Mark Twain's novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn attempts to take the reader into the dark heart of American slavery, but at the end of the novel the reader follows the childish escapades of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. The novel follows the journey of a young boy who grew up in Southern society, just before the impending American Civil War. Huckleberry and Jim, a runaway slave, develop a strong friendship as they travel down the Mississippi River together. Towards the end of the book, Jim is captured and Huck makes the decisive choice to save him. Tom Sawyer, the protagonist of Twain's earlier novel, knows that Jim has already been freed by the dying wish of Jim's owner, but Tom convinces Huck to carry out elaborate plans to "free" Jim, simply for the sake of it. adventure that Tom desperately. implored. Even before Tom Sawyer's return, much of the story seemed to distract from the relevant social issues addressed by Twain at the beginning of the novel. Many people believe that Twain transparently denounces racism through Huck's moral revelations. However, by the end of the novel, it is clear that the issue of racism has been swept aside as the plot is diverted to the invented adventures of Tom Sawyer, and Huck's journey of character growth remains unfinished. Literary critic Jane Smiley explains: “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has little to offer in the way of greatness. There is more to be learned about the American character from its canonization than through its canonization” (Smiley). Fundamentally, there is more to be learned from the fact that the novel is glorified than from the ideas for which it is glorified. Although many have praised The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for Twain's social commentary on the flaws of 19th-century Southern society, this novel's glorification says more about America's misunderstanding of racism than Twain managed to do it. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay At the beginning of the novel, Huck idolizes Tom Sawyer and is willing to do whatever Tom says. Even though Huck grows and changes a lot as a character, as soon as Tom is reintroduced into the novel, Huck reverts to being the sidekick he started out as. Jim, who was already beginning to resemble Huck's sidekick, is pushed even further into the margins of the novel, despite the vital importance of Jim's character to the messages Twain attempted to convey. Proponents of the novel credit Tom's influence with the regression of Huck's character and the cessation of meaningful plot progression. They highlight the memorable scene where Jim is captured, because here Huck is faced with the internal question of whether he should stick his neck out and save Jim or whether he should inform Jim's owner of his whereabouts . Huck tears up the note he intended to send to Jim's landlord and says, "All right, then I'll go to hell" (Twain 228). Defenders of the novel will claim that it shows significant character growth for a boy who had never had to care for anyone but himself, who had been raised to believe that helping this slave to escaping would lead him to his own eternal damnation in hell. If Twain had ended the book here, it would have been a fitting conclusion to the novel. Instead, in subsequent chapters, Twain undoes everything he had built. As impressive as Huck's decision to make this decision is, it means absolutely nothing if Huck doesn't take any initiative to follow through on it. Huck gives in as soon as Tom puts pressure on him. Even though Huck decided earlierin the novel about no longer pranking Jim, Huck accompanies Tom, as Tom creates a series of unnecessary obstacles that result in Jim's captivity, including making Jim live with spiders, snakes, and rats. If Huck is unable to speak for Jim in front of his friend, he has not proven that he has learned anything. He knows what Tom is doing is a nuisance at best, but he remains passive, saying, "So I left it at that, even though I saw no advantage with Tom while he hatches his crazy plans" (Twain 256). Huck loses all the qualities that made him an admirable protagonist; he loses his compassion, his courage and above all his independence of thought. Huck is no longer the complex character the reader was taught to look for. The heart of the problem with this obvious regression of characters lies in society's perception of the novel and the praise it receives for its denunciation of racism. If Huck goes back on every promise he made to Jim and bows to society's expectations every time someone else looks at him, is meant to convey to the reader the absurdities of racism, that doesn't say much about the American social situation. As Jane Smiley says, society believes that "if Huck feels positive towards Jim, loves him, and sees him as a man, then that's enough" (Smiley). The opposition thinks it can congratulate itself on having a protagonist capable of demonstrating basic human decency. Glorifying this novel ignores the underlying issues of racism and slavery and allows the opposition to rationalize an overly simplistic understanding of them. Twain, unable to address the darker themes he touched on with Huck's story, not only denies the plot development, but also leaves Huck's character's journey of growth unfinished. Much of Huck's growth comes from ignoring the childish mentality of accepting what he is told and learning to make decisions about what is right and wrong for himself. Through Huck's friendship with Jim, Huck begins to unravel racism and other social problems in society. However, even though Huck begins to see Jim's humanity, by the end of the novel Twain has not done enough to resolve these issues and certainly does not deserve credit for speaking out against racism. It is true that Huck has learned to treat Jim with more respect and compassion, but it is clear that he is going in the wrong direction for one simple reason: Huck is only learning to apply the concept of humanity to Jim and not to other slaves or Africans. Americans. When Jim tells Huck about his family, Huck thinks, "And I believe he cared as much about his people as white people do about their own people." It doesn’t seem natural, but I think it is” (Twain 167). It's obvious that Huck thinks Jim is an exception, that he's more like "white people" than like people of color, and that's what makes Jim more human. Huck doesn't learn to treat African Americans like humans, he learns to treat Jim like a white man. Even if Huck gained the respect of all people of color, this would be invalidated by the fact that Huck thinks he is a bad person for it; he thinks that what he is doing by helping Jim is morally wrong. When Tom offers to help save Jim, Huck thinks less of Tom for this, saying, "That was the most astonishing speech I ever heard – and I must say Tom Sawyer fell considerably, in my opinion . Only, I couldn't believe it. Tom Sawyer, a ***** thief! (Douain 240). Huck still has a long way to go before he can become one of literature's great leading figures for racial equality, but Twain does not insinuate any further learning after the novel ends. By thus cutting the 1884.