In his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which takes place in the highly racist and immoral antebellum south, Mark Twain creates, uses and abuses an intelligent and compassionate run-away slave named Jim for the sake of satire. Twain uses Jim's identity as a slave, and friendship with Huck, to satirize aspects of human nature, superstition, and Racism.
In Chapter two, Twain write a scene which satirizes gullibility and pride. Tom Sawyer plays a trick on Jim, hanging his hat on a tree branch above his head. This leads Jim to believe that he was bewitched by witches and eventually ended up under a tree with his hat on a branch. Jim tells the story to the slaves around him, increasing the stories outlandishness each recitation. His story goes from waking up with his hat on a branch to witches "rid[ing] him all over the world and tir[ing] him most to death"(Chapter two). His wild story eventually makes him "more looked up to than any other [N] in the country"(chapter two), and he …show more content…
We find out in Chapter 42, that Jim helped the doctor remove the bullet from tom's calf. The doctor says, "he liked the N for that…never had no trouble" (chapter 42). The doctor explains how Jim sacrifices his own freedom, which we know he had to suffer extensively for, to help him save Tom Sawyer's life. The Appreciative reaction Jim receives amounts to inflation of his value from 800 to a thousand dollars, promises from several not to cuss at him, re-imprisonment. His life is also generously spared. . In order to satirize the cruelty of racism, Twain is absolutely cruel to Jim. By locking Jim in chains, cursing at him, and feeding him nothing but bread and water, Twain sets up a contrast between treatment of a good slave and a bad slave. Twain shows that saving a boy's life is worth not being cursed and being returned to slavery instead of killed. Jim has to go through all of these things so Twain can prove a