How does Twain deal with the issue of Jim's freedom?

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How does Twain deal with the issue of Jim’s freedom?

Mark Twain or Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in the south of America in 1835.  The south of America was, at this time pro slavery.  As such one would expect a biased and slanted view on one of the main themes of the book Huckleberry Finn – race.  However close analysis reveals otherwise.  The issue I will be looking at is that of Jim’s freedom and the way in which Twain shows that he possibly does not take the expected side on the subject.

Though many are under the impression that the American civil war was caused by the rift between the country over the issue of slavery, the truth is that is was not the main reason…but was one of the many causes.  It is however very important in Huck Finn.  Having lived in the south he would have been surrounded by a society that treats black people as property.  They had no rights, no freedom and spent most of, if not all their lives in the servitude of rich white people who would treat them little worse than animals – starving and beating them.  They were bound by rules, the breaking of which would lead to at the least severe beating and more often that not, death.  One of the offences punishable by the latter was that of running away from the master who bought you and legally owned you.  This is why it is interesting to see that Twain is not out rightly pro slavery but in fact gives nothing away about his views on Jim’s freedom.  He uses a technique very skilfully to show the two sides of the nature of society and the nature of man.

The technique is the use of irony which he has mastered to a stage at which he can show his views on the issue of freedom and society without actually making any statements.  It is this device that he uses to show his views on slavery…or more accurately he doesn’t.  When you first encounter Jim in the episode where Tom Sawyer and Huck are crawling through the bushes and Jim spots them, he stays looking for them till he falls asleep.  This section ends with him falling asleep and being tricked into believing that he has been the subject of witchcraft.  Through this, Twain gives us a first impression that Jim is a person  of little education who is superstitious, gullible and slow witted.  This is an impression that will be dispelled as Twain starts to use irony to change our opinions.  This is the kind of view of blacks that was taken by the people of the so called ‘civilised society’ that Jim serves.  As it seems so far, Twain is proslavery and has a low view of blacks.  Our first proof that Jim may have something more to him than has so far been credited to him is when on page 100 he makes the following statement: “Yes- en I’s rich now, come to look at it.  I owns mysef, en I’s wuth eight hund’d dollars.  I wisht I had de money, I wouldn’ want no mo”  This example of dramatic irony shows us that Twain is introducing some sort of quality to Jim that has yet not been shown.  It is an example of Jim’s logic showing through, which although flawed is there and makes him appear much more than just a ‘nigger’.  

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The next example is the conversation between Huck and Jim about the French on pages135-136.  Whilst Huck has the supposed education and Jim is supposed to be the uneducated one, Jim comes out on top.  Huck explains but Jim will not listen but instead comes up with an answer to which Huck cannot argue.  In this situation Jim seems to be the more knowledgeable and Huck the one who is learning as a pose to the real situation which existed at the time which was the complete opposite.  There Is a significance in Jim’s answer too.  He starts his ...

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