Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Theme of Race

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is set in antebellum (pre-Civil War) South and features a friendship between a white boy (Huck) and the black slave (Jim) who is escaping to freedom. The book focuses on issues of race, particularly making the point that the institution of slavery is immoral. Twain ups the satire in the novel to extreme levels to show how hypocritical the South (and America in general) had been to allow slavery in the supposed "land of the free." More subtly, the novel asks whether the abolition of slavery is a sufficient action, particularly when racism remained so predominant in the decades after the Civil War. Also, think about Jim's portrayal in the novel and how it relates to race. Does his character support Twain’s "all men are created equal" sentiment, or is the character just reinforcing negative stereotypes about African-Americans?

1. Is Huck able to overcome the racism of his childhood? Let’s say he can’t – can you blame him?
2. How much has Jim assimilated white racism against blacks? What does this do to his character?
3. How do Huck and Tom differ in their feelings for and about Jim? What about Jim’s feelings for Huck as opposed to for Tom?

Despite their adventures together, by the end of the story, Huck is still unable to see past Jim’s race.

Huck’s character transforms throughout his adventures as he discards the racism of his youth and learns to see Jim as a real person.