How Does Twain Show Heroism In Huck Finn

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Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn is a novel where a white boy forges a friendship with a black slave during a time where slavery was accepted and black people were seen as inferior. Twain uses the novel to show the hypocrisy of a religious society that is okay with the institution of slavery and promotes anti-racist ideals through Huck’s crisis of conscience. He uses the novel as a representation of humanity during that era, and he shows how white people viewed black people from their privileged place in society. He shows that black and white people are the same, and that they can get along and forges friendships. It depends on the person and how they’re considered in society. To be an outcast of society, like Huck is, is to have more freedom…show more content…
Many readers think that the ending itself is racist because Jim prefers Huck’s friendship than his own freedom by having him go back and rescue Tom Sawyer, a boy who doesn’t show any thoughts towards Jim. However, others disagree and argue that the ending shows a heroic Jim who shows heroic tendencies and who has a brave heart and good morals. He knows deep in his heart that he has to stay if there’s any way for Tom to survive, and he takes it because his morals tell him so. There might be stereotypical aspects to his character and to the many slaves written in the book, but that’s Twain’s way of using it to satirize the whole institution of slavery and society. “Helping Jim escape is not just an act of friendship…it is a profoundly political and revolutionary act.” (Alberti 928) “The greatness of the ending…lies in the unnerving realism with which it probes the dynamics of human meanness and offers hope of friendship between the races, even in America.” (French…show more content…
It’s about morals, and shows that it isn’t always okay to go with society’s views. Huck himself becomes an outcast of society by choosing to help Jim escape and cast aside his religious views and “moral” obligation. Twain uses the element of racial prejudice and religious conflict to highlight his worldview on the institution of slavery and society. By showing Huck’s thoughts on slavery and then having a crisis of conscience over Jim, a black slave, Twain portrays slavery as a moral issue. Howells describes realism in a novel as the truth of human experience. Authors “rely for their moral effect simply and solely upon their truth to nature,” and that is what Twain does. He relies on the “moral effect” the writing has on the readers. Readers are supposed to question the racist things written in the novel. It’s a moral obligation. Twain uses these elements in a realistic way to how society was back when it was
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