Was Huck Black Character Analysis

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In the book Was Huck Black? By Shelley Fisher Fishkin, I believe that she is claiming that the character Huck was immensely influenced by the African Americans culture which includes their superstitious and the way they speak and I buy her argument. Personally, I couldn't help but notice the similarities between how a typically Negro character would speak and be portrayed around the 18th century to Huck. The similarities in the portrayals include the slangs, the preference and familiarity of rags to starched clothes, sleeping outside rather than in the bed and then the superstitions. For Huck to be participating and partaking in things typically associated and perpetuated by the black people, the question of his race is justified regardless …show more content…
By saying "It would not have been unusual for Twain to have taken some of Jimmy's topics of conversation, habits of expression, and turns of the phrase (as recorded in his rendition of them) and unknowingly recycled them as Huck's. For Twain has a habit, as he recognized himself, of unconsciously borrowing ideas and phrases from others. could thus have plausibly borrowed habits of speech from Jimmy and put them in the mouth of Tom Blankenship or Huck without a sense of incongruity, without violating his "painstaking" efforts to have his character speak inaccurately (as well as accurately rendered) dialect." Shelley also backs up her claim by saying that "The cadences and rhythms of Jimmy's speech, his syntax and diction, his topics of conversation, attitudes, limitations, and his ability to hold our interest and our trust bear a striking resemblance to those qualities of speech and character that we have come to identify indelibly with Huck." (Fishkin 16). Shelley points out similarities between Huck and Jimmy to show what she means by Huck being black, and some prominent examples are, "it is not just linguistically, however, that Jimmy and Huck have much in common. Even more striking than the similarities …show more content…
Finally, the story and the portrayal of Huckleberry Finn tells me that Twain had a neutral view of race relations in the era. Although the character sometimes looked down on the Niggers, he also respected them by seeking their assistance when he needed his fortune to be told and even in his daily interaction with them. We see some hesitation when Jim was nearly freed when they got to the free state and Huck contemplating on turning him in, in the end, he didn't. Based on just the book, I would say Twain has the conservative mentality. He didn't actively advocate for the freedom of the Niggers, but neither does he subjugate, portrays or dehumanize them. He just portrays what he notices are therefore maintained the status
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