On 30th November 1835, the tiny village of Florida, Missouri witnessed the birth of one of the famous writers of American literature, Mark Twain. His original name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. He was the sixth child of Jane and John Clemens. When he was of four years, he and his family moved to Hannibal, Missouri, a port town on the Mississippi river that inspired the fictional town of ‘St. Petersburg in the ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’ and ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’. Slavery and Racism were both legal in Missouri at that period of time and these constituted the themes that Twain explored in his writings. He lost his father at the young age of 12. After trying numerous jobs, he became a licensed pilot in 1858. Clemens pseudonym,
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In this novel, Twain portrays a racist society of 1830s in an American southern state, Hannibal. The most controversial and the obvious racism is the liberal use of the word “nigger” throughout the book. The word “nigger” is taken as a derogatory term by modern day Americans. The use of word “nigger” by Twain, simply reflected the time when racism is common in America, and the use of such a word against the blacks was considered to be common and was not given a second thought. The racist attitude was evident in the character of Huck Finn and how he treats to the runaway Negro slave, Jim. Huck is a product of his environment and upbringing. Although, he reflects the cruelty and injustice of the Whites towards the black, he is totally unaware that this is wrong attitude to take. So, at first he displays the attitude and behaviour that reflects his upbringings .For instances, he plays tricks on Jim and traps him in his words that makes latter appear foolish –or perhaps ,to make Jim painfully aware of his inferiority. The trick that weighed most heavily was when after having disappearing from the raft; Huck pretends to have been there all along. The worried Jim insists that he believed Huck was almost drowned, but Huck plays Jim for a fool, tricking him into believing that he had only been dreaming. Jim, in turn, was made to appear as the Negro stereotype of
In this novel, Twain portrays a racist society of 1830s in an American southern state, Hannibal. The most controversial and the obvious racism is the liberal use of the word “nigger” throughout the book. The word “nigger” is taken as a derogatory term by modern day Americans. The use of word “nigger” by Twain, simply reflected the time when racism is common in America, and the use of such a word against the blacks was considered to be common and was not given a second thought. The racist attitude was evident in the character of Huck Finn and how he treats to the runaway Negro slave, Jim. Huck is a product of his environment and upbringing. Although, he reflects the cruelty and injustice of the Whites towards the black, he is totally unaware that this is wrong attitude to take. So, at first he displays the attitude and behaviour that reflects his upbringings .For instances, he plays tricks on Jim and traps him in his words that makes latter appear foolish –or perhaps ,to make Jim painfully aware of his inferiority. The trick that weighed most heavily was when after having disappearing from the raft; Huck pretends to have been there all along. The worried Jim insists that he believed Huck was almost drowned, but Huck plays Jim for a fool, tricking him into believing that he had only been dreaming. Jim, in turn, was made to appear as the Negro stereotype of