Reaction to the Verdict

                I fully agree with the verdict chosen by the Jury. I am glad that they understood the many signs that Mark Twain is clearly not a racist. We, the defense, attempted to show that Twain’s non-racist opinion has been shown through this book in many ways. Mark Twain is not responsible for what the readers believe he is; only he knows what his true intent was by writing this book. As our witness, Mark Twain, clearly executed, he did not intend for the book to be racist at all. He simply wanted to bring about new theories for readers to elaborate on and come to know. It was the racist feel of the book that was meant to show readers how awfully racist society truly is.

                Mark Twain used plenty of characters to highlight his beliefs. Huck, for example, was the character that Mark presented his ideas through. Huck was clearly a boy who was confused about his opinions on racism. He knew that blacks and whites acted as equals, but he was confused as to why society treated black people as possessing much less worth than the white race. Twain made Huck seem this way so that readers could possibly relate Huck to themselves; Twain wanted them to be optimistic about the future and hopefully change their ways. Huck was also a very influential character in Twain’s argument because Huck was very good friends with Jim. The father-like relationship between a young white man and a runaway slave introduced the theory that maybe blacks and whites can be acquaintances.

                Another way that Twain made his opinions clear was by the use of satire. The satire used in the novel was meant to exaggerate the ways of society at the time. He clearly meant for the satirical references to make readers realize how severe the problem was at the time. Some of his characters were satirical characters, such as Pap. Pap was not a main character like Huck because he was not representing Twain’s true opinions. Pap was meant to play the role of a typical man in society who held extremely racist beliefs. By making this character an unsuccessful alcoholic, Mark Twain was molding him into a character that would be frowned upon by readers. He hoped that a character like this would make them want to change their ways so they would not end up like him.