The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Reasons Huck Finn isn't racist

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is not a racist novel. This novel has been subject to much controversy about whether or not the book is racist. Whilst many believe the novel to be non racist, there a few people out there who believe it is. This is just not true. This essay will show you why this novel is not racist.

Huck Finn is the main character in this novel; he is an uneducated, uncivilized, backwoods hick. Huck uses the word 'nigger' many times throughout this story. What many people have not come to realize is that at this point in time the word nigger was no more offensive then calling another man 'white'. All slaves in that time were referred to as 'niggers'. At this point in time that word is very hurtful to the black community when used offensively. Huck using the word only reinforces the idea that he was in fact uneducated and it shows what kind a vocabulary to have expected from a young southern boy. In fact if that word wasn't used in the novel it wouldn't be as realistic as it is.

The costar of this novel is a runaway slave named Jim. Jim is a caring friend, a devoted husband, and a loving father. Many people believe that Jim is portrayed as silly and uneducated. Those people have failed to realize that this book is written through a child's point of view. Before Huck gets to know Jim for the man he really is this is how Huck perceives him. Although Jim is perceived as stupid it's because he is. Jim has probably lived his life as a slave and has a slaves' education. This book wasn't written to show how stupid the slaves were, although it somewhat did, but rather to express the situation of slaves being uneducated at the time.

The third reason why this is not a racist piece of literature is it shows that there in no racial boundrys in love and compassion for another human being. It shows the development of Huck and Jims' father and son type of relationship. This novel concretely shows that relationships of any sort are not bound by race. The novel also shows how one's ideals can change in spite of what you have been taught. Huck deciding that he would go to hell to help Jim escape to freedom is probably the most non racist part of the whole novel, and it is what the book is