American views and values have changed a lot since Huckleberry Finn was published. Black people were treated with no respect. White Americans treated black people as if they were an animal and they have no feelings and a non functioning brain. Jim was not educated what so ever, but he sure knew how to survive in the woods. If it wasn't for Jim I don't think Huck would have been able to survive. Jim was a runaway slave and it was disgusting that there were rewards set out to find Jim. White people back then never thought about what they were doing to black people. They would take them away from their families and damage them mentally and physically. Even though today is not perfect, I feel like there are more opportunities for everyone no matter what rac, gender, or ethnicity they are.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn plays a huge role in American Adolescence. It deals with a boy who is in his teenage years. I have two teenage brothers and reading this book made me laugh. My brothers have some of the same characteristics Huck portrays. Huck is rebellious and thinks he can be fine on his own. He thought that he didn't need people's help at first. Huck was immature and foolish at times. He thought it was funny to play jokes on Jim and poke fun at his ignorance. As the book went on, Huck realized that he cared for Jim. I think he finally realized that he truely cared for Jim when he had to make the decision to save Jim or to let him be sold into slavery. By doing that he was letting people know the black people are human beings as well. They are not just objects to be tossed around and to be treated like dirt. In the end Huckleberry Finn turned out to be the good guy.
Learning in the Age of the Trigger Warning
11 years ago
I agree that the treatment that this country has shown blacks for centuries has continued to be bad. Granted, today is much different than yesterday and it continues to look up for blacks and all minority groups for that matter. But, it took such a long time for change to come.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in a predominately black school, I remember learning about African American history and literature. Throughout our time here in America, we were looked upon not as people, nor as individuals, but things, property; nasty things that were too ignorant or stupid to do anything except to say "yes" or "no" and work. My great grandmother talks about her days as a share cropper and the toil and frustration she went through as an African American woman in the early 1900s. Fortunately, those days are gone and people are learning to look at others as human beings. Not just as whites, blacks, Hispanics, Chinese, Japanese, Arab, etc, but as human beings. And that is a big step. In Huck Finn, I think Twain was ahead of his time because Jim and Huck, although different from each other in race, got along as great pals because they looked beyond the color of the skin.