Mark Twain and Racism

In the book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Racism is shown through irony and exaggeration. Pap is a racist alcoholic and he does not want African Americans to be able to have the same rights that everyone else has. While talking to Huck he says, “But when they told me there was a state in this country that they let a nigger vote; I drawed out.” (27).

Pap does not like the idea of African Americans being able to do the same things as a white man. Pap is a very racist person and he does not believe in things that could be good for Huck or make him “better” than him. Instead of trying to go and fix the problem he draws out of it instead and decides not to vote at all because he feels the election is now not fair. Another instance is when Pap is complaining about the government and how he thinks that it is not right,

“They call that a government that can’t sell a free nigger till he’s been in the state six months.” (27). Pap is upset with the African Americans being free for six months before they can be sold as slaves. He does not understand why they get to be free for any amount of time. This is ironic because to him this is wrong but to other people they would just think that keeping any person, as a slave for any amount of time is inhuman. Through this book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, he shows us what life was like back in that time period. He describes this through Huck’s journeys with Jim, an African American slave.
He does this by using irony and exaggeration. He explains what goes through Huck’s head and how he changes from beginning to end with his thoughts on what is right and what is wrong.