ABSTRACT
Mark Twain's Criticism of Slavery System:
Focusing on Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Pyung-Sim Jeong
Department of English Literature
Graduate School
Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
The purpose of this thesis is to investigate Mark Twain's(Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910)...
ABSTRACT
Mark Twain's Criticism of Slavery System:
Focusing on Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Pyung-Sim Jeong
Department of English Literature
Graduate School
Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
The purpose of this thesis is to investigate Mark Twain's(Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910) critical attitude toward the slavery of 19th-Century Southern America described in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mainstream Southern American society at that time flatly did not allow freedom and liberty for Black people, a contradiction of America's Constitution which declares "All men are created equal".
To reflect the circumstances of 19th-Century American racial discrimination against black American citizens, in his book Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain created two characters, Huck and Jim. Huck represents the Southern white male, while Jim symbolizes the black Southerners. Thus, Mark Twain criticizes the slavery system in general and the idea of white supremacy.
Huck and Jim happened to meet each other on Jackson Island. Traveling on a raft floating down the Mississippi River, Jim and Huck are able to become close friends. In addition, Jim and Huck exchange a lot of ideas and appear to be equal in social status. For the first time, Huck comes to understand that the Blacks have a sense of logic and a love for their family, contrary to the white people's belief.
Through many episodes we can understand the problems of slavery through Jim's symbolic comments on the raft that is floating on the Mississippi River. We can also trace how Twain deals with the relations between the Whites and the Blacks, using the rafting journey as a literary device to critique slavery. Huck eventually determines that he will not let the Whites know that Jim, a runaway nigger, is with him and accepts that since he is protecting Jim, he will probably go to Hell for breaking US Law. Huck's final decision is a pungent attack on slavery. This critical moment suggests that in the friendly relations between Whites and Blacks, skin color is not the factor that really matters. For the United States to enjoy freedom and equality apart from Europe, separating the New World from the Old World, white Americans should try to escape from this contradictory dilemma and establish a fairer democratic world.
Among Caucasian American writers, Mark Twain is the first one who declares that America should treat all citizens including Blacks equally. This is the greatness of Mark Twain, although some black readers were against the book when finding the word 'Nigger' repeated over 200 times in it. When we truly try to understand the novel, the perceptive reader will be able to see that the use of 'Nigger' is nothing but the strategy for ignoring skin color, by labelling Black people and rendering the importance of true skin color insignificant.
Mark Twain's criticism of racial discrimination is shown by the investigation of 'the Black Codes of 1865' indicating that the Blacks were not equal even after the 1880s. White supremacy should be abandoned, it seems to say.
In conclusion, this important novel in American literature conveys Mark Twain's strong will for social reform and equal rights for all citizens. Hence, Twain is essentially an astute social critic. In addition, this is a good chance to explore Twain's idea of social criticism, while the theme of his novel represents the desire for the democracy that America's Constitution Founders did not create.
ABSTRACT
Mark Twain's Criticism of Slavery System:
Focusing on Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Pyung-Sim Jeong
Department of English Literature
Graduate School
Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
The purpose of this thesis is to investigate Mark Twain's(Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910) critical attitude toward the slavery of 19th-Century Southern America described in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mainstream Southern American society at that time flatly did not allow freedom and liberty for Black people, a contradiction of America's Constitution which declares "All men are created equal".
To reflect the circumstances of 19th-Century American racial discrimination against black American citizens, in his book Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain created two characters, Huck and Jim. Huck represents the Southern white male, while Jim symbolizes the black Southerners. Thus, Mark Twain criticizes the slavery system in general and the idea of white supremacy.
Huck and Jim happened to meet each other on Jackson Island. Traveling on a raft floating down the Mississippi River, Jim and Huck are able to become close friends. In addition, Jim and Huck exchange a lot of ideas and appear to be equal in social status. For the first time, Huck comes to understand that the Blacks have a sense of logic and a love for their family, contrary to the white people's belief.
Through many episodes we can understand the problems of slavery through Jim's symbolic comments on the raft that is floating on the Mississippi River. We can also trace how Twain deals with the relations between the Whites and the Blacks, using the rafting journey as a literary device to critique slavery. Huck eventually determines that he will not let the Whites know that Jim, a runaway nigger, is with him and accepts that since he is protecting Jim, he will probably go to Hell for breaking US Law. Huck's final decision is a pungent attack on slavery. This critical moment suggests that in the friendly relations between Whites and Blacks, skin color is not the factor that really matters. For the United States to enjoy freedom and equality apart from Europe, separating the New World from the Old World, white Americans should try to escape from this contradictory dilemma and establish a fairer democratic world.
Among Caucasian American writers, Mark Twain is the first one who declares that America should treat all citizens including Blacks equally. This is the greatness of Mark Twain, although some black readers were against the book when finding the word 'Nigger' repeated over 200 times in it. When we truly try to understand the novel, the perceptive reader will be able to see that the use of 'Nigger' is nothing but the strategy for ignoring skin color, by labelling Black people and rendering the importance of true skin color insignificant.
Mark Twain's criticism of racial discrimination is shown by the investigation of 'the Black Codes of 1865' indicating that the Blacks were not equal even after the 1880s. White supremacy should be abandoned, it seems to say.
In conclusion, this important novel in American literature conveys Mark Twain's strong will for social reform and equal rights for all citizens. Hence, Twain is essentially an astute social critic. In addition, this is a good chance to explore Twain's idea of social criticism, while the theme of his novel represents the desire for the democracy that America's Constitution Founders did not create.
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