This direct quote explains how it was difficult for Huck to apologize to a black man because everybody around him was so against blacks. Although not every single person in the south was 100% racist, the atmosphere and surroundings caused many southerners to feel hatred and abhorrence towards the blacks. Despite the aspect of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn being a fiction, the characters from this novel realistically portray a true view of society's feelings about slavery.
In Douglass" A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, there are many examples of the white man's derogatory treatment of, or attitude towards, slaves. Douglass, a slave himself, encountered so many hardships throughout his life having to live the life of a slave since childhood. Slaves were not treated like human beings, but rather like dirt. Douglass vividly describes a whipping when he says " he rushed at me with the fierceness of a tiger, take off my clothes, and lashed me till he had worn out his switches, cutting me so savagely as to leave marks for a long time after" (564). Douglass and all slaves dreaded the days where they had to receive beatings, however, back in that day it was only normal to "whip" a slave in shape. The slave masters were extremely callous. They were cruel and would not stop with their beatings for any reason. After being sick, Douglass describes a beating when he states "Mr. Covey gave me a savage kick in the side and told me to give up took up the hickory slat with which Hughes had been striking of a half-bushel measure and with it gave me a heavy blow upon the head, making a large wound, and the blood ran freely" (566). This shows how poorly the masters treated their slaves. Even if the slaves were sick, they had still gotten beaten and expected to work. The slaves were not pieces of property with no hearts. They had feelings and emotions just like everybody else.