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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
South, and in the North as well, presented religious arguments in support of slavery. (Johnson 130)
Pro-slavery supporters used the bible to support their cause many times, using many different quotes. Reverend W. G. Brownlow in a debate in 1858 used this to help illustrate his views on slavery:
‘Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.’ The only true interpretation of this portion of the word of God is, that the species of property herein mentioned, are lawful, and that all men are forbid to disturb others in the lawful enjoyment of their property. (Johnson 136)
This is another view of a man on the side of slavery. Again in this case, the bible is quoted because of the importance of religion in that time period. These speakers didn’t have to defend their cause until after the abolitionist movement began in 1831. It began with the publication of the Liberator written by William Lloyd Garrison. In the same year, the Underground Railroad started. These two things started the abolitionist movement at roughly the same time that Mark Twain set Huck’s adventure in. The views given above are all completely normal for the time period in which Jim was escaping. Reading this book 170 years after the book takes place gives us an entirely different viewpoint than people had at the time of its publication. So to understand the racism of the book, it needs to be put in context.
Huckleberry Finn is a racist. As shown in the last paragraph, this was completely normal for the time period he lived in. Huck shows his racism freely, as do other characters in the book. One person that Huck was exposed to countless times, and who made many decisions for him was Tom Sawyer. Huck doesn’t always look at the world the same way that Tom does, but because he admires him he tries to give a narrative similar to Tom’s views. “The opening chapters comprise what can be labeled as Tom Sawyers world...as a result, the slave Jim is regarded primarily as an object [next page]