When I first started reading Huckleberry Finn, I could easily note that the book was written from a little boy's view. I've read the Adventures of Tom Sawyer before, but it was such a long time ago that I don't remember a thing. So, I began reading with no background information. At first, I thought Huck Finn was a black kid and wondered why he was raised by widow Douglas when other blacks were just treated as slaves. Then I realized he was white and I was quite surprised because the way he talked made me so convinced that he was black.
After reading this article, now I understand why I thought that way. A "Twain scholar has linked Huck's voice to a 10-year-old black servant Twain met just before starting work on the book." Even if this was wrong and "model for Huck Finn was a poor white boy in Hannibal, Mo., named Tom Blankenship and Tom's brother Bence, who once helped a runaway slave", there definitely is a link, even a minimal one, between Huck's voice and black inffluence. Mark Twain's use of voice as Huck and Jim leads to the idea that "This shows a real black root in a white consciousness". This article further proves Mark Twain's pro-black attitude showing examples of his actions as supporting a black student in college. Mark Twain is one white author deeply influenced by the black culture.
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