Twain and the Slavery Controversy

Twain and the Slavery Controversy

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark twain has stirred up controversy since it was first published in 1885. Much of the controversy, both in the past and in present times, has centered around the novel's treatment of Jim and the issues of race and slavery, particularly the use of the nefarious "n" word which even in Twain's time was both impolite and derogatory. In fact, though Huck himself never seems to realize it, slavery is a major issue in the novel -- perhaps the central issue, depending on the reading. Yet slavery was abolished in the United States after the end of the Civil War, a full twenty years before Twain wrote and publish the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The fact that Twain set the novel in the pre-Civil War era, and chose to make slavery such a prominent theme of the book, might seem odd given the dramatic change in situation that the end of slavery seemed to herald.

But the truth is that the former slaves and their children, and indeed all people of color, were still heavily discriminated against in many parts of the country, a situation that would not change until the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s through the 70s, and the struggle is arguably still going today. Twain's depiction of slavery in the novel allowed him to comment on the still-denigrated state of the African-American in 1885, without directly accusing or attacking the people of his own time but instead by pointing out hypocrisy in general.

This, of course, is right in line with Twain's style. The entire novel is told from the comic and extremely naive point-of-view of huckleberry Finn, and though he makes many wise observations about the various characters he meets, there is much he sees that he does not notice. Twain has meant for the reader to see the things that Huck does not, however, and to make judgments that seem obvious to an adult reader but which evade Huck's more innocent mind. In the same way, slavery is used to make an indirect comment on the treatment of African-Americans in the antebellum period when the book was published, and in which Twain was writing.

During this time, African-Americans in many parts of the country, especially the South, were treated as nearly or even explicitly by the law as sub-human, just as they had been during slave times. Huck illustrates the hypocrisy that such laws have when equality has ostensibly been granted to the former slaves. Despite befriending, aiding, and receiving help from Jim, he is still so wracked with guilt over letting Jim -- who was legally Miss Watson's property -- get away that he said, "I most wished I was dead" (97). Huck does not realize the hypocrisy of his conflicting feelings, but the reader is certainly meant to, and by the end of the novel Huck decides that his friendship makes more sense than the law, and he plans to help Jim escape again despite his guilt. His decision that Jim is worthy of the same consideration as any other man is not only a sign of Huck's growth, but a direct statement that Twain was making to the people reading his book in a very racially divisive time.

Twain also makes many broader statements about humanity in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The book is full of many characters who take advantage of others, like the Duke and the King, people who hate and fight senselessly, like the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons, and even honorable seeming men like Colonel Sherburn, who despite an eloquent speech about honor and the common man's cowardice shot and killed a defenseless drunk. Huck has a major epiphany when he sees the Duke and King, who have betrayed Huck and everyone else they met, tarred and feathered. Despite their actions against him and their obvious lack of regard for others, Huck feels sick at the sight and comments that "humans can be awful cruel to one another" (254). Slavery is one of the clearest example of man's cruelty to man, and is the central and most clear example used in the novel to illustrate the injustice inherent to the maltreatment of any human being. Jim is not portrayed as a perfect character, though he is in no way as morally corrupt as the Duke and the King, but he is still a man, just as they are. Huck applies true democracy to his relationships and eventually to his beliefs; this was something, Twain felt the people of his time needed to see.