Mark Twain and SlaveryMark Twain, a famous American writer, wrote many books that are acclaimed around the world. For his masterpiece, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the literary establishment recognized him as one of the greatest writers America has ever produced. This novel is about a teenager named Huck Finn. He lives with Miss Watson and the Widow Douglas who adopted him. He decides that civilian life isn't for him and that he will run away. Early in his adventure he comes across Miss Watson's runaway slave, Jim. Instead of reporting Jim, Huck goes against society and decides to help Jim free himself from slavery. As they travel together, Huck learns more and more about Jim and begins to understand that the common stereotype of blacks is wrong. Huck sees that there is no difference from anyone else. She begins to see that Jim is a loving and caring person just like anyone else. My thesis is that Mark Twain portrayed Jim this way because that's what he really thought about slavery. He felt that African Americans are our equals and that the act of slavery should not be allowed. Raised in the slave state of Missouri, Mark Twain grew up with slaves. His father owned slaves and his uncle actually owned twenty of them. He saw the way slaves were treated in daily life, especially when he went to his uncle's farm in the summers. At a young age Mark Twain witnessed the killing of a slave just because he had done something wrong (Lombardi 1). These things from his childhood led me to believe that Mark Twain felt bad for African Americans and believed that they should be free. I chose to use structuralist literary theory. “In literary theory structuralism is a… middle of paper approach… this is how Americans should begin to realize that African Americans are our equals. In this story he describes many whites as thieves, murderers or bad people. He never says anything negative about Jim, even though he would normally be stereotyped as the person who would do all these things simply because of the color of his skin Mark Twain portrays his feelings through this Race is the main theme of this story .If you read the story carefully you can see all the different things that point this out. Mark Twain thought that African Americans were our equals and through this story he demonstrates this very well, Esther. Was he a racist?" About.Com. "Structuralism." Wikipedia. .Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Pocket Books, 2004.