Mark Twain is one of my favorite American authors, and the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remains one of my favorite books. Upon re-reading it, one thing may stick out – how prevalent the use of the N-word is in the book. It can be jarring to the modern eye.

Twain’s use of the offending word wasn’t gratuitous and was intentional. The term was widely used in the culture then, and leaving it out would have been like leaving water out of a description of the Pacific Ocean — which raises the question a friend and I found ourselves debating recently: whether an artist can censor himself without losing the impact and authenticity of the work.

In Huckleberry Finn, Twain is attempting to educate his reader. He wants to show them the hidden reality beneath the surface of America’s slaveholding society. By exposing it, Twain hopes to edify his readers. But Twain is also educating himself. It’s certainly not a new concept for an author to learn and grow through the creation of their art.

The world Twain creates in Huckleberry Finn is not a fantasy. It’s the world he grew up in and, consequently, a world he knows intimately. The people, places, and attitudes were as familiar to him as the air he breathed. By taking a hard look at that world, he was taking a hard look at the society that helped form him. It’s fair to say from reading Huckleberry Finn that he found that culture lacking.

A pivotal moment in the book is when Jim laments how much he misses his family. This statement is a revelation to Huck. For the first time, he understands that Jim misses his family as much as any other person would.

It’s hard not to imagine that Twain himself had a similar revelation in his youth. Or perhaps he learned it through his longtime friendship with John T. Lewis.

John T. Lewis was born a black freeman in 1835, the same year as Twain, under the same auspicious arrival of Halley’s Comet. Though free, Lewis was born into a slave-holding society. Still, he was “allowed” to join the Church of the Brethren, a mostly white church near Gettysburg. Faith would become the cornerstone of his life, even after he moved to Elmira, New York, where he worked as a farmer.

Twain visited Elmira in 1877. His in-laws owned a farm, Quarry Farm, just outside Elmira. At the time, Elmira was a relatively progressive society and during his frequent stays here, Twain interacted with the many black residents and workers in the area. One servant at the farm was a woman named Mary. She was John T. Lewis’s wife. Lewis, drawing on his incredible strength, stopped a speeding carriage carrying Twain’s sister-in-law and daughter from going over a cliff. Twain was the first to arrive at the accident scene, and a solid bond was quickly formed between the two men.

They would remain friends for 26 years. The writer spent much time at Quarry Farm, a place he loved more than any other. It was here that many of his greatest novels were written, including Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. The two men would engage in lengthy discussions about the state of affairs in the world and matters of faith. Though there is no proof, many have speculated that Lewis was, in some part, the inspiration for Jim, Huckleberry Finn’s most fully realized Black character.

It’s evident in his writing that Twain learned his lessons well from the slaveholding society around him. Jim, the uneducated, runaway black slave, becomes a symbolic family for the fatherless, white Huck Finn in the book. Their relationship evolves into something akin to that of an adopted father and son. What a revolutionary idea in 1885. Their family is built on brotherhood, shared experience, and growing respect for one another, and it reflects the universal truth in which all men are family.

If you haven’t read Huckleberry Finn in a while, I recommend returning to it. It’s always an enriching experience.