In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn a young adolescent's journeys and struggles are portrayed and questioned with Huck's maturation. Throughout the book, Mark Twain examines societal standards and the influence of adults that one experiences during childhood. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn have been condemned since its publication, usually focusing, especially in modern times, on its use of the word "nigger." While this could be a valid argument had the author portrayed Jim negatively, I find another reason to argue against the novel because it subverts the ideals that many parents wish to instill in their youth.
Reading this book for the first time since high school and my departure from my parents this year, watching Huck live without parental controls made me realize how impressionable one is to the values instilled by his or her constant role models. Without being forced to conform to societal standards, Huck is supposed to use his own logic to realize what is good and bad, rather than blindly following his elders' "wisdom."
At the beginning of the novel, Huck shows his skepticism of the values that society imposes when the Widow Douglas attempts to “civilize” him, running away to his freedom until his friends threaten to kick him out of the gang. Given the option of loneliness or independence, Huck chooses to return. When his father returns and takes custody of him again, Huck is deprived of his friends against his own will. Locked alone in the cabin, Huck is given plenty of time to consider his options. If he remains in the cabin, he will continue to be powerless to the will of his father. If he escapes and returns to town, he will only be returned to his drunken father, who will certainly beat him. He r...
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...ny of the lessons that Twain previously informed us in the books' Notice are not in the book. Huck is completely freed of the fear of his father, as Jim realizes that it is time that he learns the truth about his death. Jim is now a free man, showing that Miss Watson realized the error of her ways right before death. Most importantly, Huck realizes how his life has changed throughout this experience and chooses that the society that he was born into is in many ways corrupted by the people within it. Fortunately, because of the money and lack of legal control, he has the ability to retire from it, as he plans to "light out for the Territory ahead of the rest" (Twain, 1256) before mainstream society has the ability to come and ruin it with the misguided traditions and beliefs.
Works Cited
Twain, Mark The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Norton Anthropology 2008
The lessons Mark Twain teaches throughout his book are vital for every High School student to experience. One of the major points for arguing that The Adventure’s of Huckleberry Finn should be banned is the repetitive and overuse of the N word. On a surface level, the way the N word is used could seem very disrespectful however as one dives deeper into analysis, Twain seemingly uses the N word loosely to portray a message. Throughout the book, Jim is always looked upon with a negative attitude and being just a typical black person because of these traits. However, as Huck and Jim venture along the Mississippi river, Huck begins to act more and more like Jim is an actual person. A prime example of this is when Huck says “they’re comin for us” (Twain 63) rather than saying they’re coming for you. Huck sees him and Jim as a relationship rather than just him and a slave. Another example is when Huck says, “It was 15 minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a n----” (89). Huck’s apology shows how Huck’s mindet towards not only Jim but all black people has changed, and that he actually has feelings for them now. The overall lesson tha...
Maturity is all about taking action on a person’s wise thoughts. Through the book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the readers can see Huck matures mostly on his tough, brave adventure. Huck’s adventure matures him showing that the river is a passage to manhood and teaches him many lessons in life. The three major parts where Huck got more mature was when he finally got away from pap, when he decided to help Jim, and when Huck helps the Wilks family.
Maturity in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn "To live with fear and not be afraid is the greatest sign of maturity.". If this is true, then Mark Twain's Huck Finn is the greatest. example of a maturity of the. Huck is the narrator of Twain's book, The Adventures. of Huckleberry Finn.
Twain uses Huck to show the readers how living under an authoritative figure causes one to conform to the ideals and beliefs created by society. He proves to the readers, that while under the care of adults, Huck is forced to follow rules and is limited in his own freedoms. However, in the setting of nature, Twain explains how Huck has more liberties and is free to live his life as he pleases, including “shameful” activities such as befriending Jim. As the story unravels, Twain emphasizes to the audience that society is the cause of one to conform and that action should be taken to permit more liberties and uniqueness within
During Huck’s Second Crisis of Conscience episode in Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck’s sheer tenacity to uphold his friendship with Jim indicates that a human being’s sense of camaraderie displaces racism. Through his resolution to no longer base his actions on what is most convenient for him, Huck demonstrates promising development concerning his conscience and his heart. Furthermore, Huck matures by exhibiting amiable emotions towards Jim and deciding to protect Jim’s freedom at all costs. Notwithstanding, Huck’s maturation has space for refinement because, pertaining to his overall grasp of slavery, Huck needs to understand the cruelty that enslavement harnesses.
“All modern literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn,” this is what fellow writer had to say about this classic novel. Still, this novel has been the object of controversy since it was published more than 150 years ago. Some people argue that Huckleberry Finn is a racist work, and that the novel has no place in a highschool classroom. This feeling is generated because a main character in the story, Jim, and other slaves are referred to many times as “niggers.” When Mark Twain wrote this book, he was striving to show the general public that society was wrong in the past, that the way white people thought black people were less than human was a wrong viewpoint. The book is also denounced because people feel that this book is anti-American. Russians have even taught this book to show that Americans are generally rotten people (Loeffler, class notes). But this novel is in no way anti-American, everything written about Americans is used as a satire, to make such a poignant book less serious, and to add some levity. Twain also has hidden morals in his messages. Huckleberry Finn should be taught in highschool classrooms because it is a very valuable and educational novel, with a moral and a theme that are needed to be learned by everyone.
Lauded by literary critics, writers and the general reading public, Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn commands one of the highest positions in the canon of American literature. On an international level, it is “a fixture among the classics of world literature” (Kaplan 352). It “is a staple from junior high . . . to graduate school” and “is second only to Shakespeare in the frequency with which it appears in the classroom . . . ” (Carey-Webb 22). During the push for school desegregation in the 1950s, however, many parents raised serious objections to the teaching of this text. These objections centered around Twain's negative characterization of Jim and his extensive use of the term “nigger” throughout the text. Many people felt this characterization, along with the most powerful racial epithet in the English language, were insensitive to African Americn heritage and personally offensive in racially mixed classrooms.
There is a major argument among literary critics whether Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn is or is not a racist novel. The question boils down to the depiction of Jim, the black slave, and to the way he is treated by Huck and others. In the 1950s the effort to banish The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from required classroom reading lists came publicly to the floor again, not chiefly on the grounds that its depiction of black characters and the use of the word “nigger” were demeaning to African-American students. Many feel that Twain uses the word too loosely. However, many believe that Huck Finn should be taught in schools on the grounds that the novel’s racist theme accurately depicted what life was like for a slave in pre- Civil War times.
But are highschool kids mature enough to handle this verble scrutiny towards people that were viewed less than that of person? Or should they wait until they are in college where they are mature enough to handle something like this? The reality in the argument of maturity is that high school students and college students share in the same physiological maturity level. However, some may still feel that the novel targets their ethnicity of people by the usage of “nigger” in Huckleberry Finn. This could only mean that the individual reading the novel has not been shown all of the information that correlates to the time of Mark Twain.
When we are first introduced to Huck, he is very immature. Refusing to give in to "civilized society," he is not making a mature decision; he is merely being stubborn. Huck is unable to be mature because his father has literally beaten into him his own values and beliefs. Because of his father, Huck has almost no self-confidence. He has been taught to shun society and is unable to make a decision to accept it because of the constant threat that his father may come...
At the beginning of the tale, Huck struggles between becoming ?sivilized? and doing what he pleases. He doesn?t want to listen to the rules that the Widow Douglas and her sister force upon him, even though he knows the widow only wants what is best for him. Miss Watson pushes Huck away from society even more through the way she treats him. She teaches him religion in such a dreary way that when she speaks of heaven and hell, Huck would rather go to hell than be in heaven with her: ?And she told all about the bad place, and I said I wished I was there?I couldn?t see no advantage in going where she was going, so I made up my mind I wouldn?t try for it? (12-13). Huck is taught a very different kind of morality by his father who believes ?it warn?t no harm to borrow things, if you was meaning to pay them back?? (70). He likes his father?s idea of morality better because he is not yet mature enough to fully understand right and wrong, although living with the widow...
Throughout the years, Huck Finn’s message has been misinterpreted as racist. In fact, according to John H. Wallace the narrative is “racist trash” (112), mainly because of the word “nigger” (Twain 7), which is used more than two hundred times. Never-theless, most anti-Huck critics fail to understand the elemental use of the word. Twain intends to unveil the South’s reality; therefore, the absence of the word “nigger” would result in the erroneous portrayal of how a twelve-year-old, uneducated boy from Missouri would talk. For the same previous reason, Twain gives each character different speech. Not in order to generalize and stereotype, but actually “[forming] identity… by social realities” (James 16). Despite Twain’s intention, the diction he uses for Jim’s portrayal has offended several students and parents throughout the nation, for its jester-like characteristics (Henry 25). In reality, the different slangs, not just Jim’s, give each character the needed humanity to make them more “believable, complex, and therefore dignified” (James 16). Twain’s chosen diction exposes the reality of human beings, which a censored versio...
Since its first publication in 1884, Mark Twain’s masterpiece The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has proven to be one of history’s most controversial novels; especially recently, the novel has often been banned by schools and censored by libraries. Characters in the book are constantly using disparaging language toward slaves, and the repeated use of the word “nigger” makes many sensitive and offended. Critics denounce the novel and Mark Twain as racist for this word being insulting and politically incorrect and for its depiction of black people and how they are treated. However, Twain was not attempting to perpetuate racism; on the contrary, he used satire to expose the ignorance and paradoxical views held by many in America at that time. Despite objections to the novel for offensive and insensitive portrayal of African Americans due to Twain’s negative and stereotypical “minstrel-like” characterization of Jim and the extensive use of the term “nigger,” throughout the novel, Twain exposes Jim’s unfeigned humanity behind a “minstrel-like” pretense by illustrating his capacity to possess profound human emotions and his triggering Huck’s moral transformation from a conscienceless, uncivilized juvenile into a an adolescent able to make the ethical choice.
Huck Finn learns from the actions of people around him, what kind of a person he is going to be. He is both part of the society and an outlier of society, and as such he is given the opportunity to make his own decisions about what is right and what is wrong. There are two main groups of characters that help Huck on his journey to moral maturation. The first group consists of Widow Douglas, Miss Watson, and the judge. They portray society and strict adherence to rules laid out by authority. The second group consists of Pap, the King, and the Duke. They represent outliers of society who have chosen to alienate themselves from civilized life and follow no rules. While these characters all extremely important in Huck’s moral development, perhaps the most significant character is Jim, who is both a fatherly figure to Huck as well as his parallel as far as limited power and desire to escape. Even though by the end of the novel, Huck still does not want to be a part of society, he has made a many choices for himself concerning morality. Because Huck is allowed to live a civilized life with the Widow Douglas, he is not alienated like his father, who effectively hates civilization because he cannot be a part of it. He is not treated like a total outsider and does not feel ignorant or left behind. On the other hand, because he does not start out being a true member of the society, he is able to think for himself and dismiss the rules authority figures say are correct. By the end of the novel, Huck is no longer a slave to the rules of authority, nor is he an ignorant outsider who looks out only for himself. This shows Huck’s moral and psychological development, rendering the description of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” as a picaresq...
...d his adventure with Jim on the hero’s journey, he now sees the world a different way, a different way that may cause Huck severe consequences if society became involved. Huck believes his ways are right and the society’s ways are wrong. Today the society we live in was Huck’s perspective in the years before the Civil war. Back then during that time society was more strict and involved in slavery. The way we think and act today would probably