Racism In Huck Finn

Register to read the introduction… For example, his cruelty against Huck functions as the perfect tool to exhibit the irrational idea that a person who “always whale [his son] when he was sober” (Twain 14) is considered better that a person of color. Twain continues his social argument through Pap’s racist speech, where Pap describes a black person able to vote as a “prowling, thieving, infernal…nigger”(Twain 28). These accusations only make Twain’s arguments more valid. He shows how the black man has everything a country could want in a citizen (Twain 28), but even then the country favors people as low as Pap. These passages purposely expose how hypocritical and pretentious white people were in the antebellum south (Rasmussen 568). Twain uses Pap’s character as an example to validate his social ideas; therefore, Pap is indispensable in order to criticize white racists at the time the story is set. Jim’s complex and versatile character is Twain’s tool to reveal the irrationality in slavery. Even when the novel was published at a time when the war left the American society drained of the conflicts regarding African Americans; twain accomplishes to dignify Jim behind a stereotype. In the first chapters of the novel Jim is portrayed as the typical black slave; Twain does this to reveal how inaccurate …show more content…
Twain manages to expose America’s terrible racism, specially with the overused word “nigger”. His use of humor and irony camouflage the anti-racism message that the characters deliver. For example, Pap’s character provides the story with a strong contrast between terrible whites and respectable blacks. Likewise, Jim’s portrayal highlights the unjust treatment toward slaves at the time. Today, the novel as a whole serves as a reminder of the horrors of slavery in order to prevent our history to repeat