Racism and Slavery in Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn Throughout Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, racism and slavery are two major thematic concepts pulsing through the novel. Through incidents, comments made by the characters, and statements by the narrator, Twain enables the readers to observe the attitudes of the people concerning discrimination and involuntary servitude before the Emancipation Proclamation. Not only does his use of language and comments help the reader better comprehend the social attitudes of the time period, it also enlightens the audience of Twain’s attitude towards slavery and racism. Twain is known for voicing his opinions and observations through characters, and in this novel it is no different. The audience is …show more content…

But here Huck is the exact opposite, which makes the readers conclude Huck is content with the alliance between black and whites. Since the audience sees the positive relationship between them, they can conclude Twain believes in equality, too. He is notorious for expressing opinions through characters, and this is a perfect example. Not only does he express Huck is happy, but then he explains how they spent time together just doing nothing. He approves of the friendship they have instantaneously made.
After this, Huck decides to go into the town dressed up as a girl to get information from the townspeople. He meets a lady who talks about how Huck has vanished and they believed “a runaway nigger named Jim” (43) has done it, and there is a huge reward out for him. Huck tells the readers, “I got so uneasy I couldn’t sit still” (43). This shows how he really cares for Jim and sees him as a human, not property. However, Twain confuses the reader when Huck and Jim reach Cairo and Huck thinks to himself, “Well, I can tell you it made me all trembly and feverish too, to hear him because I begun to get it through my head that he was most free-and who was too blame for it? Why, me. I couldn’t get that out of my conscience, no how nor way” (66). There is a conflict inside Huck. He has to decide whether he is going to do what society tells him or what he thinks is right. Huck thinks he may want to turn Jim in now because he feels