random work??
here's my summer reading essay
i forgot if this was one of my rough drafts or not
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn undoubtedly would have been hard for America to digest in the pre-Civil War era. Using the personality of the characters and various events, Mark Twain knocks a powerful blow to Southern philosophy that blacks are an inferior race.. One example of how Twain does this is through the incident in the fog when Huck plays a spiteful trick on Jim and convinces Jim that he had dreamt the whole ordeal. Jim’s response after he realizes that he had been tricked reveals much about Huck’s and Jim’s character and advances the action of the story, both of which went against the thinking of the South at the time.
Jim’s response to Huck’s trickery leads the reader deep into Jim’s and Huck’s character. Prior to this event in the fog, Jim demonstrates a very passive nature. Thus, Jim’s response to Huck’s prank is surprising. Jim, a runaway slave in the Deep South, responds audaciously, even while knowing that Huck can turn Jim in at anytime he wished. Jim looks him in the eye, and asserts that they’re friends when he says, “Dat truck dah is trash; en trash is what people is dat puts dirt on de head er dey fren’s en makes ‘em ashamed.” (Twain 82). Hence Jim asserts that he and Huck are equals. This shows that Jim sincerely cares about Huck and that Jim is Huck’s friend. Even though Huck is white and, according to pre-Civil War society, superior to Jim, Jim thinks of Huck as a friend (had proven it), so much so that Jim expects Huck to act like a friend to him. Through heavily accented speech and unschooled grammar, Jim’s solemn response articulates a deep understanding of human relationships and demonstrates an ability to show other people his emotions. Thus, Mark Twain defies the social logic of the pre-Civil War era by attributing Jim with human characteristics. After this compelling response from Jim, Huck is forced to reconsider who Jim really is: a person or a runaway slave?
Although Huck feels very sorry for tricking Jim and resolves to treat him better, his way of thinking still reflects the mindset of most Southern white men.
It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a ******– but I done it, and I warn’t ever sorry for it afterwards, neither. I didn’t do him no more mean tricks, and I wouldn’t done that one if I’d a knowed it would make him feel that way. (82)
Although he feels awfully sorry toward Jim, he is not prepared to readily except Jim as an equal or friend. The important fact, however, is that Huck eventually did apologize to Jim. This signifies that Huck acknowledges Jim as a human being with feelings, and considers Jim as a friend. Even though Huck apologized, he still could not readily accept Jim as an equal. To Huck, Jim was still a ****** before he was a person. This development in Huck’s character shows that Huck has morals. He does not just follow narrow-minded mainstream society that retained pre-Civil War philosophy about white supremacy. Instead, Huck chose what was progressive and right. In the eyes of society, befriending a black slave brought one down in social class. Huck befriended Jim. Yet, Huck’s relationship with Jim elevates his character by showing that Huck looks past the social stereotypes. Huck is able to view Jim as a person, rather than a slave.
Not only did the fog incident create a way for the reader to delve more deeply into Jim and Huck’s characters, it also pushes along the plot. This fog incident challenges Huck’s mindset and plants a seed of doubt in Huck’s social perspective. One can tell that this seed of doubt grows when later in the novel Huck was extremely close to turning Jim in, but chooses at the last second to turn his back to the way he and all other white boys were brought up at that time, which was to believe that black people are inferior to white people. Huck remembers the degree of care and friendship Jim has for him, and realizes he would feel worse betraying a friend than doing what is accepted conventionally as the “right thing”. The incident in the fog serves as a big step forward in the relationship between Huck and Jim, making such subsequent actions of loyalty and friendship understandable and fluent according to the flow of the story.
As a final point, it is important to keep in mind what Mark Twain is trying to depict by such revelations and arrangements. Using Huck’s purity and child-like trait supplemented with Jim’s compassionate and caring heart, Mark Twain not only creates two distinct characters that are extremely compatible with each other, but also exposes the absurdity and duplicity of racism. Going even further, by building up Huck and Jim’s relationship to the extreme, Mark Twain implies that Whites and Blacks can become true friends, loving and caring for each other. With style and literal mastery, Mark Twain sends a brazen message to post-Civil War society while illustrating the quintessence of the American character.
Using Jim’s compassionate and caring heart and Huck’s desire to do good, Mark Twain creates a deep relationship between the two characters. Not only is this relationship totally against Southern society’s view on black people, but Huck and Jim’s loyalty for each other also prevents Huck from turning in Jim, which was what is expected from a white person with a runaway slave. Using just one incident out of the whole novel, Mark Twain is able to reveal, completely, who Huck is and who Jim is. Through this, Twain rebukes Southern philosophy.