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   lizbv Teacher
   High School - 9th Grade

   eNotes Editor

   Mark Twain's classic, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, stand as a strong statement concerning his anti-slavery views.  The slave in the text that accompanies Huck on his trip down the Mississippi River, Jim, depicts the stereotypes that society accepted and used against African Americans at that time.  Twain satirizes these stereotypes by depicting Jim as actually being the most civilized character in the text.  The Grangerfords are involved in a bloody and horrible feud that has lasted for so many generations they cannot even remember when it started, the Duke is a con-artist, even Miss Watson who took in Huck is a hypocrite according to the information Huck gives us about her bad habits.  In addition, Huck's father is a 'deadbeat' dad who mistreats Huck.  Therefore, most of the white people in the text in some way or other represent a folly of society, and often even hypocrisy, whereas Jim is shown by Twain to be a good, moral, and caring character.

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   Posted by lizbv on Tuesday January 13, 2009 at 7:57 PM