Despite the innocent name, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is not just a book about a little boy. Mark Twain, the author, did not write it to be such (or if he did, he did quite a terrible job in doing so). Rather, this book is a journey not just down the Mississippi River, but through challenging issues of conscience and beliefs of Southerners in pre-Civil War Era. The most notable issue tackled in this book is slavery, because Huck’s companion that he spends most of his time with is Jim, an escaped slave. This alone gives insight on racial prejudices of the time. Intentionally or not, the relationship between Huck and Jim is an exposition on the relentless superiority white people felt in regards to slaves.
This idea is first shown in …show more content…
Jim’s life, especially on Jackson’s Island, is filled with Huck mocking Jim for his superstitions and teasing him relentlessly. He doubts him for his beliefs because they seem absurd even when they turn out to be true. He plays simple mindless ricks on him at first, like hanging Jim’s hat in a tree while Jim is asleep (Twain 7). However, the tricks eventually turn into more harmful schemes, even if not intentionally. Once on Jackson’s Island, Huck decides to put a snake skin in Jim’s bed as a joke, causing Jim to get bitten by a rattlesnake (Twain 67-68). Huck and Jim both blame that prank on bad luck, but shortly after that, Huck plays an even bigger trick on Jim that causes Jim to be quite angry. While traveling down the river, Jim on his raft and Huck in his canoe, a great fog falls over the two, but Huck pretends like he does not see it (Twain 106-109). This forces Jim to …show more content…
Early on in their adventure, Jim claims that Solomon is not wise. Huck is appalled, because the Bible clearly says that he is, and so does the Widow Douglas, so he must be wise. Jim makes the claim that if Solomon was so wise, he would not have had nearly so many wives, for one wife is enough and an entire harem would be to loud and noisy for a king (Twain 98). Later on in their journey, a similar debate strikes up, this time about the French language. Jim argues that every human being speaks English, because if one is a human, they talk like a human. Huck tells him numerous times that he is wrong, but Jim believes in his own words (Twain 100-102). Huck quits in frustration, saying “I see it warn't no use wasting words - you can't learn a nigger to argue. So I quit” (Twain 102). Huck goes on to dismiss Jim time and time again because he is seemingly uneducated. Yet the discrimination against knowledge is not the worst one that Jim will receive, especially not from
This idea is first shown in …show more content…
Jim’s life, especially on Jackson’s Island, is filled with Huck mocking Jim for his superstitions and teasing him relentlessly. He doubts him for his beliefs because they seem absurd even when they turn out to be true. He plays simple mindless ricks on him at first, like hanging Jim’s hat in a tree while Jim is asleep (Twain 7). However, the tricks eventually turn into more harmful schemes, even if not intentionally. Once on Jackson’s Island, Huck decides to put a snake skin in Jim’s bed as a joke, causing Jim to get bitten by a rattlesnake (Twain 67-68). Huck and Jim both blame that prank on bad luck, but shortly after that, Huck plays an even bigger trick on Jim that causes Jim to be quite angry. While traveling down the river, Jim on his raft and Huck in his canoe, a great fog falls over the two, but Huck pretends like he does not see it (Twain 106-109). This forces Jim to …show more content…
Early on in their adventure, Jim claims that Solomon is not wise. Huck is appalled, because the Bible clearly says that he is, and so does the Widow Douglas, so he must be wise. Jim makes the claim that if Solomon was so wise, he would not have had nearly so many wives, for one wife is enough and an entire harem would be to loud and noisy for a king (Twain 98). Later on in their journey, a similar debate strikes up, this time about the French language. Jim argues that every human being speaks English, because if one is a human, they talk like a human. Huck tells him numerous times that he is wrong, but Jim believes in his own words (Twain 100-102). Huck quits in frustration, saying “I see it warn't no use wasting words - you can't learn a nigger to argue. So I quit” (Twain 102). Huck goes on to dismiss Jim time and time again because he is seemingly uneducated. Yet the discrimination against knowledge is not the worst one that Jim will receive, especially not from