When my high school English teacher informed our class that we would be reading Huck Finn, I felt a sense of indifference. I did not know a great deal about the novel itself; however, I had a desire to learn more. Although my lack of knowledge regarding the novel was something that I was ashamed of, I still knew that Huck Finn was going to be a fantastic read considering the fact that it was written by Mark Twain, an acclaimed authors of his time. I had also expected the novel to be full of adventure and entertainment, but the thing I did not know was that it dealt with the arguable issue of slavery. Slavery becomes a big issue once people begin discussing the problem because numerous opinions and emotions come spurring out of people. People become impulsive and begin to say arbitrary statements that may be offensive to others.
On the other hand, slavery also deals with the pressing concern of racism. Racism is defined as “the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races" (Oxford Dictionaries). The theme of racism is seen throughout Twain’s novel, which is exactly why many people, including students and parents have a sense of enmity towards the novel. Granted that some people have inhospitable views against this novel, I can actively say that I do not. I think that the issue of racism needs to be discussed, so we can finally find some closure on this controversy. If we keep ignoring this pressing problem it will never be ameliorated. Although racism will probably never end, we can minimize some of the problems by increasing our education and knowledge on the topic. If we can limit the amount of ...
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...k Finn. He was able to take a bold risk and write a novel that influenced many. A great novel is not only just accepted but also questioned. Huck Finn has the ability to do just that.
Works Cited
Chadwick, Jocelyn. "Why Huck Finn Belongs in Classrooms."Harvard Education Letter. Harvard Education Letter, 31 Jan. 2006.
Morrison, Toni. "Huckleberry Finn: An Amazing, Troubling Book."Ethics, Literature, Theory. 2nd ed. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005. Print.
Wallace, John H. "The Case Against Huck Finn." Ethics, Literature, Theory. 2nd ed. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005. 265-72. Print.
Middleton, Phil, and David Pilgrim. "Nigger (the Word), a Brief History." Welcome To The Black Box, Personal Narratives in High Definition. Ferris State University, 2001. Web. 15 Dec. 2013. .
Are humans naturally good, or evil? Many people argue both ways. It has been argued for centuries, and many authors have written about it. One example of this is Samuel Clemens's, more commonly known as Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The book follows a young boy, named Huckleberry, and a runaway slave, named Jim, as they both run away. Huck runs away to escape being civilized, while Jim runs away from slavery. Together, they talk about life, philosophy, and friends. As they travel down the Mississippi River, both Huck and Jim learn various life lessons. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck witnesses the depravity of human nature on his journey on the Mississippi River.
The Adventure’s of Huckleberry Finn’s unique ability to incorporate moral lessons through satire and simmilar literary techniques prove it to be vital for High school students, especially at Rye, to read. The vast nature of things it teaches is something very rare for one book to do. It not only provides the reader with important life themes like other great novels do but it also shocks the reader to show the power of racism which makes it one of the greatest pieces of literature of all time. Just think of how different things would be if no one had read such an important book.
Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the greatest American novels ever written. The story is about Huck, a young boy who is coming of age and is escaping from his drunken father. Along the way he stumbles across Miss Watson's slave, Jim, who has run away because he overhead that he would be sold. Throughout the story, Huck is faced with the moral dilemma of whether or not to turn Jim in. Mark Twain has purposely placed these two polar opposites together in order to make a satire of the society's institution of slavery. Along the journey, Twain implies his values through Huck on slavery, the two-facedness of society, and represents ideas with the Mississippi River.
Throughout the novel of Huckleberry Finn, slavery is a major theme. Even though slavery had been abolished when Twain was writing the novel, people’s views in society hadn’t changed. In huckleberry Finn, twain explains slavery subtly through his characterisation to express his views about slavery.
The subject this book revolves around slavery, and how white folks’ mindset on black people was popular at that time. Their mindset involved treating black people as inferior to them, and how to them, they were not even considered human but property. Twain also shows how sometimes a fourteen year old boy (Huck) was more morally correct towards treatment of black people than many adults of his time. Twain presents this in a humorous way with its serious points. The issue is obvious throughout the story and makes the reader wonder how even “good” characters treate...
Mark Twain’s masterpiece The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn through much criticism and denunciation has become a well-respected novel. Through the eyes of a thirteen-year-old boy, Huckleberry Finn, Twain illustrates the controversy of racism and slavery during the aftermath of the Civil War. Since Huck is an adolescent, he is vulnerable and greatly influenced by the adults he meets during his coming of age. His expedition down the Mississippi steers him into the lives of a diverse group of inhabitants who have conflicting morals. Though he lacks valid morals, Huck demonstrates the potential of humanity as a pensive, sensitive individual rather than conforming to a repressive society. In these modes, the novel places Jim and Huck on pedestals where their views on morality, learning, and society are compared.
Ever since the day the book Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was introduced to the readers, the critical world has been littered with numerous essays and theses on Mark Twain’s writing achievement, yet many of them are about the writing style of Bildungsroman, the symbolic meanings of the raft and Mississippi river, the morality and racism color. Whereas few of them ever talked about why Mark Twain wrote so many lies in this novel. Probably because people usually thought that the splendor of this masterpiece will be obscured by the immorality nature of lying. But actually this is no the thing, even Mark Twain himself does’t think lying is an immoral thing. As what he said in his lecture on a meeting of the Historical and Antiquarian Club of Hartford, the essay later published as “On The Decay of the Art of Lying” , he called the art of lying “a Virtue, a Principle...a recreation, a solace, a refuge in time of need, the fourth Grace, the tenth Muse, man's best and surest friend, is immortal” (Twain, “On The Decay of the Art of Lying”). We can see that Mark Twain has a mature understanding about the value of lying and he wanted to share with us his philosophy of lying through Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Therefore, the major task of the paper is to investigate this philosophy of lying in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
In the story of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain uses many different types of symbols to get Twains numerous messages across. Twain signifies the Mississippi river as a symbol to get away from society for Huck and Jim. Twain also criticizes the way society runs and the things it teaches everyone to be. The river vs. land setting in Huckleberry Finn symbolizes Huck's struggle with himself versus society; Twain suggests that a person shouldn't have to conform to society and should think for themselves.Throughout the novel, Mark Twain shows the society that surrounds Huck as just a little more than a set of degraded rules and authority figures. When the new judge in town allows Pap to keep custody of Huck, adopters are things he doesn't need and doesn't care for. Twain gives Huck the power to think for himself, and come to adult conclusions, which show Twains message; think for yourself.Mark Twain's book Huckleberry Finn is for the reader to interpret for him or herself. But any reader could pick up on Huck's struggle with the freedom the Mississippi River gives him, and the society that holds him back. Huck realizes that he shouldn't have to conform, and he refuses to at the end of the book. Huck's trials and tribulations show the reader that he or she to think for themselves and not conform to societies standards from Huck's time period, or now.
Huckleberry Finn is not an escapist, but a free spirit who only wants to live deeply disentangled from the bonds of society. An escapist is someone who flees from his/her responsibilities, while a free spirit is a person who knows no boundaries, and cannot be tamed by society.
In Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck is a person to be admired. His caring attitudes and blunt honesty prove that he is a great person. Although Huck can be seen lying, cheating and stealing, he does these things out of necessity and as a result of his poor upbringing. These negative attributes don’t affect his overall high character.
Mark Twain wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to expose the hypocrisy of racism and religion in society. He clearly displayed how blacks were stereotyped, devalued, and considered to be inferior to whites. He showed how people associated themselves with certain religious beliefs, but only practiced those beliefs at their own convenience. Unfortunately, the issues Twain wrote about still exist in today’s world. Society has made some progress; however, overall, not much has changed since Twain wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a masterpiece. I can agree with Andrew Lang on this, but his reasoning behind it, I cannot. Lang sees Huckleberry Finn as, “a vivid and original picture of life . . . naturally displayed . . . possible and plausible.“ All of these are true, but I believe it is Twain’s strong use of irony in his presentation of truth, and the tension between What Huck has been taught and his instinctively good nature that make The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and extremely well crafted novel.
In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain depicts Huck as a hero, cut from the mythical mold. At every step of his journey, he conforms to one or another of the eight elements of Campbell’s paradigm. We see this most readily in Huck’s trials and tribulations, his symbolic death and rebirth, and his special traits from birth. Although Huck is still a fledgling at the start of the novel, Huck begins to grow and finally develop into a full-fledged hero, sacrificing his soul to save another.
Huck Finn is an informational text that depicts history throughout its time and educates others on the real background of slavery. Slaves were abused and this novel educates others on this historical time period of the south and its treatment towards slaves. Huck Finn teaches lessons on friendship and loyalty. Mark Twain's use of derogatory language is used to portray how slaves were treated and not to offend anyone. Banning books gives us silence and takes away authors voices when they need to be heard to educate others and teach
On February 10, in chapter nine and ten, Huck and Jim have developed somewhat of a friendship. They hide the canoe in a cavern; just in a case there were visitors that had dropped by. Unfortunately, it rains very hard, and the two hide in the cavern. The two find a washed-out houseboat, they find a dead body in the house, the body had been shot in the back. While heading back to the cave, Huck has Jim hide in the canoe, so he would not be seen. The next day, Huck puts a dead rattlesnake near Jim's sleeping place, and its mate comes and bites Jim. Jim's leg swells. A while later, Huck decides to go ashore and to find out what's new. Jim agrees, but has Huck disguise himself as a girl, with one of the dresses they took from the houseboat. Huck practices his girl impersonation, and then sets out for the Illinois shore. In an abandoned shack, he finds a woman who looks forty, and also appears a newcomer. Huck is relieved she is a newcomer, since she will not be able to recognize him. The two characters share a few important traits in common. One of the most obvious similarities is their confidence in superstition, though superstition was also a part of the society in which they lived, where people thought cannon balls and loaves of bread with mercury could find drowned corpses. The two are from “civilization” and more generally the white upper class world. Of course, Jim’s background is much deeper than Huck's. As an African American, he simply is less a part of it. Jim's freedom is endangered by that world; he must hide himself during the day so that he is not taken back to it. Journal Entry 6