Huck Finn Passage Analysis

"There are many humorous things in the world: among them the white man's notion that he is less savage than the other savages."(mark twain) Twain uses this passage to highlight the differences between social levels. Using the reactions of Jim and Huck towards each other's actions, Twain effectively stretches the lines between white and black. The passage right away starts with Jim looking at trash and then looking at Huck, and then back again. Silently comparing Huck to trash. Jim then states that "dat truck dah is trash; en trash is what people is dat puts dirt on de head er dey fren's en makes 'em ashamed." In modern terms, Jim is saying that Huck is trash. Trash at that time, was whites who had no job, food, or money. Huck' father is a good example of trash. Huck resents his father, he wants nothing to do with him, yet when he flat out lies to Jim, he becomes the man he never wanted to be. Proving that the social class that we are born into is one that we cannot leave. It is as permanent as the color of your skin. Jim is proof of this. Even though Huck is trash, he is still on a higher level of society than Jim. It was a hard decision for Huck to apologize to Jim, this would mean that Jim is more respectable than Huck. "It was fifteen
minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a n*****, but I done it, and i warn't ever sorry for it afterwards, neither." if Huck hadn't apologized to Jim, this would have been a much shorter and darker story, but he apologized. And because of this, Jim and Huck can start to rebuild their friendship. If societal structure was different, Huck may have had no trouble apologizing to Jim. Twain argues that you should respect other people, even if they are of different social status.
The passage ends with Huck saying that "I wouldn't done that one if I'd a known it would make him feel that way". Huck felt remorse for his actions, that he treated Jim like less than a man. Huck realized that Jim is a real man with real feelings, something that many failed to realize at the time. Both men say that they would kiss the others feet in the passage, this is a tradition started by the kissing of Jesus's feet, as a way to praise, thank, or ask for forgiveness. Jim does it thank, were as Huck uses it to ask for forgiveness. This is an example of irony because Huck nor jim were never going to kiss each others
feet. In conclusion, Twain uses this passage to highlight the harshness of the social system at the time of slavery. The effects of which are still being suffered from today. To quote Twain; Our Civil War was a blot on our history, but not as great a blot as the buying and selling of Negro souls.