Is the novel Huckleberry Finn racist?Please explain your answer.?

Question

Please keep in mind Jim’s Character and Personality, Historical Realism, Other Black Characters, White Treatment of Blacks, and Product of His Times.

Answer 1

Definitely not. Twain disdains the whole human race. All of his white characters in Huck Finn (except Huck, an extreme social outsider) come across as dolts and idiots. Jim is far more real and likable than any of the other characters in the novel. I would suggest you read some of Twain's later work and also Pudd'nhead Wilson, for a fuller perspective on his view of slavery and the human race.

Personally, I despise those novels written today that rewrite history to make them more acceptable to our delicate sensibilities. 99% of whites hated black people during that time except for some abolitionists and religious outcasts. Twain describes this time period perfectly.

Added later: I forgot to mention the use of "that word". Depends on if you want truth or fairy tales.

Answer 2

In the beginning, of the story..somewhat racist. They were products of their times. There were blacks who were slaves, nothing more than property. There were those that were free, but the majority had no education and did simple jobs for low pay.

Throughout the story, though, it is most definately not racist. Huck begins to think of him more than just N* Jim and more like Jim. It's a book about transformation and the close-mindedness of society.

Answer 3

I think the book isn't intentionally racist. It's just a reflextion of the times in which Twain lived. It wouldn't be an acceptable attitude in these days, but then no one thought much of it. Plus, for the era in which it was written no one would have had the objectivity to read about a character named Jim who was a Harvard graduate. Just thank goodness that the times have changed where those kinds of attitudes are no longer part of the accepted norm.

Answer 4

You have to bear in mind the era in which it was written and the era when the story takes place. By today's standards yes the story was racist, however, in the era of the story this was the norm. Jim was Huck's friend as much as possible, but there was a line drawn between them due to race.

Answer 5

The book is powerfully anti-racist. It's the story of a white boy who grows up steeped in the racism of his culture, but who undergoes a change of heart through his friendship with Jim, a runaway slave. By the end of the book, Huck has risen above his upbringing and learned to reject the racist values of the society around him.

Answer 6

It only becomes racist in the last section (after Tom Sawyer comes on the scene). He and Huck torment Jim, and the book seems to agree that it's a great joke.

Answer 7

It seems to be a snapshot of the attitudes of that era. Bear in mind that Samuel Clemens himself was from Missouri, a civil war border state. I don't think the book is inherently racist. The story is told from the viewpoint of a white "country" boy, and his view seems to change as he gets to know Jim the slave.