t in this manner, even if it was not the way he felt. Huck, however, does not treat Jim as most whites do. Huck sees Jim as a friend, and by the end of their journey, disagrees with society's notion that blacks are inferior. There are two main examples of this in the story. The first one is where Huck is disgusted by Jim's plans to steal his own children, who are "someone else's property." While Huck still seems racially prejudiced at this point, Twain has written the scene in a way that ridicules the notion that someone's children can actually be the property of a stranger just because the father is black. The second example is where Huck doesn't reveal Jim's whereabouts, so as not force Jim to return to slavery. Huck instead chooses to "go to hell" for his decision. This is again Twain making a mockery of Southern values that considered it a sin to be kind to black people.Twain's critics consider the novel to be racist, and quite outwardly so. They cite the common use of the word "nigger," as the most obvious instance of the book's racism. This, however, is not a good example because this is how blacks were referred to then. To have used the words Negro or African-American would have taken away from the story's impact, and would make it sound ridiculous. If Twain wanted to write a historically accurate book - as he did - then the inclusion of this word is totally necessary.A closer reading also reveals Twain's serious satiric intent. In one scene, for instance, Aunt Sally hears of a steamboat explosion. "Good gracious! anybody hurt?" she asks. "No'm," comes the answer, "Killed a nigger." But anyone who imagines that Mark Twain meant this literally is missing the point. Rather, Twain is using this casual dialogue ironically, as a way to underscore the chilling truth about the old south - that it was a society where perfectly "nice" people didn't consider the death of a black person worth their notice. To drive the point home, Twain h...
