Mark Twain and Slavery

Mark Twain and Slavery

Mark Twain, a famous American writer wrote many books highly acclaimed throughout the world. For his masterpiece, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the literary establishment recognized him as one of the greatest writers America would ever produce. This novel is about a teenage boy by the name of Huck Finn. He is living with Miss Watson and Widow Douglas who have adopted him. He decides that civil life is not for him and that he is going to run away. At the beginning of his adventure he runs into Miss Watson’s run away slave Jim. Instead of turning Jim in, Huck goes against society and makes a decision to help Jim break free from slavery. As they travel together, Huck learns more and more about Jim and starts to understand that the common stereotype of black people is wrong. Huck sees there is no different then anyone else. He starts to see that Jim is a loving caring person just like anyone else. My argument is that Mark Twain portrayed Jim in this way because that is how he really felt about slavery. He felt that African Americans are our equals and that the act of slavery should not be allowed.

Raised in the slave state of Missouri, Mark Twain grew up with slaves. His father owned slaves and his uncle actually owned twenty slaves. He saw the way slaves were treated on the everyday bases especially when he went to his uncle’s farm for the summer. At a young age Mark Twain witnessed a slave being killed just because he did one thing wrong (Lombardi 1). These things in his childhood lead me to believe that Mark Twain felt bad for African Americans and feels that they should be free.

I have chosen to use the literary theory structuralism. “In literary theory structuralism is an approach to analyzing the narrative material by examining the underlying invariant structure” (Wikipedia). In the story the main character is Huck Finn and the main theme is watching him grow up and how he grows up. I feel that the underlining theme in the book is that African Americans are our equals. They are the same as everyone else and Mark Twain really shows this in this book.

In the story many white characters are depicted as cruel, selfish, and foolish. Jim is portrayed as a wise man, even though uneducated, he is very smart. The story takes place in the 1830’s around the civil war. Huck runs away from his home with Miss. Watson and Widow Douglas. On his adventure he meets Jim. Here he chooses not to turn him in but help him escape. All through the story you hear Jim talk about his family. He talks about how he loves and cares about them. Huck starts to realize that Jim is a man just like anyone else. Mark Twain puts this in to show that Jim is our equal and should be treated like everyone else. He is a loving caring person just like anyone else.

In the middle of the story, Mark Twain comments on the irrationality of pride and honor, as Huck sees brutal, cold-blooded murders committed by two feuding families. Later on in the story, a southern aristocrat coldly kills a drunk man yelling empty threats at him, and the village turns the incident into a sort of circus, ingoing the dead man’s daughter while trying to start a lynch mob, which quickly disintegrates after being mocked by the murderer himself. The King and Duke attempt to con three orphaned girls out of their late uncle’s life savings. Towards the end of the book, they are tarred and feathered, and carried out of town on a rail, symbolizing how equally evil a village of people can be compared to the actual Duke and King. Twain is also trying to criticize monarchies by giving duke and the king royal names. In fact, it is repeatedly shown that Jim, the fugitive slave, is one of the only characters in the novel with a conscience. Through all these white characters doing all these foolish and stupid thing, it makes Jim look better and better. Jim is the one stereotyped to be doing all these things. He is the one that is supposed to kill and steal but he doesn’t. Jim shows the traits that are wanted by everyone. He is a kind loving and caring person.

There is a quote in the story that Huck says that shows just how loving and caring Jim really is. Huck is talking about Jim’s plans once he is able to be free. All he wants to do is to get a job and get his family back.

“Jim talked out loud all the time while