Huck, Jim, and American Racial Discourse Author(S): DAVID L

Home , Jim (Huckleberry Finn)

Huck, Jim, and American Racial Discourse Author(s): DAVID L. SMITH Source: Mark Twain Journal, Vol. 22, No. 2, Black Writers on "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" One Hundred Years Later (FALL, 1984), pp. 4-12 Published by: Alan Gribben Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41641246 . Accessed: 06/06/2013 06:26

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This content downloaded from 67.67.42.11 on Thu, 6 Jun 2013 06:26:26 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions DAVID L. SMITH

Huck, Jim, and American Racial Discourse

They[blacks] are atleast as brave,and more adventure- the specificform of racial discourseto whichthe some[compared to whites].But this may perhaps pro- novel responds. Furthermore,Huckleberry Finn ceed froma wantof foře-thought, which prevents their offersmuch more than the typical liberal defenses of a tillit be present- aremore ardent seeing danger They "human dignity"and protestsagainst aftertheir female: but love seems with them to be morean cruelty. itcontains some such itis more eagerdesire, than a tenderdelicate mixture ofsentiment Though elements, and sensation.Their griefs are transient. Those number- fundamentallya critiqueof those sociallyconsti- lessafflictions, which render it doubtful whether heaven tutedfictions- most notably romanticism, religion, has givenlife to us inmercy or in wrath, are less felt, and and the concept of "the Negro"- which serve to soonerforgotten with them. In general,their existence justifyand todisguise selfish, cruel, and exploitative appearsto participate more of sensation than reflection. behavior. To thismust be ascribed theirdisposition tosleep when WhenI of"racial discourse," I mean more abstractedfrom their and speak diversions, unemployedinlabor. than attitudesabout "race" or conventions of - ThomasJefferson, Notes on theState of simply Virginia about"race." Most I (187-88) talking importantly,mean that "race"itself is a discursiveformation, which delimits any Euro-Americanintellectual of the social relationson the basis of alleged physical nineteenthcentury could have writtenthe differences.4"Race" is a strategyfor relegating a Almostpreceding words. The notionof Negro in- segmentof the populationto a permanentinferior ferioritywas so deeplypervasive among those heirs status.It functions by insistingthat each "race"has of"The Enlightment"that the categoriesand even specific,definitive, inherent behavioral tendencies thevocabulary of Negro inferiority were formalized and capacities, which distinguishit fromother intoa tedious,unmodulated litany. This uniformity "races."Though scientifically specious, "race" has increasedrather than diminished during the course been powerfullyeffective as an ideologyand as a of the century.As Leon Litwackand othershave formof social definition,which serves the interests shown,even theAbolitionists, who actively opposed ofEuro-American hegemony. In America,race has slavery,frequently regarded blacks as inherently been deployedagainst numerous groups, includ- inferior.This helps to explain the widespread ing NativeAmericans, Jews, Asians, and even- for popularityof colonizationschemes among Aboli- briefperiods - an assortmentof European immi- tionistsand otherliberals.1 As forJefferson, itis not grants. surprisingthat he held such ideas, but it is For obvious reasons, however, the primary impressivethat he formulatedso clearlyat theend emphasis historicallyhas been on defining"the of theeighteenth century what would become the Negro"as a deviantfrom Euro- American norms. dominantview of the Negro in the nineteenth "Race" in America means whitesupremacy and century. In manyways, this Father of American black inferiority5;and "the Negro," a socially Democracy- and quite possibly of fìve mulatto constitutedfiction, is a generalized,one-dimension- children- was a man ofhis timeand ahead ofhis al surrogate for the historicalreality of Afro- time.2 Americanpeople. It is thisreified fiction which In Julyof 1876, exactlyone centuryafter the Twainattacks in HuckleberryFinn. American Declaration of Independence, Mark Twainadopts a strategyof subversion in his attack Twain began writingAdventures of Huckleberry on race. That is, he focuses on a number of Finn,a novelwhich illustrates trenchantly the social commonplacesassociated with"the Negro,"and limitationswhich American "civilization" imposes then he systematicallydramatizes their inade- on individualfreedom. The booktakes special note quacy. He uses theterm "nigger," and he showsJim ofways in whichracism impinges upon the lives of engagingin superstitiousbehavior. Yet he portrays Afro-Americans,even whenthey are legally"free." Jimas a compassionate,. shrewd, thoughtful, self- Itis thereforeironic that Huckleberry Finn has often sacrificingand even wise man. Indeed, his been attackedand even censoredas a racistwork. I portrayalof Jim contradicts every claim presented would argue, on the contrary,that except for in Jefferson'sdescription of "the Negro." Jimis Melville'swork, Huckleberry Finn is withoutpeers cautious, he gives excellent advice, he suffers amongmajor Euro-American novels for its explicit- persistentanguish over separation from his wife and ly anti-raciststance.3 Those who brand the book child,and he even sacrificeshis own sleep in order "racist"generallydo so withouthaving considered thatHuck may rest. Jim,in short,exhibits all the MARKTWAIN JOURNAL, 22:2 (Fall, 1984) 4

This content downloaded from 67.67.42.11 on Thu, 6 Jun 2013 06:26:26 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions David L. Smith qualitiesthat "the Negro" supposedly lacks. Twain's own. A nigger,Aunt Sally confirms, is nota person. conclusions do more than merely subvertthe Yet this exchange is hilarious,precisely because we justificationsof slavery,which was already long know that Huck is playing upon her glib and since abolished. Twainbegan thisbook during the conventional bigotry. We know that Huck's finaldisintegration of Reconstruction, and hissatire relationshipto Jimhas alreadyinvalidated for him on antebellumSouthern bigotry is also an implicit such obtuse racial notions.The conceptionof the responseto the Negrophobicclimate of the post- "nigger"is a sociallyconstituted and sanctioned Reconstructionera (Berkove;Gollin; Egan, esp. 66- fiction,and itis justas falseand as absurdas Huck's 102). Itis troubling,therefore, that so manyreaders explicitfabrication, which Aunt Sally also swallows have completelymisunderstood Twain's subtle whole. attackon racism. In fact,the exchange betweenHuck and Aunt Twain'suse of the word"nigger" has provoked Sally reveals a great deal about how racial some readersto rejectthe novel. (See Hentoff).As discourseoperates. Its functionis topromulgate a one ofthe mostoffensive words in ourvocabulary, conceptionof "the Negro" as a subhuman and "nigger"remains heavily shrouded in taboo. A expendable creature,who is by definitionfeeble- carefulassessment of this term within the context of minded,immoral, lazy, and superstitious.One Americanracial discourse, however, will allow us to crucialpurpose of this social fictionis to justifythe understandthe particular way in whichthe author abuse and exploitationof Afro-American people by uses it. If we attendclosely to Twain'suse of the substitutingthe essentialistfiction of "Negro-ism" word,we mayfind in itnot just a triggerto outrage, for the actual character of individual Afro- butmore importantly, a means of understanding the Americans.Hence, in racialdiscourse every Afro- precise nature of American racism and Mark Americanbecomes just anotherinstance of "the Twain'sattack on it. Negro"- just another"nigger." Twain recognizes Mostobviously, Twain uses "nigger"throughout thisinvidious tendency of ra ce- thinking, however, thebook as a synonymfor "slave." There is ample and he takes every opportunityto expose the evidence fromother sources thatthis corresponds mismatchbetween racial abstractionsand real to one usage common during the Antebellum humanbeings. period.We firstencounter it in referenceto "Miss For example, when Pap drunkenlyinveighs Watson'sbig nigger,named Jim"(Ch. 2). This againstthe freemulatto from Ohio, he is outraged usage, like the term "nigger stealer," clearly by whatappears to himas a crimeagainst natural designatesthe "nigger"as a piece of property:a laws. (Ch. 6). In thefirst place, a "freenigger" is, for commodity,a slave. Thispassage also providesthe Pap, a contradictionin terms. Indeed, the man's onlyapparent textual justification for the common clothes,his demeanor, his education, his profession, criticalpractice of labelling Jim, "Nigger Jim," as if and even his silver-headedcane bespeak a social "nigger"were a part of his proper name. This statusnormally achieved by only a small elite of loathsomehabit goes back at least as faras Albert whitemen. He is, in otherwords, a "nigger"who BigelowPaine's biographyof Twain (1912). In any refusesto behave like a "nigger."Pap's ludicrous case, "nigger"in thissense connotesan inferior, protestationsdiscredit both himselfand other even subhuman,creature, who is properlyowned believers in "the Negro," as many criticshave by and subservientto Euro-Americans. noted.But it has"not been sufficientlystressed that BothHuck and Jimuse theword in this sense. For Pap's racial viewscorrespond very closely to those example,when Huck fabricateshis tale about the of mostof his whiteSouthern contemporaries, in riverboataccident, the followingexchange occurs substance if not in mannerof expression. Such betweenhim and AuntSally: viewswere held notonly by poorwhites but by all "right-thinking"Southerners, regardless of their 'Good gracious! anybodyhurt?' social class. Indeed, not even the traumasof the 'No'm.Killed a nigger.' Civil War would cure Southernersof this folly. 'Well,it's lucky, because sometimespeople do Furthermore,Pap's indignationat theNegro's right get hurt'(Ch. 32). to vote is preciselyanalogous to the Southern backlash against the enfranchisementof Afro- Huck has nevermet Aunt Sally prior to thisscene, Americansduring Reconstruction. Finally, Pap's and in spinninga lie whichthis stranger will find commentsare rathermild compared to the anti- unobjectionable,he correctlyassumes that the Negro diatribeswhich were beginningto emerge common notion of Negro subhumanitywill be among politicianseven as Twain was writing appropriate.Huck's off-hand remark is intendedto HuckleberryFinn. He began writingthis novel exploitAunt Sally's attitudes, not to expressHuck's duringthe final days of Reconstruction, and itseems 5 MARKTWAIN JOURNAL, 22:2 (Fall, 1984)

This content downloaded from 67.67.42.11 on Thu, 6 Jun 2013 06:26:26 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Huck, Jim,and American Racial Discourse morethan reasonable to assume thatthe shameful be unsatisfactory,because itwould deny Twain the whitesupremacist bluster of that epoch - exempli- creditwhich he deservesfor the sophistication of his fiedby Pap's tirade- informedTwain's critique of perceptions(see Ellison,Hansen, Lynn). racismin Huckleberry Finn. (See Pettit,Mark Twain As a serious criticof Americansociety, Twain and theSouth, 35-50). recognizedthat racial discourse depends uponthe Pap's finaldescription of this Ohio gentlemenas deploymentof a system of stereotypeswhich "a prowling,thieving, infernal, white-shirted free- constitute"the Negro" as fundamentallydifferent nigger" (Ch. 6) almost totallycontradicts his fromand inferiorto Euro-Americans.As withhis previousdescription of the man as a proud,elegant, handlingof "nigger,"Twain's strategywith racial dignifiedfigure. Y et thiscontradiction is perfectly stereotypesis to elaborate them in order to consistentwith Pap's need toreassert "the Negro" in underminethem. To be sure, those criticsare lieu ofsocial reality.Despite the vulgarity of Pap's correct who have argued that Twain uses this personalcharacter, his thinking about race is highly narrativeto revealJim's humanity. Jim, however, is conventionaland, therefore, respectable. But most justone individual.Much moreimportantly, Twain of us cannot respect Pap's views, and when we uses the narrativeto expose the crueltyand rejectthem, we rejectthe standard racial discourse hollownessof that racial discourse which exists only ofboth 1840 and 1880. to obscure the humanityof all Afro-American A readerwho objectsto theword "nigger" might people. stillinsist that Twain could have avoided usingit. One aspect of HuckleberryFinn which has Butit is difficultto imaginehow Twain could have elicitedcopious criticalcommentary is Twain'suse debunked a discoursewithout using the specific of superstition(see especially Hoffman,"Jim's termsof that discourse. Even when Twain was Magic"). In nineteenthcentury racial discourse, writinghis book,"nigger" was universallyrecog- "the Negro" was always defined as inherently nizedas an insulting,demeaning word. According superstitious.6Many critics,therefore, have cited to StuartBerg Flexner,"Negro" was generally Jim's superstitiousbehavior as an instance of pronouncedas "nigger"until about 1825, at which negativestereotyping. One cannotdeny that in this timeAbolitionists began objectingto that term (57). respectJim closely resembles the entire tradition of They preferred"colored person" or "person of comic darkies(see Woodardand MacCann),but to color."Hence, W. E. B. Du Bois reportsthat some observethis similarity is a negligiblefeat. The issue black Abolitionistsof the early 1830s declared is, does Twainmerely reiterate cliches, or does he themselvesunited "as . . . not as as use these conventional to make an men, " slaves; patterns 'people ofcolor,' not as 'Negroes' (245). Writinga unconventionalpoint? A close examinationwill generationlater in ArmyLife in a Black Regiment show thatin virtuallyevery instance, Twain uses (1869), ThomasWentworth Higginson deplored the Jim'ssuperstitution to make pointswhich under- commonuse of "nigger"among freedijien,which mine ratherthan revalidatethe dominantracial he regardedas evidence of low self-esteem(28). discourse. The objections to "nigger," then, are not a The firstincident of thissuperstitious behavior consequence of the modernsensibility but had occurs in Chapter 2, as a resultof one of Tom been commonfor a halfcentury before Huckle- Sawyer'spranks. When Jim falls asleep undera tree, berryFinn was published.The specificfunction of Tom hangs his haton a branch.Subsequently, Jim thisterm in thebook, however, is neitherto offend concocts an elaborate tale about having been normerely to provide linguistic authenticity. Much hexed and riddenby witches.The tale growsmore moreimportantly, it establishes a contextagainst grandiose withsubsequent retellings,and even- whichJim's specific virtues may emerge as explicit tuallyJim becomes a local celebrity,sporting a five- refutationsof racist presuppositions. centpiece on a stringaround his neck as a talisman. Of course,the concept of the "nigger" entails far "Niggerswould come milesto hear Jim tell about it, more than just the deploymentof certainvocab- and he was morelooked up to thanany niggerin ulary.Most of the attackson the book focuson its thatcountry," the narratorreports. Jim's celebrity alleged perpetuationof racial stereotypes.Twain finallyreaches thepoint that "Jim was mostruined, does indeed use racial stereotypeshere. That fora servant,because he gotso stuckup on account practicecould be excused as characteristicof the ofhaving seen thedevil and been rodeby witches." genreof humor within which Twain works. Frontier Thisis, no doubt,amusing. Yet whether Jim believes humor relies upon the use of stock types,and his own tale or not- and the"superstitious Negro" consequently,racial stereotypesare just one of thesisrequires us to assume thathe does- thefact manytypes present in Huckleberry Finn. Y et while remainsthat Jim clearly benefitsfrom becoming valid,such an appeal togeneric convention would morea celebrityand less a "servant."It is hisowner, MARKTWAIN JOURNAL, 22:2 (Fall, 1984) 6

This content downloaded from 67.67.42.11 on Thu, 6 Jun 2013 06:26:26 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions David L. Smith not Jim,who sufferswhen Jim'suncompensated essentialismby directingour attention,instead, to labordiminishes.7 the particularityof individualaction. We findthat This incidenthas oftenbeen interpretedas an Jimis not"the Negro." Jim is Jim,and we,like Huck, example ofrisible Negro gullibility and ignorance, come tounderstand what Jim is byattending to what as exemplifiedby blackface minstrelsy.Such a he does in specificsituations. readinghas morethan a littlevalidity, but can only In anotherinstance of explicitlysuperstitious partiallyaccount for the implications of this scene. If behavior,Jim uses a hairballto tell Huck's fortune. notfor the finalsentence, such an account might One mayregard this scene as a comicalexample of seem whollysatisfactory, but the informationthat Negro ignoranceand credulity,acting in concert Jimbecomes, through his own storytelling, unsuited withthe ignorance and credulityof a fourteen-year- forlife as a slave, introducesunexpected compli- old whiteboy. Thatreading would allow one an cations.Is itlikely that Jim has been deceivedby his unambiguous laugh at Jim's expense. If one own creative prevarications- expecially given examines the scene carefully,however, the whatwe learn about his charactersubsequently? inadequacy of such a reductivereading becomes Or has he cleverlyexploited the conventionsof apparent. Even if Jim does believe in the "Negro superstition"in orderto turna sillyboy's supernaturalpowers of this hairball, the fact prankto his own advantage? remainsthat most of the transaction depends upon Regardless of whether we credit Jim with Jim'squick wits. For example, the soothsaying aside, forethoughtin thismatter, it is undeniablethat he muchof the exchange betweenHuck and Jimis an turnsTom's attemptto humiliatehim into a major exercise in wily and understated economic personaltriumph. In otherwords, Tom gives him an bartering.In essence, Jimwants to be paid forhis inch,and he takesan ell. It is also obviousthat he services,while Huck wantsfree advice. Jiminsists does so by exercising remarkable skills as a thatthe hairball will not speak withoutbeing paid. rhetorician.By constructinga fictitious narrative of Huck,who has a dollar,will only admit to havinga hisown experience, Jim elevates himself above his counterfeitquarter. Jim responds by pretendingto prescribedstation in life.By becoming, in effect,an be in collusionwith Huck. He expainshow to doctor author,Jim writes himself a new destiny.Jim's the"quarter" so that"anybody in townwould take it triumphmay appear to be dependentupon the in a minute,let alone a hair-ball"(Ch. 4). But gullibilityof other "superstitious" Negroes, but since obviouslyit is notthe hair-ball who will benefit from we have no directencounter with them, we cannot acquiringand spendingthis counterfeit coin (cf. knowwhether they are unwittingvictims of Jim's Weaverand Williams). ruseor not. A willingaudience need notbe a totally In thistransaction, Jim serves his own interests credulousone. In any case, it is intelligence,not whileappearing to serveHuck's interests. He takes stupidity,which facilitates Jim's triumph. Tom may a slug whichis worthlessto Huck,and throughthe have had his chuckle,but the last laugh, clearly, alchemy of his own cleverness,he contrivesto belongsto Jim. make itworth twenty-five cents to himself.That, in for In assessing Jim'scharacter, we shouldkeep in antebellumAmerica, is nota bad price tellinga mindthat forethought, creativity and shrewdness fortune.But more importantly, Twain shows Jim self- are qualitieswhich racial discourse- see Thomas consciouslysubverting the prescribed definition of as he withinthe Jefferson- denies to "the Negro." In thatsense, Jim's "the Negro," even performs darkyperformance here subvertsthe fundamental limitationsof that role. He remainsthe conventional definitionof the darky. For "the Negro" is definedto "Negro"by givingthe whiteboy whathe wants,at be an object, not a subject. Yet does an object no real cost,and by consistentlyappearing to be constructits own narrative? Viewed in thisway, the passive and subservientto thedesires of Huck and fact of superstition,which traditionallyconnotes thehair-ball. But in fact,he serveshis own interests ignoranceand unsophistication,becomes farless all along.Such resourcefulnessis hardlyconsistent importantthan the ends towhich superstition is put. withthe familiar,one-dimensional concept of "the Thisinference exposes, once again,the inadequacy superstitiousNegro." of a positivistepistemology, which holds, for And whileJim's reading is formulaic,itis hardly example,that "a roseis a roseis a rose."No one will simple-minded.He sees the world as a kind of deny the self-evidenceof a tautology;but a rose Manichean universe,in whichforces of lightand deriveswhatever meaning it has fromthe context darkness- white and black- vie fordominance. withinwhich it is placed (includingthe contextof Pap, he says,is uncertainwhat to do, tornbetween traditionalsymbolism.) It is the contextualizing his whiteand black angels. Jim'sadvice, "to res' activity,not das Ding-an-sich,which generates easy en let de ole man take his own way"(Ch. 4), meaning.Again and again, Twain attacksracial turnsout to be good advice,because Huck greatly 7 MARKTWAIN JOURNAL, 22:2 (Fall, 1984)

This content downloaded from 67.67.42.11 on Thu, 6 Jun 2013 06:26:26 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Huck, Jim,and American Racial Discourse enjoyslife in thecabin, despite Pap's fitsof drunken Thisinsight in itselfis a notableaccomplishment. excess. This mixtureof pleasure and pain is Twain,however, did notview racism as an isolated precisely what Jim predicts. Admittedly,Jim's phenomenon,and itwas his effortto place racism conceptualframework is notoriginal. Nonetheless, withinthe context of other cultural traditions which his readingcarries considerable force, because it producedthe most problematic aspect of his novel. correspondsso neatlyto the dominantthematic For it is in the final chapters- the Tom Sawyer patternsin this book, and morebroadly, to the sort of section- which mostcritics consider the weakest dualisticthinking which informs much ofTwain's partof the book,that Twain links his criticismsof work.(To take an obvious example,consider the slaveryand Southernromanticism, condemning role reversalsand charactercontrasts in Pudd'n- the crueltieswhich both of these traditionsentail. head Wilsonor The Prince and thePauper). And (See Altenbernd).Critics have objected to these most immediately,Jim's comments here reflect chapterson various grounds.Some of the most tellinglyupon his situationas a blackslave in racist commonare thatJim becomes reducedto a comic America.The slave's fateis alwaystorn between his darky (e.g., Marx, Schmitz),that Tom's antics master'swill and his own. underminethe seriousnessof the novel,and that In thisreading and otherincidents, Jim emerges these burlesque narrativedevelopments destroy as an astute and sensitiveobserver of human thestructural integrity of the novel. Most critics see behavior,both in his commentsregarding Pap and thisconclusion as an evasion ofthe difficult issues in hissubtle remarks to Huck. Jim clearly possesses whichthe novel has raised.There is no space here a subtletyand intelligencewhich "the Negro" fora discussionof the structural issues, but it seems allegedly lacks. Twain makes this point more tome that as a critiqueof American racial discourse, clearlyin the debate scene in Chapter 15. True theseconcluding chapters offer a harsh,coherent, enough, mostof this debate is, as several critics and uncompromisingindictment. have noted,conventional minstrel show banter. Tom Sawyer's absurd scheme to "rescue" Jim Nevertheless,Jim demonstrates impressive reason- offends,because the section begins withHuck's ing abilities,despite his factualignorance. For justly celebrated crisis of conscience, which example,in theirargument over "Poly-voo-franzy," culminates in hisresolve to free Jim, even ifdoing so Huck makes a categoryerror by implyingthat the condemnshim to hell.The passage whichleads to differencebetween languages is analogous to the Huck's decision, as familiaras it is, merits differencebetween human language and cat reexamination: language. WhileJim's response - thatman should talklike a man- betrayshis ignoranceof cultural I'd see himstanding my watch on topof his'n, stead of his is and struc- callingme, so I couldgo on sleeping;and see himhow diversity, argument perceptive I I sound. The humorin Huck's gladhe waswhen comeback out of the fog; and when turally conclusion, cometo him inthe therewhere the feud can'tlearn a howto arises again swamp,up "you nigger argue," pre- was;and such like times; and would always call me honey, ciselyfrom our recognitionthat Jim's argument is andpet me, and do everythinghe couldthink of for me, betterthan Huck's. andhow good he always was; and at last I struckthe time I Throughoutthe novel, Twain presents Jim in ways savedhim by telling the men we had small-poxaboard, whichrender ludicrous the conventionalwisdom andhe wasso grateful,and said I wasthe best friend old about "Negro character." As an intelligent, Jimever had in the world, and the only one he's got now; sensitive,wily and considerate individual,Jim andthen I happened to look around, and see that paper .... demonstratesthat one's race providesno useful I studieda minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to 'All I'll tohell' - andtore it indexof one's character.While that point may seem myself: right,then, go up(Ch. 31). obviousto manycontemporary readers, it is a point rarelymade by nineteenth-centuryEuro-American The issue here is not just whetheror notHuck novelists.Indeed, except for Melville, J. W. DeForest, shouldreturn a contraband8- an escaped slave- to Albion Tourgee,and George WashingtonCable, itsproper owner. More fundamentally,Huck must white novelistsvirtually always portrayedAfro- decide whetherto accept theconventional wisdom, Americancharacters as exemplificationsof "Ne- whichdefines "Negroes" as subhumancommod- groness."In thisregard, the twentiethcentury has ities,or theevidence ofhis own experience,which been littlebetter. By presentingus a series of has shownJim to be a good and kindman and a true glimpseswhich penetrate the "Negro" exterior and friend. revealthe person beneath it, Twain debunks Ameri- Huck makes the obviousdecision, but his doing can racialdiscourse. For racial discourse maintains so representsmore than simply a liberalchoice of thatthe "Negro" exterior is all thata "Negro"really conscienceover social convention. Twain explicitly has. makes Huck's choice a sharp attack on the MARKTWAIN JOURNAL, 22:2 (Fall, 1984) 8

This content downloaded from 67.67.42.11 on Thu, 6 Jun 2013 06:26:26 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions David L. Smith

Southernchurch. Huck scolds himself:"Here was proceed withJim's cooperation. Certainly, neither the Sunday school,you could a gone to it;and if Hucknor Jim would otherwise have indulgedTom's you'ddone itthey'd a learntyou, there, that people foolishness.Tom's gratuitouscruelty here in the thatacts as I'd been actingabout that nigger goes to pursuitof his own amusementcorresponds to his everlastingfire" (Ch. 31). Yet despite Huck's less viciousprank against Jim in Chapter 2 . Andjust anxiety,his choice is obviouslycorrect. Further- as before,Twain convertsTom's callous mischief more,by the timethat Twain wrotethese words, intoa personaltriumph for Jim. morethan twenty years of national strife, including Notonly has Jimsuffered patiently, which would Civil War and Reconstruction,had established intruth represent a doubtfulvirtue. (Jim is notUncle Huck's conclusion regardingslavery as a dom- Tom.) Jimdemonstrates his moral superiorityby inant national consensus. Not even reactionary surrenderinghimself in orderto assist the doctor in Southernersadvocated a reinstitutionof slavery. treatinghis woundedtormentor. This is hardlythe Since theSouthern church had taughtthat slavery behavior which one would expect from a was God's will,Huck's decision flatly repudiates the commodity,and itis preciselyJim's status - man or church'steachings regarding slavery. And implicit- chattel- which has been fundamentallyat issue ly,it also repudiatesthe church as an institutionby throughoutthe novel. It may be true thatTom's suggestingthat the church functions to undermine, lengthyjuvenile antics subvert the tone of the novel, notto encourage,a relianceon one's conscience. but theyalso providethe necessarybackdrop for To define"Negroes" as subhumanremoves them Jim'snoble act. Up tothis point, we have been able frommoral consideration and thereforejustifies the to admire Jim's good sense and to respond callous exploitationof them. This view of religion is sentimentallyto his good character.This, however, consistentwith the cynical iconoclasm which Twain is thefirst time that we see himmaking a significant expressedin Letters from the Earth and othersof his (and whollyadmirable) moral decision. His act sets "dark"works.9 himapart from everyone else in the novel except In thiscontext, Tom Sawyerappears to us as a Huck. And modestly(if not disingenuously),he superficially charming but fundamentally claimsto be behavingjust as Tom Sawyerwould. distastefulinterloper. His actionsare governednot Always conscious of his role as a "Negro,"Jim by conscience butrather by romanticconventions knowsbetter than to claim personalcredit for his and literary"authorities." Indeed, whileTom may good deed. Yetthe contrast between Jim's behavior appear to be a kindof renegade, he is in essence and Tom'sis unmistakable.Huck declares thatJim thoroughlyconventional in his values and is "whiteinside" (Ch. 40). He apparentlyintends this proclivities.Despite all his boyish pranks,Tom as a compliment,but Tom is fortunatethat Jim does representsa kindof solid respectability- a younger notbehave like mostof the whites in the novel. versionof the Southerngentleman, as exemplified Twain also contrasts Jim's self-sacrificing by the Grangerfordsand the Shepherdsons(see compassion with the cruel and mean-spirited Hoffman,Form and Fable, 327-28). Hence, when behaviorof his captors, emphasizing that white skin Tomproposes to help Huck steal Jim, Huck laments does not justifyclaims of superiorvirtue. They that "Tom Sawyer fell, considerable, in my abuse Jim,verbally and physically,and some want estimation.Only I couldn'tbelieve it. Tom Sawyer a to lynchhim as an example to otherslaves. The niggerstealeň" (Ch. 33). Such liberatingactivity is moderatesamong them,however, resist, pointing properfor Huck, who is notrespectable, but not for out that they could be made to pay for the Tom, who is. As with the previous example, destructionof private property. As Huck observes: however,this one impliesa deep criticismof the "the people that'salways the mostanxious forto statusquo. Huck'sact ofconscience, which most of hang a niggerthat hain't done justright, is always us would now endorse, is possible only for an the veryones thatain't the most anxious to pay for outsider.This hardlyspeaks well forthe moral himwhen they'vegot their satisfaction out of him" integrityof Southern (or American)"civilization." (Ch. 42). As ifthese enforcers of white supremacy To examineTom's role in thenovel, let us beginat did notappear contemptibleenough already, Twain theend. Uponlearning of the failed escape attempt then has the doctordescribe Jim as the best and and Jim'srecapture, Tom cries out, self-righteously: mostfaithful nurse he has ever seen, despiteJim's "turnhim loose! He ain'tno slave; he's as freeas any "reskinghis freedom"and his obvious fatigue. creaturthat walks this earth"(Ch. 42). Tom has These vigilantesdo admitthat Jim deserves to be knownall alongthat his cruel and ludicrousscheme rewarded,but theiridea of a rewardis to cease to rescue the captured "prisoner"was being punching and cursing him. They are not even enacted upon a free man; and indeed, only his generousenough to removeJim's heavy shackles. silenceregardihg Jim's status allowed the scheme to Ultimately,Huckleberry Finn rendersa harsh 9 MARKTWAIN JOURNAL, 22:2 (Fall, 1984)

This content downloaded from 67.67.42.11 on Thu, 6 Jun 2013 06:26:26 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Huck, Jim,and American Racial Discourse judgment on American society. Freedom from theremay be betweenthe treatment one deserves slavery,the novel implies,is not freedomfrom and the treatmentone receives. gratuitouscruelty; and racism,like romanticism, is If this conclusion sounds uncontroversialfrom finallyjust an elaboratejustification which the adult the perspectiveof 1984, we would do well to counterpartsof Tom Sawyeruse to facilitatetheir remember that it contradicts entirely the exploitationand abuse ofother human beings. Tom overwhelmingand optimisticconsensus of 1884. feelsguilty, with good reason,for having exploited And no other nineteenth-centurynovel so Jim,but his finalgesture of paying Jim off is less an effectivelylocates racial discourse withinthe insultto Jimthan it is Twain'scommentary on Tom context of a general critique of American himself.Just as slaveholdersbelieve thateconomic institutionsand traditions.Indeed, the novel relations(ownership) can justifytheir privilege of suggeststhat real individual freedom, in thisland of mistreatingother human beings,Tom apparently the free,cannot be found."American civilization" believesthat an economicexchange can sufficeas enslaves and exploitsrather than liberates. It is atonementfor his misdeeds. Perhaps he findsa hardlyan appealing message. forty-dollartoken more affordable than an apology. Giventhe subtlety of Mark Twain's approach, it is Butthen, just as Tom could only"set a freenigger not surprisingthat most of his contemporaries free,"considering, as Huck says,"his bringing-up" misunderstoodor simply ignored the novel's (Ch. 42), he similarlycould hardlybe expectedto démystificationof race. Despite their patriotic apologize for his pranks. Huck, by contrast,is rhetoric,they, like Pap, were unpreparedto take eguallyrich, but he has apologizedto Jim earlier in seriouslythe implicationsof "freedom, justice, and the novel. And this is the point of Huck's final equality."They, after all, espoused an ideologyand remark,rejecting the prospectof civilization.To an explicitlanguage of race which was virtually become civilizedis not just to become like Aunt identicalto Thomas Jefferson's. Yet racial discourse Sally. More immediately,it is to become likeTom flatlycontradicts and ultimatelyrenders hyprocrit- Sawyer. ical theegalitarian claims of liberal democracy. The heartof Twain's message to us is thatan honest freeas creatur Jimis, indeed,"as any thatwalks personmust reject one or theother. But hypocrisy, this In he is a earth." otherwords, man,like all men, not honesty,is our norm. For too many of us at themercy of other men's arbitrary cruelties. In a continueto assert both racial distinction and liberal sense,given Twain's view of freedom, to allow Jim to values, simultaneously.If we, a centurylater, escape tothe North or tohave Tomannounce Jim's continue to be confused about Adventuresof manumissionearlier would be an evasion of the HuckleberryFinn, perhaps it is because we remain novel's from ethicalinsights. While one mayescape moredeeply comitted to both racial discourse and a legal bondage,there is no escape fromthe cruelties self-deludingoptimism than we care to admit.10 of this "civilization."There is no promisedland, whereone absolute freedom. mayenjoy personal WilliamsCollege An individual'sfreedom is always constrainedby one's social relationsto other people. Beinglegally freedoes notspare Jimfrom gratuitous humiliation and physical sufferingin the final chapters, Notes preciselybecause Jimis stillregarded as a "nigger." Evenif he wereas accomplishedas themulatto from ^he literatureon the Abolitionmovement and on Ohio, he would notbe exemptfrom mistreatment. antebellumdebates regarding the Negro is, of course, Furthermore,since Tomrepresents the hegemonic voluminous.George Fredrickson's excellent The Black values of his society,Jim's "freedom" amounts to Imagein the White Mind is perhaps the best general work littlemore than an obligationto live by hiswits and of its kind.Fredrickson's The Inner Civil War is also to make thebest ofa bad situation. valuable,especialy pp. 53-64. Leon Litwackclosely examinesthe ambivalenceof Abolitionistsregarding Slaveryand racism,then, are social evils which racialintermingling (214-46). Benjamin Quarles presents taketheir places alongsidevarious others which the the mostdetailed examination of black Abolitionists, novel documents,such as the insane romanticism thoughVincent Harding offers a more vivid (and overtly of their to white that the and polemical)account relationships inspires Grangerfords Shepherdsons Abolitionists(101-194). after blithelyto murdereach other,generation 2The debate over Jefferson'srelationship to Sally generation.Twain rejects entirely the mystification Hemingshas raged for two centuries. The most thorough ofrace and demonstratesthat Jim is in mostways a scholarlyaccounts are by Fawn Brodie, who suggests that betterman thanthe men who regardhim as their Jeffersondid have a prolongedinvolvement with inferior.But he also shows how littlecorrelation Hemings,and by VirginiusDabney, who endeavors to MARKTWAIN JOURNAL, 22:2 (Fall, 1984) 10

This content downloaded from 67.67.42.11 on Thu, 6 Jun 2013 06:26:26 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions David L. Smith exonerateJefferson of such charges.Barbara Chase- vocabularyduring the Civil War, referring toa slavewho Riboudpresents a fictionalized version of this relationship hadgone "AWOL." in Sally Hemings.The firstAfro-American novel, 9A numberof works comment on Twain's religious views Clotel;Or thePresident's Daughter (1853) by William and therelation between his critiques of religion and of WellsBrown, was also based on thisalleged affair. racism.See Ensor;Pettit, "Mark Train and the Negro"; and 3Fordates of composition, see Blair.For a discussionof Gollin. Melville'streatment ofrace, Carolyn Karchner's Shadow 10Iwould like to thank my colleagues, David Langston Overthe Promised Land is especiallyvaluable. Articles andMichael Bell, for the helpful suggestions which they onBenito Cereño by Joyce Adler and Jean Yellin are also offeredto meregarding this essay. noteworthy.Rayford Logan and LawrenceJ. Friedman providedetailed accounts of the racist climate in Post- Works Cited ReconstructionAmerica, emphasizing the literary manifestationsofsuch attitudes. Friedman's discussion of Adler, Joyce. "Melville'sBenito Cereño: Slav- George WashingtonCable (99-118),the outspoken ery and Violencein the Americas."Science and Southernliberal, is veryinformative. For a general Society, 38 (1974),19-48. historicaloverview of the period, C. VannWoodward's workremains unsurpassed. John W. Cell offersa Altenbernd,Lynn. "Huck Finn, Emancipator." Criticism, 1 provocativereconsideration ofWoodward's arguments, (1959),298-307. and Joel Williamson'snew book documentsthe Louis. For Marx. London: Verso violenttendencies of Southern Althusser, excessively racismat the Editions,1979. endof the century. 4Myuse of "racialdiscourse" has someaffinities to Berkove,Lawrence I. "The Free Man of Color in Foucault'sconception of"discourse." This is not, however, The Grandissimesand Worksby Harrisand Mark a strictlyFoucaultian reading. While Foucault's definition Twain."The Southern Quarterly, 18.4 (1981), 60-73. of discursive one of the most practicesprovides Air. sophisticatedtools presentlyavailable for cultural Berman,Marshall. All Thatis Solid Meltsinto analysis,his conception of power seems to me problem- NewYork: Simon & Schuster,1982. atic.I preferan accountof power which allows for a Blair,Walter. "When Was HuckleberryFinn Written?" considerationofinterest and hegemony. Theorists such as AmericanLiterature, 30 (March 1958), 1-25. MarshallBerman (34-35) and Catherine MacKinnon (526) have indicatedsimilar reservations. Frank Lentriccia, Brodie,Fawn. Thomas Jefferson, an intimateHistory. however,has made a provocativeattempt to modify NewYork Norton, 1974. Foucaultiananalysis, drawing upon Gramsci's analysis of Brown,William Clotel:Or the President's See The of Wells, Daughter. hegemony. Foucault, ArchaeologyKnowledge, NewYork: Arno Press, 1969. Power/Knowledge (esp. 92-108),and The Historyof Sexuality,(esp. 92-102). Chase-Riboud,Barbara. Sally Hemings. New York; 5Thisis notto discount the sufferings ofother groups. TheViking Press, 1979. But historically,thephilosophical basis of Western racial Cell,John W. TheHighest Stage of WhiteSupremacy. discourse-which existed even beforethe European NewYork: Cambridge University Press, 1982. "discovery"ofAmerica- has been the equation of "good" and "evil"with light and darkness(or, white and black.) Clemens,Samuel. Adventures ofHuckleberry Finn. Eds. (See Derrida;Jordan, 1-40; and West,47-65). Econom- ScullyBradley, Richmond Croom Beatty, E. Hudson ically,the slave trade,chattel slavery, agricultural Long,and Thomas Cooley. 2nd ed. NewYork: Norton, peonage,and color-coded wage differentials have made 1977. theexploitation ofAfrican-Americans themost profitable formof racism. Afro-Americans have been Dabney,Virginius. The Jefferson Scandals. New York: Finally, long 1981. thelargest American "minority" group. Consequently, the Dodd,Mead, primacyof "the Negro" in American racial discourse is, to Derrida,Jacques. "WhiteMythology." New Literary use Althusser'sterm (87-126), "Overdetermined." The History,6 (1974), 5-74. acknowledgmentofprimary status, however, is hardlya claimof privilege. Dowd,Jerome. Negro Races. NewYork: Macmillan, 1907. 6Eventhe allegedlyscientific works on the Negro focusedon superstitionas a definitivetrait. See, for Du Bois,William E. B. TheSouls of Black Folk. Three example,W. D. Weatherfordand JeromeDowd. No one NegroClassics. Ed. JohnHope Franklin. New York: has commentedmore scathingly on Negrosuperstition Avon,1965. than WilliamH. Thomas,who was, by American definitions,a Negro himself. Ellison,Ralph. "Changethe Joke and Slip theYoke." Shadowand Act. NewYork: Vintage, 1964, 45-59. 7Hoffmanin Form and Fable(331) revealsan implicit understandingofJim's creativity, but he doesnot pursue Egan,Michael. Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn: Race, thepoint in detail. Classand Society. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities ^his termbecame a partof the officialmilitary Press,1977. 1 1 MARKTWAIN JOURNAL, 22:2 (Fall, 1984)

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