Slavery in Huckleberry Finn Essay

Slavery is a key issue in Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. The story takes place at a point in time when slavery was regarded only as that peculiar institution. In the South, slavery was lauded as a necessary evil, and it came naturally; most people had never known things any other way. At the onset of the story, Huck is a product of this environment. He does not fully realize or understand the true moral issues involved with slavery. This outlook was heavily based on the fact that he, and many other southern whites, regarded slaves not as people, but as things. Throughout his story, Huck undergoes many experiences that ultimately help him to formulate his own unique outlook on slavery, and finally come to the realization that slaves are part of the human family.

An overriding secondary theme of the story is how blacks were to be second hand citizens. At the beginning of the novel, Huck and Tom fondly reminisce about playing tricks on Jim, some of which went so far as to tie Jim to a tree. Later on, Huck plays the rattlesnake trick on Jim, which ends up completely backfiring, as Jim is almost killed by the rattlers partner. Huck is internally upset over the incident, but still decides he need not feel very guilty. The drowning- raft incident however, is where we see Hucks views slowly begin to change. He tells us, It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a slave I didnt do him no more mean tricks, and I wouldnt done that one if Id a knowed it would make him feel that way. Huck seeks to retain his hard exterior, but without the external influence of society, Huck truly begins to see Jim as Jim the person (with feelings) rather than Jim the slave.

Twain radically shifts the direction of the story to social criticism of the antebellum South for the majority of the middle chapters but once again returns to the Huck and Jim drama near the end. The moral climax of the book lies in chapter XXXI, where Huck is torn between writing to Ms. Watson about Jims whereabouts, or going to rescue Jim. Hucks response can be thus summed up, All right, then, Ill go to hell Here is where Hucks new view shifts radically from his former. Helping a slave was looked upon as a most heinous and immoral crime, and Huck firmly believed that he was in the wrong. Nothing however, could change the way his conscience felt about his friend, regardless of what society had to say.

During the very last chapters, Huck realizes Jim to be a genuinely good person, with the key word being person. Because of Jims heroic actions, staying by Tom through his injury ordeal, Huck remarks, I knowed he was white inside which, by how Huck meant it, was one of the highest compliments one could give a black person. Even later on, Huck says, I thought he had a good heart in him and was a good man Although Hucks ignorance still shines through by his white inside comment; we see a genuine change of heart, and a sharp turn away from the accepted societal attitude.

The novel ends with, Yours Truly, Huck Finn. There is no apology or rationalization, but only the plain and innocent courtesies of a young man, meaning Huck truly believed his story and accepted all the changes within him. Huck formulated his own views and did away with what society says was proper. Twain used Huckleberry Finn superbly as a vehicle for his own commentary on the evils of slavery, and his purpose largely resided in encouraging his audience to be like Huck: a shepherd rather than a sheep.