Tom's America

Even in 2017, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an allegory for the United States where Huck represents the hope of America, being open minded and accepting and Tom represents the closed-minded and racist part of America. While in America today there are many aspects that pertain to the radical open-mindedness of Huck, much of America is just as intolerant and obstinate as Tom.

America today and America during 1884 are two very different places and so it may seem just to say that today we are living in the United States of Huck, an accepting and nondiscriminatory society. This is completely untrue. Although elements of Huck’s American are found in society, in 2017, we mainly live in the United States of Tom Sawyer. It is clear from our recent presidential election that a large portion of America lives in the United States of Tom. Donald Trump’s entire campaign technique was tapping into the racism of many people in America and making them scared. Trump claims that he will “Make America Great Again” by forcing these innocent people out of the country and blatantly disregards the damage that he is causing to these families and America as a whole. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer does not care the effect that his actions has on Jim because he sees Jim as less than human. The lack of empathy towards immigrants during the election of 2016 is wistfully similar to Tom’s lack of empathy for Jim further illustrating how the America we live in today is the Tom’s America.

Having said that 2017’s America is majorly discriminatory and closed-minded, pieces of Huck’s America can be found. There is hope that in the future we can live in Huck’s accepting America.