Huck finn and racism
Huck finn and racismIn the book, Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, the main character Huck, is able
to look past conformist and the effects of his environment. Huck was born into a
society that was supposed to hate black people. Huck was able to see good in a
‘nigger’ , and further a healthy relationship with his slave, Jim. Huck is a very strong and smart person, although he isn’t learned, and can act ignorant from time to time. Mark Twain, many times makes Huck look like a non-admirable person, when Twain does this it degrades him and Huck. Twain did this because he was afraid of the social critics in his day. Huck was a good person despite what the ending of the book may have appeared him to be.
Huck is a walking contradiction to the belief of environmentalism. The
definition for an environmentalist taken from Oxford states: “A person who
considers that environment has the primary influence on the development if a
person or group,”. Huck was taught that blacks were lower then whites, and should not be treated as equals, so according to this belief he should have hated blacks, but he didn’t. Huck was too smart and open minded for the belief of white supremacy.
Huck has had positive interactions with blacks, and has taken a liking to the slave Jim, who he helped to free, to go with him on his wild adventure. Huck never had very much schooling. This is one of the reasons he is so smart. It may sound odd, but the school system in Huck’s time had an agenda to make little racists out of little kids’ fresh new minds. The famed philosopher, John Locke, believed in an idea he called “Tabula Rasa”. This theory stated that humans were born with a clean slate, and we would only learn through our experiences. The society at Huck’s time didn’t believe in this theory. They didn’t want kids to have positive interactions with ‘niggers’. Huck was lucky that he was not subjected to such mind control.
When Huck crosses paths with Jim, he sees him as an equal; “ I was ever so glad to see Jim. I warn’t lonesome now.” This was a shunned idea and it must have taken a lot of intelligence to be such a free-thinker and accept a ‘nigger’ as an equal. This is an admirable trait of Huck’s, if all people could think like Huck then racism wouldn’t exist.
Many Ideas of racism stem from ones family. Huck didn’t have a family.
He had a drunken father, that in no way...
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