Racial Controversy in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, many underlying themes, motifs, and symbols are embedded in the seemingly light-hearted and youthful adventure story. Perhaps the most stark is that of the statement that Mark Twain is attempting to make concerning racism and slavery during the time period.
As we know, the setting is in the deep south in the mid to late 19th century. In this rural part of the country along the Mississippi river, society is dominated by the white race and the old confederate ways of slavery and cruelty towards the African American race. Though it is unclear as to whether slavery has been abolished yet, the south is still considered dangerous territory for blacks and the north is the utopian freedom that they all seek.
Twain uses a single character, Jim, to represent the balck race in the story. Jim is fleeing from his owner, Miss Watson, up north to freedom to avoid being sold and permanently separated from his family. Huck, who is also fleeing oppression from his father meets with Jim as they both set off on their north-bound adventure.
Throughout the story, the social views on racism are cleary noticable in the realtionship between Huck and Jim. Though they appear to share an almost familial bond, Jim, though it does not occur to Huck, is at the mercy of Huck soley because of the fact that he is white and therefore has the power to turn him in at any time for a very significant reward. That is why Jim goes along with the ideas of Huck and later Tom Sawyer depite his better judgement.
Huck, as is apparent, is very confused about these "rules" of society. He ultimately treats Jim as an equal, and though at times he uses the degrading term, "nigger", he views Jim as a friend and not black man who is only there to be of his service. However, because of the manner in which Huck was brought up, his white roots and societal views are still hard to completely shake off. This is apparent when Huck begins to feel guilty for lying to white men along the Mississippi when they ask if he is hiding any runaway slaves. However, Huck stays true to his conscience and continued to help his friend.
Another example of the racial double-standard is when he gets to the home of the Sawyer's relatives. They incarcerate Jim in a barn out back because he is a runaway slave. However, they take Huck in with open arms because he is white. They both are in the same situation running away from oppression, and yet there is a souble standard.
One of the most obvious representations of this is when Huck is talking to Sally about the steamboat explosion. When he says that only a black man was killed, Sally states that "It was a good thing that no one got hurt." This proves that blacks were not considered on the same level as human beings. Their lives were obviously not valued and therefore disposible. They were merely replacable figures.
It is sad to see the cruelty and brutality of the society surrounding Huckleberry Finn, and Mark Twain does an excellent job depicting the controversy. It is fortunate that Huck uses his conscience and not his upbringing as a standard throughout the novel.
