Twain a racist? The answers to these questions lie in the examination of Mark Twain’s life and historical era, incidents and character comments throughout Huckleberry Finn, and reviews by critics of many races. Researching the life and times

of Mark Twain, led to various facts that negate the popular opinion that he was a racist. Born Samuel Langhorn Clemens on November 30, 1835 in Missouri, Mark Twain witnessed an era of accepted slavery and racism. (Roberts, 5). Growing up in the slave state of Missouri, Twain’s father was a slave trader several times in his man occupational ventures. After his father’s death Twain spent several summers with his uncle, John Quarles, who owned twenty slaves which provided Twain with an up close view of slavery in action. Twain was deeply affected by witnessing the brutal murder of a slave by a rock-throwing white man for the crime of “merely doing something awkward.” (Smith) Twain completed Huckleberry Finn in 1884, at the time when black identity in American society was undefined. Even though African Americans had been granted citizenship in 1870 by the 15th amendment to the Constitution, Southern white society still looked upon them as subhuman creatures without souls or feelings. “However, for his time Twain was liberal on racial issues.” (Smith) The themes of Huckleberry Finn portrays Mark Twain’s unrelenting belief in the equality of all races. (Mark Twain, 530) Although, Huckleberry Finn is primarily a novel about freedom and the quest for freedom, throughout the portrayal of the characters, Twain depicts the human qualities of all, regardless of color. it details the story of a slave, Jim, who breaks the law and risks his life to win his freedom and be reunited with his family. Jim is accompanied by a whit boy, Huck, who befriends him and aids in his escape. This story line of a white boy helping a runaway slave, and in the process, perceiving Jim as an equal, in no way depicts racism and, in fact lends credence to Twain’s argument for the equality of all, whether black or white. In order to change Huck’s initial misconception of “nigger” Jim, Twain reveals Jim’s humanity in a profoundly moving story about a time when jim struck his four-year-old daughter, ‘Lizabeth. “One day she was a-stannin’ around’, en I says to her, I say: ‘Shet de do’!’ She never done it; jis’ stood dah, kiner smilin’ up at me. It make me mad...Jim tells her again, but she still does not respond, so he ‘fetch’ her a slap side de head dat sont her a’ sprawlin’. Here Jim is unaware that his daughter’s recent scarlet fever has made her deaf. He orders her to get to work one more time, but she still does not respond. Just as he is about to strike her one more time, Jim notices t

Some topics in this essay:
Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain, Jim Twain, Mark Twain’s, Fisher Fishkin, God Almighty, Believing Tom, Tom Sawyer, John Quarles, Aunt Sally, huckleberry finn, mark twain, mark twain’s, twain racist, jim’s humanity, mark twain racist, throughout huckleberry, fisher fishkin, twain’s life, examination mark, adventures huckleberry, adventures huckleberry finn, mark twain’s life, throughout huckleberry finn, examination mark twain’s,