The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Introduction

Twain uses the theme of Slavery and racism in the novel, in order to be able to point out the evils of the society. The society perceives slavery and racism in a very different way, thus justifying it. Twain therefore uses this theme in order to be able to speak himself out, and show how the society affected and also promoted racism and slavery. Moreover, the author also points out how the religion has also been used in order to be able to justify racism and slavery. This paper is therefore going to analyze the theme of slavery and racism, in a bid to explain how the society and the religion have affected racism and slavery.

Jim is a character who has been characterized as a slave, and is therefore running away in such of freedom. Jim is currently under the custody of her master Miss Watson, who have taken Huck in order to teach him religion and good manners, since he has been very unruly. Jim therefore looks for proper ways through which he can be able to free himself off from his master. Jim has therefore been used in order to show how slavery is being used in the novel. Each and every event that takes place in Jim’s life, consequently explains how the society perceives slaves. Huck’s dad is not impressed by Miss Watson’s actions of taking him to school, and so Pap’s warns him not to go to school or even to continue studying the religion. Huck does not put into consideration whatever he is being told, and so he decides to continue going to school despite of being warned about going to school by his father. Pap’s decides to kidnap Huck, in order to stop him from going to school and from learning about the religion. Pap’s takes Huck to a rural town across Mississippi, but Huck is not impressed by this move. Due to the severe punishments and beatings that he receives from Pap’s, Huck decides to fake his own death in order to escape. While escaping, he stumbles upon Jim at and they therefore decides to support him in escaping. Even though Huck knows that he is going against the dictates of the religion, he decides to run away with Jim. According to the religion, slavery was not bad, and God had approved that slavery was not a bad thing, ''…God approved it, that it was a holy thing, and that the doubter need only look in the Bible if he wished to settle his mind and then the texts were read aloud to us to make the matter sure; if the slaves themselves had an aversion to slavery, they were wise and said nothing (Ibbotson, 2014)''

This consequently explains how the religion supported slavery, as preachers would always preach such summons in the church in order to justify slavery. In addition, the religion changed the society’s view on racism and slavery, thus making the society to believe that slavery is actually good and it should be undertaken. Jim therefore suffers as a slave, and his master, Miss Watson, knows that she is doing the right thing by having a slave in his house, who works under her. Each and every one therefore believes that the slavery is good since the bible approves it. When they finally escape and board a raft where the King and Duke pretend to be brother in order to rob a house, the real brothers appear and this forces the king and the Duke to escape. The King and Duke therefore escape together with Jim and Huck. When the Duke and the King run out of money, they therefore decide to sell Jim as a slave. This consequently shows how black people are perceived by the society, a thing which makes the Duke and the King to sell him as a commodity and not a human being. Moreover, this also explains how the society had accepted slavery in such a way that if anyone ran out of money, he could use a slave for personal gains. Jim was therefore sold and he felt as if he was being used, “I was sorry to hear Jim say that, it was such a lowering of him. My conscience got to stirring me up... (Ibbotson, 2014)”. At this point Jim realized that he was not being treated as a human being, but he was being used as a means of earning money.

Conclusion

The theme Racism and Slavery has therefore been clearly explained in the story, through the use of Jim, who is a slave, the author has been able to point out how the society supports slavery. In addition, the religion, through the use of the bible, has also been used in order to approve slavery. Most people therefore believe that slavery and racism are legal simply because both the society and the religion accept it. In addition, anybody can be able to sell a slave at any time he or she feels like, since slaves cannot be compared to other people. Slaves are therefore perceived as assets, whereby one can be able to own them guaranteed he or she has money.

Reference

Ibbotson, C. (2014). The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain). San Diego: Classroom Complete Press Ltd.