Racism and Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn Since the very first printing of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the book has always been a very controversial one, to say the least. Many people misunderstand Mark Twain's intentions when he wrote this book. He just wanted to tell a story, not preach hate. He does a very good job of demonstrating the culture of the late eighteen hundreds. In no way is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn aimed at belittling the African American Race, it merely illustrates how the poorly the slave owners and traders treated blacks.
Throughout the book, the word "nigger" is very prominently used. As you can imagine, African American people take offense to that word, even most people take offense to that word. Just because we might take offense to that word doesn't mean that we should just turn our heads and pretend that the word does not exist.
The cover of the first edition of Adventures of Hu...
Illustration of Jim and Huckleberry Finn, by EW Ke...
1885 illustration from Mark Twain's Adventures of ...Mark Twain did a very good job when writing this book, in terms of the dialect he used. During the period of time when this book was written, the "n-word" was part of their culture, where as the words "African American" and "black" are used today in our culture. If Mark Twain avoided the many racial slurs used during the late eighteen hundreds, the book would have lost some of the intellectual value which it possesses, not to mention the historical value of the era. Besides, if Mark Twain used alternate words, he would be writing from a romantic point of view, instead of a realist point of view. Throughout the whole book, Mark Twain never makes a derogatory comment or statement towards anyone, especially blacks. The only time he does use the "n-word" is in a character's dialogue. '"And to see the cool way of that nigger-why, he...