing a black, she responds by saying that sometimes people do get (The caption is available on Twan page 223). This shows that even if a black man succumbed to death, there should never be a remorseful mood. She treats them as non-human or people who can never have any life worth living.

Towns' men are the sole proprietors of the black who get treated as slaves. These people treat their black subjects as foolish individuals with witchcraft minds. Tom and Huck take Jim as a witched man with no room for being elite in his life. People would come from all over the region to get entertained by Jim's stories. This even pictured him as a bewitched man who could use his charms to lure people into his home for such stories. 'Niggers would come from remote areas and all corners of the state to see and hear his stories. He seemed famous in the region than no other man' (Twan, page 6).

The race was also a subject to other characters who felt like the slaves were never human and just goods that can get purchased as other products from any retail shops. Blacks were never allowed to go against their owners. Any attempt to flee from their owners would lead to severe punishment. In case one leaf, the owner would pay a section of individuals to service their return. Twan page 45 shows Miss Watsons plan to resell her slavery worker, Jim, to Orleans. Jim flees upon getting this news. Miss Watson had planned to sell him and secure some dollars son that would enable her to purchase a new product, slave.

Another instance where racism has gotten realized is the journey of Huck and Jim. Huck reveals his character as a racist upon his numerous questions about slavery life. Often questions his consciences over his relationship with a slave, Jim, who had escaped from his owner. When Jim explains to Huck his reasons for escape and future ideologies for his keens, Huck takes his ideas as pity ones. All the same, Jim plans to look for more funds to help save his family. He plans to buy his wife and offspring from his master. In case such masters deny the offer, he would robe them just like products. Huck becomes apprehensive about his decision to travel with Jim once he hears this." Give a nigger an inch, and he'll take an ell." Thinks I, this is what comes of my not thinking. Here was this nigger, which I had as good as helped to run away, coming right out flat-footed and saying he would steal his children-children that belonged to a man I didn't even know; a man that hadn't ever done me no harm'' (Twan 101).

When the King and the Duke had lost their money, their immediate suspects are the slaves who used to clean their yards. Like Pap, they presume that any misconduct that may arise amongst them will be as a result of the blacks. Moreover, blacks are associated with harmful activities such as stealing and robbery. The Duke and King knowingly change the location of the stolen money, the money they took so that Huck could either find it under the slave's docket or fails to get it to their advantage. They treat the slaves as thieves (Twan page 299).

Huck finds it challenging to believe Jim's intellectual mind as other slaves from the south are presumed illiterate and lacks intelligence. His background has taught him to look down upon the blacks, but it's different from Jim, a representative of the blacks. "...Well, he was right; he was almost always right; he had an uncommon level head for a nigger" (Twain 81). According to the southern believes blacks have no trace of intelligence as the whites. The slaves can never reason above their slavery skills. But Jim proves him different and forces him to change his perceptions over the blacks.

Conclusion

To conclude, Twan had planned to bring up the picture of racism within the states of America as wells other parts of the nation. Slavery and racism and any other subjects that hinder the freedom of anyone, be it white or black man, should be smashed away without any second thought. Let people go with the advancements and changes of the current universe. Let us not behave like Pap who could not elect a black man because of his color. The intelligence and intellectuality of an individual are not measured based on his/her color.

Work Cited

Adela J. "The Problem of Slavery and Race in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". Jihocesk Univerzita V Ceskych Budejovicich Filozoficka Fakulta Ustav Anglistiky. 2014

Alice C. "Racism and Huckleberry Finn" censorship, dialogue and change. English journal VOL 82. 2000

Baffi A. "Racism in Mark Twain's Novel; The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Thematic Analysis" 2016

Carey-Webb, Allen. "Racism and 'Huckleberry Finn': Censorship, Dialogue, and Change." The English Journal, vol. 82, no. 7, 2001, pp. 22-34. www.jstor.org/stable/829788.

Fredrik K. "Racial and Religious Hypocrisy in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Kristianstad University. ENL60. 2007

Ismail H. "Slavery in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Academic Year 2016-2017

LitCharts, "Slavery and Racism" web accessed June 17, 2017 http://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-adventures-of-huckleberryfinn/themes/slavery-and-racism

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