ASSIGNMENT

Course: American Literature II

Prepared for: Afsana Moon

Submitted by

Name: Shayla Akter

ID: 1914 2210 31

Date: 18th October 2020

Submission Date: 19th October 2020

Department of English
University of Information Technology & Science
1. Theme of racism and Slavery in Huckleberry Finn.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is the classic American tale told by, and
about a young man named Huckleberry (or Huck) Finn and his time on the Mississippi River.
Along with his devoted friend Jim, a runaway slave, Huck experiences many dangerous as well
as exciting occasions during his time on the Mississippi. During this time he also experiences
guilt about helping Jim escape. In addition to this he deals with confusion of the concept of
slavery and racism, both of these themes continue throughout most of the book. One of Huck’s
most entertaining experiences is with two con men who trick Jim into believing that they are
royalty. For about ten or so chapters these men use Huck and Jim to con the cities they pass for
everything they have.
“Racism” is a central theme in the novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. It is
heartbreaking to read and thus may be called offensive, yet it does the job of showing the nature
of people during the time.
Three important characters in the novel are Huck, Pap and Jim. All three face conflicts, whether
internal or external, in the story. We learn the most about the main character Huck, as he is the
narrator and by reading the novel, we are reading his thoughts. He is very developed by the end
of the book, but only becomes so by dealing with internal and external conflicts. There are many
instances of Huck struggling with internal conflicts, one of the main issues being whether or not
he should turn Jim in as a runaway slave or if it is right to be helping Jim escape at all. Huck,
though a young independent-thinking boy, was brought up by racist people. His father, the
widow and Miss Watson all believed white people were superior. Huck does not follow their
ideals as blindly as some people during his time, but he is exposed to their attitudes as “typical.”
He grows accustomed to calling African Americans the “N” word. However, once he becomes
friends with Jim during his own escape, an internal conflict arises. He begins to see Jim as a
human instead of property, as society views him.
In the novel, the reader does not learn much of Pap’s internal conflicts, other than the things he
rambles to his son in his drunk state. It is true that one may express completely different ideas
when groomed and clear-headed in contrast to being in a constant state of unorganization and
rude chaos. Pap, however, finds himself constantly tangled in the latter. His internal conflicts
seem to be the dissatisfaction he has with the country and himself, constantly cursing African
Americans and being angry and in awe of how they are granted some rights in free states. This
shows how Pap’s blind racism cause him to be full of needless anger and hate. He may also not
admit, but struggle with the way he differs from his son. He sees Huck is “civilized” and more
educated and expresses his ideas as thinking that the common, down-to-earth folk are more
righteous than stuck up scholars. Yet inside, he may have jealousy or anger for not being like
Huck. External conflicts for him are lack of money that result in his chasing after Huck’s fortune.
Jim is the character Twain uses to tie all the knots of the story together. The external and internal
conflicts Jim faces show the inhumane cruelty and hypocrisy of people during Twain’s time.
External conflicts for Jim are all the racist white slave owners of early America. These people,
some religious and very concerned with righteousness, all view Jim as a piece of property made
to work. This results in his unfair treatment and constant fear of his owners selling him down
South. These figures also present a threat to Jim because they prevent him from easily being free
and happy with his family. He has to plan his own escape and to get help in order to override the
racist people dominating the country to win his family back. The King and Duke are examples of
people that use Jim for money and prevent him from attaining his freedom. Aside from the
frightening external conflicts Jim faces, there are also examples of Jim dealing with internal
conflicts. Huck witnesses Jim crying in regret of once beating his father. Jim says to himself that
he was wrong in the situation and is emotional about it. This once instance destroys the
arguments for racism in the novel when Jim is finally depicted as a human with feelings,
compassion and love.

2. Describe the character of Jim

Jim, Huck’s companion as he travels down the river, is a man of remarkable intelligence and
compassion. At first glance, Jim seems to be superstitious to the point of idiocy, but a careful
reading of the time that Huck and Jim spend on Jackson’s Island reveals that Jim’s superstitions
conceal a deep knowledge of the natural world and represent an alternate form of “truth” or
intelligence. Moreover, Jim has one of the few healthy, functioning families in the novel.
Although he has been separated from his wife and children, he misses them terribly, and it is
only the thought of a permanent separation from them that motivates his criminal act of running
away from Miss Watson. On the river, Jim becomes a surrogate father, as well as a friend, to
Huck, taking care of him without being intrusive or smothering. He cooks for the boy and
shelters him from some of the worst horrors that they encounter, including the sight of Pap’s
corpse, and, for a time, the news of his father’s passing.
Some readers have criticized Jim as being too passive, but it is important to remember that he
remains at the mercy of every other character in this novel, including even the poor, thirteen-
year-old Huck, as the letter that Huck nearly sends to Miss Watson demonstrates. Like Huck, Jim
is realistic about his situation and must find ways of accomplishing his goals without incurring
the wrath of those who could turn him in. In this position, he is seldom able to act boldly or
speak his mind. Nonetheless, despite these restrictions and constant fear, Jim consistently acts as
a noble human being and a loyal friend. In fact, Jim could be described as the only real adult in
the novel, and the only one who provides a positive, respectable example for Huck to follow.

3. Why huckleberry Finn is Bildungsroman novel?

A bildungsroman is a novel about the moral and psychological growth of a character. The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an example of a bildungsroman because the novel follows the
timeline of Huck's morality and conscience.
In the beginning of the novel, Huck shows a blatant disregard for the effect his actions has on the
people in his life. He fakes his own death and does not understand that his search party would be
concerned for him. "By and by she come along and she drifted in so close ... most everybody was
on the boat. Pap, and Judge Thatcher, and Bessie Thatcher, and Joe Harper, and Tom Sawyer,
and his old Aunt Polly, and Sid and Mary, and plenty more. Everybody was talking about the
murder..." (38). Huck watches these people without emotion, not fully understanding his
influence.
Huck shows his first twinge of morality when he is disguised as a girl, speaking to the new
woman in town. When she mentions her theory about Jim's location and about her husband's
plans to go out to the island to search for him, he runs back to his canoe as fast as possible,
rouses Jim out of sleep, and says, "Git up and hump yourself, Jim! There ain't a minute to lose.
They're after us!" (61). This action shows that Huck is developing a deep enough friendship with
Jim, a slave, to go out of his way to say him. He even refers to the pair of them as "us." He is
beginning a journey of maturity.
In one instance, Huck pulls a prank on Jim by putting a dead rattlesnake in his sleeping bag.
When the prank ends in Jim getting bitten by a snake, Huck feels badly, but not badly enough to
apologize. Later on in the text, Huck pulls another prank. After Huck and Jim are separated for a
long time in a horrible fog, Huck lies to Jim and tells him that he actually dreamed the whole
thing. When Jim accuses him of the lie, Huck feels horrible. "It made me feel so mean I could
almost kissed his foot to get him to take it back. It was fifteen minutes before I could work
myself up to go and humble myself to a negro; but I done it and I warn't ever sorry for it
afterward, neither" (84). This time, he is has grown enough to feel guilty and apologize for his
wrong doing.
In the novel, Jim and Huck happen upon a boat. Huck finds three men on the boat, two of whom
are murderers. He finds the driver of another boat and tells him about the situation. He goes to a
lot of trouble to save the murderers from a boat wreck. "I was feeling ruther comfortable on
accounts of taking all this trouble for that gang, for not many 'a' done it. I wished the widow
knowed about it. I judged she would be proud of me for helping these rapscallions, because
rapscallions and dead-beats is the kind the widow and good people takes the most interest in"
(73).
As the novel progresses, Huck is presented with an important moral decision. When he is rowing
to shore, he is stopped by two men who ask if the man in his boat is black or white. They are
looking for runaway slaves. "I didn't answer up prompt. I tried to, but the words wouldn't
come ... I see I was weakening; so just give up trying, and up and says: 'He's white'" (87). This is
a major growing up point for Huck. He has made the decision to protect his friend, regardless of
the consequences.
Similarly to the last incident, Huck does a lot a growing up when it comes to Jim. Jim is taken
into custody as a runaway and he has the choice to write Miss Watson a letter and tell her he ran
away. He instead decides to rip up the letter and go after Jim, no matter the cost. "I studied a
minute, sort of holding my breath, and then I says to myself: 'All right, then, I'll go to hell'--and
tore it up" (206). Huck is grown up and mature enough to make life changing decisions on his
own.
Mark Twain originally wrote Huckleberry Finn in the mid 1870's but decided to put it aside due
to its serious tone towards slavery. However, in 1884 he published his book and shocked the
country with his perspective of slavery through the eyes of a young boy. In a time when America
was still adjusting to the idea of free African Americans, citizens were engulfed by tales of an 11
year old boy who saw no wrong with having a negro as a friend.