"Twain wrote that Huck was based on Tom Blankenship, a poor white
boy he knew in Hannibal, MO. But Shelley Fishkin found an 1874
article where Twain spoke of another boy, ten-year old black
servant Jerry. Jerry was "the most artless, sociable and
exhaustless talker I ever came across," Twain said. He added, "He
did not tell me a single remarkable thing, or one that was worth
remembering. And yet he was himself so interested in his small
marvels, and they flowed so naturally and comfortably from his lips
that . . . I listened as one who receives a revelation."
"It doesn't really matter whether or not Huck was black. Jim,
Huck Finn's friend, was certainly black, and he is one of the most
memorable characters in literature. Jim was sometimes referred to
as "nigger Jim." Jim has a minstrel quality, but it's hard not to
see the irony in his behavior, especially not when he lectures Huck
on behaving like white trash. Mark Twain's writing and characters
have influenced countless American writers. And no matter how many
book-banning campaigns are launched due to the presence of the word
"nigger" in Twain's books, particularly "Huckleberry Finn, "
authors as diverse as Toni Morrison, Ralph Ellison, Ernest
Hemingway and William Faulkner have cited Twain as influences."
-- from Amy Sterling Casil's Introduction
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