“The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is considered a great American novel because it defines the time period in which it was written. Twain shows all the racist ideas in America during this time period and contrasts them with natural human views on race through Huck. He also uses a lot of satire in his writings to poke fun at the racist views of the time. Twain by doing so was able to describe the time period and add a touch of his own opinion. In "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", Mark Twain shows racism by portraying virtually all white males except Huck as racist and most of the characters as black. how very ignorant. At the beginning of the book Jim, a black slave, is portrayed as a really stupid character because Twain makes him believe in witches. The narrator, Huck, says, “Negroes are always talking about witches in the dark by the kitchen fire; but every time someone spoke and implied they knew all about these things, Jim would come in and say, “Hm! What do you know about witches?” and that nigga was drunk and had to take a backseat. Jim always kept that dime around his neck with a string and said it was a spell the devil gave him with his own hands and told him he could cure anyone with it and go get witches whenever he wanted , simply by saying something to it; but he never said what she had told him. Niggers came from all over and gave Jim everything they had, just to see that five-cent piece; but they did not want to touch it, because the devil had his hands on it. Jim was very ruined for being a servant, for he was enraged at seeing the devil and being ridden by witches. This makes all black people seem extremely stupid, to the point that it's almost dehumanizing,... middle of paper... end product. Huck may be quoted as saying, "After all we said there was no house like a raft." This shows his adventurous and on-the-go lifestyle. Huck enjoyed most of his time away from home because of adventure. Ishmael is on the Pequod purely for the adventure and because he feels depressed. I think he decided to go whaling when he was depressed because the adventure would be so exciting that he would never be depressed again. "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is one of the great American novels because it describes the attitudes and ideas of the people of that period. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and “Moby Dick” also share a couple of similar themes such as characters giving more importance to their friends than their religion, and also the love of adventure. Both Huck and Ishmael are seen in several instances displaying these themes.