n] observed that Huckelberry Finn’s Jim rarely emerges from behind the minstrel mask (Wonham 33)." Twain’s patronage of the minstrel show only circumstantially indites him through association. Many of those who enjoyed the performances of whites acting like stereotypical blacks could’ve been racist but we do not condemn everybody who enjoys the Jeff Foxworthy’s redneck jokes as racist. Humor consists of showing an ironic situation in a way that people enjoy. Many people watch America’s Funniest Home Videos (or an earlier version in the Three Stooges), which contains painful looking physical comedy. Do we dub these people as masochists? The minstrel blackface musicals consisted of mainly slapstick humor and standard jokes that are the precursor to today’s standup comedy. Condemning Twain for ‘cheapening’ the legacy of slavery by enjoying Minstrel Theater is similar to accusing those who enjoyed Jim Cameron’s version of the Titanic disaster of ‘insensitivity’ to the true victims of Titanic because the movie Titanic focuses on the unrealistic fictitious characters rather than the truly deserving deceased. When only narrowly considering small portions a Twain’s work one will get a limited picture of his philosophy. Ralph Ellison’s character in the Invisible Man learned to "direct pain into laughter and to contain the electricity in that way (Lott 136)." Twain’s sense of humor grows darker as the tragedies befalling him pile up but he continued, in his own way, to write cathartic and satirically groundbreaking material. The basis for the passion and repetition of Twain’s slave era works is most likely came from his desire to counter the ‘Contented Negro on the Plantation’ themed novels circulating during reconstruction. In the book Mark Twain’s Ethical Realism, Joe B. Fulton writes, "Twain goes out of his way in his writings to get the...
