Huck Finn is so revolutionary because not only does he grow up steeped deep in racism, the book makes it clear that Christianity in that region at that time was influenced by racism - he lived in a world where his core religious belief system stated that if he were kind to a black person, he would go to hell.
And I know that doesn’t hit so hard for folks who aren’t Christian, but I need to impress upon you the seriousness of that - Hell has been used since the rise of Christianity in Europe to instill a fear of sin in the mostly illiterate masses. For him, it’s a very real, terrifying, and expected spiritual consequence for his actions.
And it’s so impactful because he does it anyways. He chooses to be with Jim, the escaped slave that he runs away from his abusive father and the entanglements of “polite” society with. He makes a leap of faith, and expects to bear the consequences of that decision.
It ALSO is an excellent commentary on the social climate of that time as a whole - and how others used and abused that social climate. After leaving town with Jim, he and Huck are at the mercy of two conmen controlling the boat that takes them downriver. These two men repeatedly abuse social contract to extract money from unfortunate people along the way - by appearing to be civilized, well-bred Englishmen. This culminates in the conmen selling Jim, and Huck leaving them to go and find him.
In that same vein, it also shows us a more extreme version of the perversion of civility - Colonel Sherburn appears to be a well-educated, upstanding man, who is calm and well-spoken. This man shoots the harmless town drunk in front of the man’s daughter.
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