Where does racism begin? Is it embedded in us the day we are born? Do we wake up one morning and decide to be racist? Racism is an aspect that is taught to us from daily observations. Normally, we grasp the concept to be racist by our parents or guardian. In the story “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain, the protagonist and narrator of the novel is young white, male, named Huck Finn. Huck lives in St. Petersburg, Missouri, a town on the Mississippi River. This novel takes place a few years prior to the Civil War. During this time, slavery was still permitted. African Americans around that time were treated brutally. Many whites owned slaved, and Huck Finn’s guardians, Widow Douglass and Miss Watson are one of them. They both own Jim, a runaway slave that Huck later meets. Huck is recently awarded with money, and Huck’s violent father, comes to retrieve Huck and his money from Widow Douglas and Miss Watson, the sisters that adopt Huck. Huck fakes his own death and runs away, and on the run finds Jim. Jim decides to run away after he hears Miss Watson is going to sell Jim to a plantation that would then separate him from his family. While on their voyage, Huck and Jim form a close friendship. Despite societies norms and judgments that Huck will face by being Jims friend, Huck still defends and cares for Jim. Huck is a young boy that is sometimes conflicted between societies expectations and what his conscious feels. Huck is superstitious, naive, intelligent, and heart driven.
Huck has many characteristics in the novel, many are portrayed but one important one that is voiced throughout the novel is his superstition. Huck is very superstitious. Some of the superstitions he has are derived from the time period. According ...
... middle of paper ...
... Race in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. Jackson, Mississippi. P. 1-159. 1998. Print.
Johnson, Claudia Durst. “Race in Mark Twain’s Adventure of Huckleberry Finn”. Detroit, Michigan. 2009. Print.
Johnson, Claudia Durst. “Understanding Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. A student casebook to issues, sources and historical documents. Westport, Connecticut. P. 1-246. 1996. Print.
Quirk, Tom. “The Flawed Greatness of Huckleberry Finn”. The Magazine of the Mizzou Alumni Association. University of Missouri. 21 May 2013. Web.
Twain, Mark. “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Case Study in Critical Controversy. 2nd ed. Ed. Graff, Gerald and James Phelan. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2004. 1-883. Print.
Wood, Daniel Davis. “Character Synthesis in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. The Explicator. Academic Share Research. 12 June 2013. Web.
Overall, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn displays many themes that are still highly relevant to Americans today, and lives up to the title of a “timeless piece of literature”. Huckleberry’s personal growth from the beginning of the novel until the end is chalked full of valuable lessons that many coming of age individuals learn, no matter the time period. There are many ways in which the concepts of slavery, religion, and family have evolved since the time of Huckleberry Finn, but there are certain overreaching themes that will forever be relevant due to the nature of the human
Jones, Rhett S. "Nigger and Knowledge. White Double-Consciousness in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Satire or Evasion? Black Perspectives on Huckleberry Finn. Ed. James Leonard, et al. Durham: Duke UP, 1992. 173-194.
Huckleberry Finn provides the narrative voice of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and his honest voice combined with his personal vulnerabilities reveal the different levels of the Grangerfords’ world.
"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." SparkNotes Mobile Web Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2014.
Pritchett, V. S. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: An Annotated Text, Background and Sources, Essays in Criticism. Eds. Sculley Bradley, Richmond Croom Beatty, and E. Hudson Long. New York: Norton, 1961.
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.
Lester, Julius. “Morality and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” Satire or Evasion?: Black Perspectives on Huckleberry Finn. Ed. James S. Leonard, Thomas A. Tenney, and Thadious M. Davis. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1992. 199-207. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 161. Detroit: Gale, 2005. Literature Resource Center. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.
Hoffman, Daniel. “Black Magic--and White--in Huckleberry Finn.” Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: An Authoritative Text Backgrounds and Sources Criticism. Ed. Sculley Bradley, et al. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 1977. 423-436.
...cal Edition, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, An Authoritative Text Backgrounds and Sources Criticism. Ed. and Trans. Sculley Bradley, Richmond Croom Beaty, E. Hudson Long, and Thomas Cooley. New York: Norton, 1977. 328-335.
This essay will analyze the themes of religion, slavery, and democracy in the book Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. By exploring these themes that lie behind the book’s veneer, we can understand Twain’s objective for writing this book.
...ke." Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. An Authoritative Text Backgrounds and Sources Criticism. Ed. Sculley Bradley, et al. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 1977. 421-22.
Johnson, Claudia Durst. Understanding Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The Greenwood Press “Literature in Context” Series. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1996.
Twain, Mark. “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” The Norton Anthology: American Literature. Ed. Julia Reidhead. New York: Norton & Company Inc., 2012. 130-309. Print.
Twain, Mark, and Cynthia Johnson. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2009. Print.
Wallace, John H. “Huckleberry Finn Is Racist Trash.” Readings on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Ed. Katie de Koster. The Greenhaven Press literary companion to American literature. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1998. 112-20. Print.