I do not think that Twain really has much to say about
racism in his description of the Grangerford family. It is certainly not one of the
major themes of that part of the book. All that I can say is that the Grangerfords have
slaves and treat them about like you would think slaves got
treated.
For example, when Huck first gets to the
Grangerford home, the woman named Betsy is up with the family as they try to be sure
Huck is not a danger. They speak very unkindly to her (calling her a fool) and they
make her get the food for Huck.
As a second example, each
member of the family has their own personal slave. Huck says that his slave doesn't
have much to do but that Buck keeps his "jumping" -- makes him do lots of stuff for
him.
Finally, the slaves clearly get beaten at times. We
know this because Jim tells them that the raft they have found belongs to him and Huck.
He tells them that they'll be beaten if they take a white person's property. The slaves
agree that this will happen and they give the raft back (although Jim does pay
them).
So the basic idea is that the Grangerfords have
slaves and treat them the way you expect. They do not seem any more or less racist than
other people of that time and place.
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