Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, despite being one of the best selling and top-rated books has brought about a lot of controversies that have stirred mixed emotions among his readers. One of the most popular controversies about his book is the character Jim, who provokes the strongest reactions from readers. Some readers argue that Twain’s characterization of Jim portrays him as racist and that his purpose of creating such a character was/is to ridicule Jim and all southern slaves in general, however, this is not something I particularly agree with. In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Twain uses satire to illustrate a realistic idea on how slaves were treated and also presumed to be in the early nineteen hundreds by painting Jim in a very stereotypical and to talk on topics such as racism/prejudice, loyalty, and tradition.
Our first introduction to Jim was not a glorious one. He first appears when Huck and Tom decide to him. Twain describes him, and right there and then conclusions could be made. A few pages later, Jim is once again stereotyped as superstitious(84) and later we could see Jim very gullible to everything Huck says (141). These stereotypes continue throughout the whole book, but Twain exaggerates it so much that it becomes satirical and almost hysterical to think about. Though I do not agree with the stereotypes associated with Jim and slaves in general, Twain’s intelligent use of satire to combat prejudice? racism? is an excellent to show how ridiculous those stereotypes were, by exaggerating these stereotypes, character traits, he achieves his goal. Despite all the stereotypes attached to Jim, Mark Twain allowed Jim to break some racist stereotypes. For instance, when Jim started talking about his family and how he missed and wanted to come for them later, it shared a common emotion with the reader. It showed that slaves had emotions too, thus humanizing him and making him feel more like a real person with emotions and feelings. Despite that scene being one of my favorites, it was a turning point of Jim.
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Jim’s role in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is more than just a runaway slave traveling down a river with a little white boy. The story does not revolve around him, but he is very essential to the story in many ways. Jim could be described as the only real adult in the novel, and the only one who provides a positive, respectable example for Huck to follow. Jim acts as a noble human being and a loyal friend to Huck and protected him from difficult situations and encounters including the sight of the dead body of his father when they were on Jackson Island ().“Most importantly, Jim’s actual role in the book was to guide Huck in moral growth.
Throughout the journey with Jim, Huck learns a lot about humanity and morality. At the beginning of the book, Huck was just ignorant and inconsiderate of a slave’s feelings, but in chapter 31 which I consider the turning point of the book, Huck decides that he would rather go to hell and help his “friend” Jim than conform to societal expectations. This explained to readers how important of a role, how important it was that Jim is included in this story and how big of an impact he made in Huck and even some readers' lives by supporting huck and his struggles.
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