BY SAMANTHA PINKES

Mark Twain’s Views on Racism

Twain’s Childhood(Railton)

Grew up in MissouriSlavery was taken for grantedHis family owned slavesHe never questioned having slaves

He was told it was “Holy”He watched “nigger shows” for

entertainment

Slavery– A Necessity? (Camfield)

Economy – does it need slaves?The benefits of having slavesSlaves became a mark of how much money

you had and it showed your social class

http://weblog.themadeiratimes.com/2006/07/25/thoughts-upon-slavery/

Young Adult (Carter)

Fought in the civil war for the confederate side

The effect of work on the steamboats up and down the Mississippi river

http://www.twainquotes.com/steamboat.jpg

http://saraegoodman.blogspot.com/2011/01/disney-fication-of-huck-finn-american.html

Beginning his Writing(Fishkin)

Experience while working in CaliforniaHe started writing in newspapers, but no one

would publish his anti-racism articlesIn the beginning Mark Twain used satire

http://www.ci.elmira.ny.us/history/pics/twain_young.jpg

Societies Response to Racism

The press was unwilling to expose the injustices of racism and slavery for fear of the consequences and because of their own beliefs.

That didn’t stop Twain from voicing his opinions and speaking out against racism and slavery.

Abolitionists (Camfield)

They were subject to violence if they talked openly about their views

They were also excluded from societyThe Langdon family

• HTTP://THISISMARKTWAIN.COM/AUTOBIOGRAPHY/321.HTML

Racial Views in Writing(Railton)

Twain’s views on racism are mixed in his writing

He uses the word “nigger” to describe slaves in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Is it racism or was it just the way they used to speak?

In some books slavery is barely mentioned and in others it is the main topic of the book The adventures of Tom Sawyer vs. Puddn’head Wilson

Parallels of Slavery(Railton)

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” Jim is literally enslaved by a his master, but Huck is also enslaved by the ideas of society.

It takes Huck the entire book to finally come to terms with his ideas about Jim. When Jim finally becomes a free man, Huck can begin to realize that helping Jim really was the right thing.

Separation Between Author and Narrator

Huck and Mark Twain’s views are clearly separated at the beginning of the novel: “You don’t know about me without you have read a

book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain’t no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly”. (Twain pg. 1)

Although Twain clearly separates his views from Huck’s, the environment that Huck lives in is very similar to the one that Twain grew up in.

(Twain pg. 1)

Racism In Writing

In the book, Huck talks as if he would speak in real life and his vocabulary includes words that are considered racist.

This does not mean that Mark Twain is racist. He just writes realistically.

Works Cited

Carter, Stephen L. "Getting Past Black and White." Time in Partnership with CNN. Time, 3 July 2008. Web. 29 Mar. 2011. <http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1820162,00.html>.

Camfield, Gregg. "Race." Twain's Life and Works. University of California, Merced. Web. 29 Mar. 2011. <http://dig.lib.niu.edu/twain/racepr.html>.

Fishkin. Shelley. “Mark Twain and American Racial Attitudes.” Online Posting. Mark Twain’s Mississippi. 2005. Web. 1 April 2011.

Railton, Stephen. "Imaging "Slavery" in MT's Books." Electronic Text Center of the University of Virginia. University of Virginia, 2009. Web. 29 Mar. 2011. <http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/railton/wilson/slavery/mtslavhp.html>.

Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. USA: Amsco School Publications, 1972. Print.

Pictures from Google Images