The treatment of a segment of humanity in America, earlier derisively called the Negroes and now a little more considerately the African-American, has had its vicissitudes in the societal hierarchy. Literary treatment has not been substantially different, either. This article examines the portrayal of the Negro as well as the Black-White relations in the American society of the 19th century. The author takes a close look at the characters of Jim in Huckleberry Finn, Tom in Pudd'nhead Wilson and Jasper in Which Was It? and demonstrates that Twain shows greater sympathy for the disadvantaged in his latter fiction, which presents the protagonists becoming increasingly self-assertive and even belligerent. In the early stages, Twain remained somewhat neutral in his assessment of the racial scenario but as he grew older he became more empathetic with the sad spectacle of racial segregation and exploitation in the nation of equal opportunity.

Some years ago, when I first took up my doctoral studies¹ and chose Mark Twain as one of the three writers to focus upon in a study of the racial encounter in American Fiction, a senior colleague asked, "Why Mark Twain? Isn't his portrayal of the Blacks very limited, as say of Jim in Huckleberry Finn? It's no longer prescribed in American schools, you know?" The question could certainly have been answered by quoting Ralph Ellison's remarks in Shadow and Act (1964) on the "quality" of Black characterization in 20^th century ¹fiction. He praises "Twain for historical perspective and as an example of how a great 19^th century writer handled the Negro" (29-30). It could also have been countered by contesting the claim that Jim's portrayal in Huckleberry Finn (1885) is a mere stereotype, as will be done later on in this article; my defence, however, consisted in presenting the two works from the Twainian canon that tend to get sidelined in India when Mark Twain's views on race are considered viz., Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894) and Which Was It? ( pub. 1968). That this question was asked in spite of there-interpretations of the novel published during the Huck Finn centennial, further emphasizes the need for a revaluation of Black/African-American portrayal by Twain in his works. In the following pages, an overview of the racial encounter in Twain's work will be first attempted. Individual analyses of the three novelsThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson and Which Was It? will be made before a summing up is attempted.

The Unmuting of the African-American: An Approach to Mark Twains Fiction, humanity in America, societal hierarchy, American society, racial scenario, racial segregation and exploitation, racial encounter, historical perspective, American schools, protagonists.