Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: RacismThe twentieth century has reached an astonishing finale. Racism, ethnic prejudice and hatred are on the decline. Perhaps some of these changes can be attributed to the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, in which Mark Twain addresses issues of racism and slavery. He writes with humor, almost childish, but the themes are clear and poignant. Twain uses Huck Finn and Jim as ideal characters because they are the ones, at the end of the novel, who realize that slavery is wrong. Mark Twain establishes the ideals by describing them through the protagonists, Huck and Jim and criticizes the failure to live up to them by describing them through the antagonists, Miss Watson. Prejudice can be seen throughout the novel by how other characters treat Huck. Twain portrays Huck as an average boy of his time, mischievous, adventurous and funny. The society in which Huck lives calls him "uncivilized" because he has an abusive and drunken father. "Little by little, Dad got too good with his hick'ry and I couldn't stand it. I was done with the marks" (Twain page no.). Here the reader can observe the ultimate failure of an uncivilized person. Pap is an alcoholic, a beater and a racist. Nevertheless, society also considered Huck "uncivilized" because he did not wear shoes, did not always go to school, and smoked. Society criticized Huck as being uncivilized because of his physical appearance, when in reality, Huck turned out to be more civilized than any other character in the novel because he learned to respect Jim. Through Huck's ironic critique of the society that attempts to civilize, Huck teaches us a lesson on how to be civilized. In the novel, Jim is on the run from his slave owner, Miss Watson. By doing such a thing, Jim could have been killed or beaten. The people at Jim's company wouldn't have even listened to him or even thought about his reason. "Well, you see, it's like that. That old lady is Miss Watson, she pecks me all the time and treats me roughly, but she always said she'd sell me to Orléans. ... but she could get me eight hundred dollars” (Twain page no.) Twain wanted to show, through Jim, how cruel people were and how these feelings were tolerated by society Twain also shows the ideal of freedom to. through Jim and the inability to respect this freedom when Miss Watson sells him..