Huck Finn Entry 3 - Experts

Huck Finn Entry 3 - Experts

Brendan Cosgrove

The article From Sunup to Sundown gives a more historically grounded look at slavery in Pre-civil war Missouri.  According to the article slaves spent the majority of their lives working and were required to get up at daybreak and work till dusk.  On top of back breaking work, slaves were often subjected to extremely harsh treatment.  While there were laws against the cruel and inhuman treatment of slaves, they were largely ignored as slaveholders felt a need to instill fear in slaves.  Another aspect of the mistreatment of slaves was the psychological devaluation they suffered.  White slaveowners did all they could to champion the idea of black people’s inferiority, contending that “the lowliest white person...was better than the most cultured and intelligent black.”  This attempt had a double purpose.  First, to consign blacks to their place as slaves, convincing them that they were inherently meant to serve.  Second, to dodge the moral and ethical implications of enslaving another person by promoting the image that slaves were “happy inferiors.”  In response to the arguments of abolitionists, slaveowners claimed that work is the natural element of a black man some even claiming that blacks were grateful to be enslaved.  It is this fabricated image of slavery which is most often present in Huckleberry Finn.  Mark Twain refuses to explore the harsh realities of slavery instead choosing to represent Tom as a bumbling oaf often caught napping under trees.