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  • Essay / How Twain Depicts Characters in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

    In “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” Mark Twain portrays various characters in the story according to his own moral and social beliefs. He portrays some characters as admirable or virtuous, and others as unsympathetic or amoral. These depictions reflect Twain's sociological, religious, and moral belief system. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay.Twain portrays the story's main character, Huck Finn, in a very positive light. This is no surprise, but when you look at Huck's characteristics, you can see the values ​​that Twain considers desirable. For example, Huck is a very morally good person. This is evident when he helps runaway slave Jim escape slavery by riding a raft on the Mississippi River, and when he foils the scam by telling Wilks' older sister the truth. Huck was the son of a physically abused alcoholic. This creates sympathy in the reader, making them more likeable. But his charm lies in his personality. Huck is the embodiment of youthful rebellion and childish adventure. His freedom from everyday rules and regulations gives him a freedom that other boys his age can only dream of. His adventurous and wild spirit gives him a certain naturalism. These qualities go straight to the heart of any boy in Huck's age group, which is why this book has always been so popular among young readers. These qualities could also imply that Twain highly valued youth and a naturally adventurous spirit. Another character that Twain portrays in a positive light is Jim. Again, Twain uses sympathy to make the reader feel sorry or pity Jim. It's about a runaway slave, considered property by some, but depicted here from a very human perspective. Jim is introduced as someone who befriends Huck and misses his wife and children dearly. Jim is humanized in a book where he could very easily be objectified. In fact, it was a societal norm to treat black people as objects in the setting of the book, and many other characters do this. This is relevant to Twain's own views on slavery. Twain was known for his anti-slavery beliefs and conveys this idea more openly in some of his other writings. According to Twain critic Jim Zwick, “First made public by the New York Times in 1985 after being authenticated by Twain scholar Shelley Fisher Fishkin, Mark Twain's letter to Francis Wayland is an important document. Unlike Huckleberry Finn, which masks the author's views through both Huck's first-person narration and reliance on satire, the letter to Wayland directly expresses Twain's thoughts on racism in American society and responsibility of white American citizens. His conclusion that “the shame is ours, not theirs, and we should pay for it.” ", is certainly a far cry from David Horowitz's claims that centuries of slavery have benefited African Americans and that calls for reparations are somehow "one more assault on America" ​​(Zwick). Twain was known for his anti-slavery views, his humanization and sympathy for Jim are evidence of this. To give an example of a character that Twain despises, we can look at the details of the Duke and the King. upper class nobles from another country who undertake very immoral actions They manipulate and lie to a small town, pretending to be.