FREE ESSAY ON HUCK FINN

HUCK FINN

Mark Azzarito
English 201 book essay
HUCK FINN
I recently read the book Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. This story deals Mainly with a
lost boy escaping his harsh existence, and a slave trying to reach freedom. During the
course of this book, the slave Jim, and the Boy Huck Bond with each other. I enjoyed this
book immensely for a couple different reasons. While I liked the story, and the plot kept
me interested, the real reason I found myself enjoying this book so much, was Mark
Twain's use of the underlying theme of racism. 
In this story, I found myself admiring Huck's innocent approach to slavery, and the
treatment of slaves. Is Huck Finn a racist? Now this is a tough question. I would be
tempted to say no. He always treats his run away slave-partner Jim equally. Never in this
book once did he treat a black any different then he would have treated any white in the
same situation. Whether or not Huck was intending to be racist, the fact still remains
that he did not think of blacks as equal. In the time period Huck Finn was written white
children grew up with the mentality that they were a higher social class then the blacks.
. I think Huck was subconsciously racist, but too innocent to understand it's meaning, or
even come to a conclusion about whether slavery was right or wrong.
All his life Huck had lived in an environment in which slavery and racism were perfectly
normal. To him questioning the morality of slavery would be like us questioning whether
it's morally right to keep house pets. Huck acquired his racism from his parental
figures. When Huck was living with the widow, she had slaves around. Huck became used to
slaves tending to his needs. For a short period in the book, Huck went to live with his
dad. His dad frequently displayed his dislike for blacks, especially free ones. Even at
the end of the book when Huck was good friends with Jim he was still influenced
racially.
Aunt Sally asked Huck why the steamboat took so long getting there. Huck said, "We blowed
a cylinder-head." "Good gracious anybody hurt?" "No'm killed a nigger." "Well it's lucky;
because sometimes people do get hurt" (Twain 199). Whether or not Huck was trying to be
racist is irrelevant, the fact is his home life taught him racism as a way of life. 
Huck's innocence severely handicapped his racism. Throughout the book Jim was just about
Huck's only friend, yet Jim was black. Jim looks out for Huck like a father would. On
several occasions Huck comes close to turning Jim in. Huck keeps thinking he is doing
something morally wrong by helping Jim to escape. He never questions whether slavery is
morally right or wrong. He just figures it to be a way of life. Huck never actually got
to the conclusion that maybe he was doing the right thing by trying to free Jim, and that
slavery might actually be wrong. I think that Mark Twain may be using Huck as an example
of the human race as a whole. Sometimes we over look the real problems in life, because
we are always so tied up in a bunch of trivial corals. 
However, despite Huck's constant racist personality, some changes did occur in Huck's
feelings about Jim during the course of the book. Until the end of the book, Huck never
worried about Jim's whereabouts. Jim on the other hand was always terribly nervous about
Huck's whereabouts. During the time Huck spent with the Grangerfords, he totally forgot
about Jim for at least two weeks. Jim was very worried about Huck's well being during
this time. Another time Huck left Jim for a period of time, was when he went with the
king and the duke to play as Peter Wilke's brothers. This time as before, Huck forgot
about Jim. By the end of the book, Huck had begun to change. While Huck was hanging out
with the duke and the king, Jim ended up getting sold to a family called the Phelps. Huck
became nervous, and decided to go find out what had happened to Jim. Towards the end of
the book, Huck decided to go against everything he knew to be right, and help Jim to
escape from his owners the Phelps. 
Huck was a racist throughout the book, but as he would say, he don't mean nothn by it. I
think Huck's racism in this book was a pretty evident underlying theme. Throughout the
book, Mark Twain portrayed Huck as a racist, yet kind to blacks. Huck's innocence in this
book allowed him to be kind to blacks and yet still look at whites in a superior way.
Even at the end of the book when Huck decided that he was going to do what he thought was
the wrong thing and free Jim, he never came to the conclusion that slavery and racism
might be wrong, and he might be on the right track. 
Twain's use of racism in a child as an underlying theme intrigued me. I believe in order
to get a full idea of what I am talking about, you should read this book. I would highly
recommend Huckleberry Finn to any college student looking for a good story with a lot of
depth.