American Literature II

Huckleberry Finn is a book where racist sentiments are intentionally displayed. The narrator, Huck, even shows shades of racism. However, the book itself is not racist. This can be seen through the moments of hypocritical and paradoxical humor in the narrative, as satire is used to convey Twain’s opposition to racism. Satire is often used as a part of social commentary, and often is accomplished through the use of irony.

There’s blatant irony in Chapter 14, when Huck’s freaking out when he realizes the implications of helping Jim be free, when Huck goes, “Thinks I, this is what comes of my not thinking.  Here was this nigger, which I had as good as helped to run away, coming right out flat-footed and saying he would steal his children—children that belonged to a man I didn’t even know; a man that hadn’t ever done me no harm.” The irony is heavy particularly at the end of the quote. The phrasing of “steal his children […] that belonged to a man I didn’t even know” depicts Jim as though he’s in the wrong, stealing something he has no claim on, and depicts the slave owner as a victim who does have the claim on the children. Jim’s children don’t belong to Jim, but to the slave owner. The sympathy Huck expresses for this slave owner is comedic because of its absurdity. It goes on further on to say how Huck “was sorry to hear Jim say that, it was such a lowering of him” and that Huck’s “conscience got to stirring” — on behalf of the slave owner, as if Jim was doing something wrong. This irony was intentional on the part of Mark Twain, demonstrating Huck’s racism while drawing attention to the ridiculousness of such racist ideology, or at the very least in regards to slavery. It’s one of those lines you read and laugh out in disbelief at the absurdity of it, and it’s not just because of the values dissonance between then and now; it was intentional on Mark Twain’s part, and it was to bring attention to the hypocrisy of racist ideology.

Satire can have the problem of being misunderstood for being straightforward. Therefore, a satire of racism can potentially be misunderstood for being racist. This is the case for Huckleberry Finn, which makes use of irony and satire as part of a social commentary. These moments of irony are funny to a modern audience, but Mark Twain used irony not just for comedic laughs but to also bring attention to the hypocrisy and ridiculousness of such thoughts. Huck being disgusted at Jim for planning on “stealing” his children is not Twain expressing that it’s wrong to “steal” slaves from their ‘owners’ but Twain expressing how ridiculous it is for a father not to have a claim on his children, and how ridiculous it is to think that freeing human beings who are really wrongly ‘owned’ can be “stealing” them anyway. Twain doesn’t really have more sympathy for the slave owner than Jim, but is rather poking fun at society for doing so with its racism. Huckleberry Finn is thus not a racist book but a book about racism and the hypocrisy of society, among other things.