Racial Issues in Huckleberry Finn An issue of central importance to Huckleberry Finn is the issue of race. The story is set in a time of slavery, when blacks were considered inferior to whites, sometimes to the point of being considered less than fully human. But Huckleberry Finn challenges traditional notions of the time, through its narrator and main character, Huckleberry Finn. Although Huck is initially as unaware of the wrongness of society's attitudes as the rest of society is, he undergoes many experiences that help him form his own perspective on racial issues. Through the adventures and misadventures of Huck Finn and the slave Jim, Twain challenges traditional social views of race and encourages people to form their own views of what is wrong and what is right. Huck begins in the novel as a character who sees things as they really are. Huck acknowledges that some of the stories about him and Tom Sawyer are exaggerated. Of Tom Sawyer, Huck says that "That book was written by Mr. Mark Twain, and he mostly told the truth. There were things he stretched, but mostly he told the truth" (Twain 4). Huck, however, can be trusted a little more. Huck has no reason to exaggerate the story he will tell. Tom Sawyer had his Arabians and elephants. “I thought he believed in Arabs and elephants, but as for me I think otherwise” (Twain 14). Huck then tells the things in his story as they happened. It doesn't need to exaggerate. Huck Finn is therefore a reasonably reliable narrator; he sees the truth as it is, and likewise tells it as it is. Huck Finn fakes his own death and then runs away from home. The immediate cause is running away from his father. The underlying... center of the card... society may resent this. It seems right to him and he will do it. This action goes against social norms. A white man was never expected to care about a black man, much less help one escape. But Huck did just that. Huck opened his mind to the idea that slavery is wrong; has taken a big step in this direction. In this way, Huck Finn attacks the social norm of slavery in particular and racism in general. Representations of race and challenges to social norms of racism form an important part of the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Huck himself undergoes a change; stops accepting social norms and instead follows their own beliefs. He acquires these beliefs after many adventures with the slave Jim. In this way, Twain encourages people to be like Huck and not accept racism just because society accepts it.