depiction of Jim is not negative in the sense that Jim is stupid and inferior, and this aspect of the story is clearly not meant as a racial slight. Next, it is necessary to analyze the way in which white characters treat Jim throughout the book. Note that what the author felt is not the way most characters act around Jim, and his feelings are probably only conveyed through Huck. In the South during that period, black people were treated as less than humans, and Twain needed to portray this. The examples of the ways Jim is belittled include being locked up, having to hide his face in the daytime, and being mercilessly ridiculed So, Mark Twain had to display Jim's treatment 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 wa...
