Huckleberry Finn's Relation To The Civil War
Huckleberry Finn’s Relation To The Civil War
Throughout the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, one major theme that stands out is racism. The Civil War, which was the war between the north and south over the idea of slavery and federal authority versus states’ rights, started in 1861 and conclusively ended in 1865. Nonetheless, Mark Twain published the book in 1885. Even after the end of the Civil War America still faced complications with racism and the repercussions of slavery. The south was hit the hardest with the racism and slavery troubles. Mark Twain, born on November 30th, 1835 in Missouri, has the birth name of Samuel L Clemens. Missouri was a slave state so when he was young Twain was familiarized with the notion of slavery. Many people born in this time period were raised to understand that blacks were slaves and not humans. Missouri is the location where the novel begins and it travels down the Mississippi River. These were areas where slavery was common, along with where Mark Twain was born and raised. When talking about King Solomon with Huck, Jim says “En mine you, de real pint is down furder – it’s down deeper. It lays in de way Sollermun was raised.” (Twain 82) He wrote many books based on Tom and Huck and their adventures. Huckleberry Finn is the one that stands out prominently from the others. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published an entire two decades after the American Civil War in 1885 but was set two decades before. It is a representation of the fact that the ideas of slavery and racism had not ended and was still something that people dealt with on a daily basis. People still had problems accepting that whites and blacks could be equal. In the book Huck says, “I do believe he cared just as much for his people as white folks does for theirs. It don’t seem natural, but I recon it’s so.” (Twain 160) This shows that although in this time period it does not seem “natural” it is possible that a black man can love
Throughout the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, one major theme that stands out is racism. The Civil War, which was the war between the north and south over the idea of slavery and federal authority versus states’ rights, started in 1861 and conclusively ended in 1865. Nonetheless, Mark Twain published the book in 1885. Even after the end of the Civil War America still faced complications with racism and the repercussions of slavery. The south was hit the hardest with the racism and slavery troubles. Mark Twain, born on November 30th, 1835 in Missouri, has the birth name of Samuel L Clemens. Missouri was a slave state so when he was young Twain was familiarized with the notion of slavery. Many people born in this time period were raised to understand that blacks were slaves and not humans. Missouri is the location where the novel begins and it travels down the Mississippi River. These were areas where slavery was common, along with where Mark Twain was born and raised. When talking about King Solomon with Huck, Jim says “En mine you, de real pint is down furder – it’s down deeper. It lays in de way Sollermun was raised.” (Twain 82) He wrote many books based on Tom and Huck and their adventures. Huckleberry Finn is the one that stands out prominently from the others. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published an entire two decades after the American Civil War in 1885 but was set two decades before. It is a representation of the fact that the ideas of slavery and racism had not ended and was still something that people dealt with on a daily basis. People still had problems accepting that whites and blacks could be equal. In the book Huck says, “I do believe he cared just as much for his people as white folks does for theirs. It don’t seem natural, but I recon it’s so.” (Twain 160) This shows that although in this time period it does not seem “natural” it is possible that a black man can love
Cited: http://www.history.com/topics/mark-twain