To teach or not to teach? This is the question that is presently on many administrators' minds about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. For those who read the book without grasping the important concepts that Mark Twain gets across "in between the lines", many problems arise. A reader may come away with the impression that the novel is simply a negative view of the African-American race. If we believe that Huck Finn is used only as a unit of racism we sell the book short. I feel that there is much to be learned about Blacks from this book and it should not be banned from the classroom. This is only one of many themes and expressions that Mark Twain is describing in his work. I believe that in Huck Finn slavery is used as insight into the nature of blacks and whites as people in general. Overall, the most important thing to understand is that Mark Twain is illustrating his valuable ideas without pushing them upon the reader directly.
I believe that “Huck Finn” teaches a reader two important lessons about the true nature of people. Throughout the book, one of these main lessons is that Blacks can be just as caring as whites. The white characters often view the blacks as property rather than as individuals with feelings and aspirations of their own. Huck comes to realize that Jim is much more than a simple slave when he discusses a painful experience with his daughter. Jim describes how he once called her and she did not respond. He then takes this as a sign of disobedience and beats her for it. Soon realizing that she is indeed deaf, he comforts her and tries to make up for the act of beating. The feeling that Jim displays shows Huck that Jim has a very human reaction and the fact Jim says, "Oh Huck, I bust out crying....'Oh the po' little thing!" (Twain 151), only further proves to Huck that Jim is as caring as he is. Huck's realization allows him to see that Jim is no longer the ordinary slave.
The point where Huck completely changes his attitudes towards blacks comes when he is faced with the dilemma of turning Jim in. Huck fights with his conscience and also remembers the things that Jim has done for him. "I'd see him standing my watch on top of his'n, stead of calling me, so I could go on sleeping; and see him how glad he was when I come back out of the fog; and when I come to him again in the swamp, up there wher...
... middle of paper ...
...nable that ignorance and be a victory for racism and not a loss.
To consider banning this novel simply because it has situations and characters that are considered racist is superficial. The novel does show the relationships between blacks and whites in the nineteenth century. However, it shows these situations not to promote racism against blacks, but for the reader to better understand the subject. The character of Jim is shown to be caring and considerate towards Huck and more mature and human than the society allows him to be. Although he is shown to be this way, Twain shows the irony and hypocrisy of treating a mature man like simple property. The novel also shows how a boy, who is a product of this hypocritical society, comes to realize the true nature of his friend Jim and how deranged the societies beliefs are. In showing these ironic situations and the transformation that Huck goes through the reader sees racism in a real life setting. People who want to ban the book miss the idea entirely. Instead of getting rid of something that is supposedly racist, they only perpetuate racism by denying others a good source of material on the subject.
How would you feel if a white boy couldn’t apologize to a grown black man because it goes against his faith? If I was in the black man’s position I would feel disrespected but I wouldn’t blame the white boy because he was brought up like that and it’s in his mentality to look at African Americans as property and with disgust. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain incorporates racism and slavery to show how and why it is wrong. He uses Huck, one of his man characters, to demonstrate how a white boy breaks forth from society’s racist ideas and the people around him to have a strong friendship with a slave name Jim, who becomes a fugitive. He uses Jim to demonstrate humanity and how it has nothing to do with the color of your skin. He also shows the struggle African Americans had to go through during that period of time in order to be free. Through friendship Huck learns that Jim is a regular human being just like everyone else.
the Author has giving many examples when her father decided to steal books from a public library. Also, Stapinski’s father would still lobster from his night shift job. Also, her favored cousin was arrested for stealing about $200,000 from his employer which many people would never do something like this.Also, we know that Helene Stapinski was growing up into a rough neighborhood that they’re has been a lot of funerals that’s how Jersey City was becoming into a horrible place to live.
Why would a man who fought against slavery, injustice, and discrimination write a racist book ? For some time, many students, educators, and scholars debated whether The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain deserves its place in our literary canon. Certain readers find the relationship between Huck and Jim especially problematic due to abundant use of the N word and Twain’s stereotypical depiction of Jim. On one hand, Jim is viewed as an uneducated slave who is always in peril due to Huck’s playfulness and immaturity. Yet, on the other hand, Jim is a complex secondary character crucial for Huck’s development from naiveté into maturity. Despite, the glaring overuse of racial epithets, Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn should remain in the literary canon and continue to be taught as it allows readers to address racial misconceptions, such as racial
These problems, that have been faced and are being faced in America must be talked about. Just not with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as the platform. Jane Smiley said that “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has little to offer in the way of greatness” and honestly she couldn't be more right. (Say it ain’t so Huck 356) There are an overwhelming number of novels that could explain American slavery and racism. Jane Smiley said that “Uncle Tom’s Cabin’s portrayal of an array of thoughtful, autonomous, and passionate characters leaves Huck Finn far behind.” (Say it Ain’t so, Huck 358) The discussion of slavery and the harsh racism from whites to blacks need to happen in classrooms. Not with Huckfinn because it is outdated. Mark Twain once said that, “a ‘classic’ is a book which people praise but don't read.” Contradicting to his own novel, Twain’s HuckFinn was praised without being truly read. Meaning that its title as a classic is wrong. Its way easier for HuckFinn to be taught wrong then right. Looking at one of the first encounters of the book, in the scenes where all the boys are in a “gang” “some thought it would be good to kill the families.” (Twain 21) The book set in pre-civil war time. From the prospective a white kid’s opinion on slavery. One of the pure goals of the book it is to talk about how people were racist and didn't even realize it. Huck’s whole mentality towards Jim shows this. Jane Smiley noted that twain really saw Jim as no more than Huck’s sidekick.” (Say it Ain’t so Huck 335) While slavery is very present in today’s day and age it is very different then it was during the antebellum time period. In fact, racism today is completely different then it was just 25 years ago. Jane Smiley says “Jim is never autonomous, never has a vote, always finds his purpose subordinate to Huck’s, and like every good sidekick, he never minds.” Every high school student knows that America has a history
but people think he is a runaway slave, he follows huck on his adventure and they set off to do amazing things. Jim teaches him two main things, that blacks are as good as white and that blacks care for each other as whites do. Jim saying that blacks are as good as whites is true of course but Huck does not know that until he really looks at how Jim is and how he works. Huck realises that blacks care as much as whites do for their people, “and I do believe he cares just as much for his people as white
After Vladimir Lenin, a Russian communist revolutionary, politician and political theorist, died, Stalin outmaneuvered his rivals and won the control of the Communist Party. In the tardy 1920’s he became dictator of the Soviet Cumulation. Then he wanted to industrialize the country because at the time the economic was farming. Millions of farmers reluctant to be apart of Stalin’s orders and were killed as penalization. The civilization led a widespread famine across the Soviet Coalescence and killed millions of people. Stalin wanted to kill anyone who opposed him of his orders. He engendered an army of secret police, and inspirited citizens to spy on others which had many people killed or sent to a labor camp. Virtually everyone around Stalin was considered a threat to him, even the Communist Party, the military, and components of the Soviet Coalescence society, s...
...te peoples property. He is told that slaves are simply lesser people than people of the white race. Because it really is what everyone believes, this prejudice is tricky to erase and stays with Huck for a long period time. Soon, Huck starts to realize that this is not true. Jim shows him that although he is a servant, he is a genuine person, not a piece of property. He has emotions, just like Huck himself. Huck continually learns through everyone incident how Jim can be a genuine, caring and beneficial person. Slowly, Huck begins to rethink a few of the prejudice things that he’s been taught most of his childhood life. He becomes his own person by choosing what he knows is right to do, instead of what exactly society says is the right thing to do. This is an example that shows how Huck’s maturity and his capability to think for himself has grown throughout this book.
After the war America had won its independence from Britain. America was still in trouble. There was too much power in the hands of the people this was leading to a new kind of tyranny. America was becoming a mess and something needed to be done. The government needed to be granted more power. This is where the timely framing and ratification of the new constitution comes into play.
Joseph Stalin was one of the cruelist leaders in all of history, alongside figures such as Genghis Khan and Napoleon Bonaparte. He destroyed anybody and anything that stood in his path. When Lenin died Stalin had to compete against Leon Trotsky. "Stalin's victory was slow and hard-fought, but by 1927 he had succeeded in having Trostky expelled from the party and, in 1929, from the country (Trotsky was tracked down and killed by Stalin's agents in Mexico City in 1940)" (Unknown). Although Trotsky's personal authority was unchallenged, Stalin was able to convince the Russian people to go with him, and not Trotsky. With his Five-Year Plan, Stalin planed to create a collective farming system and make the USSR powerful and industrial. Both of these goals would require massive amounts of murder, especially to the people of Ukraine. Stalin created a famine from 1932 to 1933 killing about six to seven million people and causing the Ukraine to fall. A combination between Stalin's drive for complete power and his paranoia led milli...
The development of the U.S. Constitution was a series of many trials and errors. There were many problems starting from the Articles of Confederation and even the battle to ratify the constitution. Not everyone wanted the same thing for the new government, however they all agreed that they didn’t want the same type of government that they had unde English rule.
Stalin implemented a Five Year Plan in order to build up the industrial production of the Soviet Union. In order to keep the illusion of a successful Five Year Plan, production quotas were constantly made known well before they had been attained. He also announced another Five Year Plan before the last Five Year Plan was completed. According to Lyotard, Stalin and his Communism tried to give the proletariat a reality beyond that of the working class still bound to national traditions and differential claims, but unfortunately it would never be recognized for the legitimacy of any local power. Stalin to maintain power in his totalitarian regime, he purged his party of those who might oppose him and opportunists who might make the attempt to replace his regime. His use of terror was able to deceive people as long as it did because it seemed to be working toward the realization of the socialist republic. Terror became one of the key features of the government. Stalin, through his totalitarian power, got Russian workers many benefits like free education, free medical services and pension. The unemployment rate decreased and there was a great possibility for personal advancement. To advance in this society y...
Joseph Stalin started a sequence of five-year plans in the 1920’s planned to change the Soviet Union from a society filled with peasants into an industrialized soc...
In 2013, approximately one in every five adults in the United States were current cigarette smokers (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). To put this number into
Stalin consolidated his power base with the Great Purges against his political and ideological opponents, most notably the old cadres and the rank and file of Bolshevik Party (Stalin 2). The population suffered immensely during the Great Terror of the 1930s, during which Stalin purged the party of ‘enemies of the people’, resulting in the execution of thousands and the exile of millions to the gulag system of slave labor camps (Joseph 1). He also orchestrated a massive famine in the Ukraine in which a estimated 5 million people died (Stalin 2). It is believed that with the purges, forced famines, state terrorism, labor camps, and forced migration, Stalin was responsible for the death of as many as 40 million people within the borders of the Soviet Union (2). These purges severely depleted the Red Army, and despite repeated warnings, Stalin was ill prepared for Hitler’s attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941 (Joseph 1). His political future, and that of the Soviet Union, hung in the balance, but Stalin recovered to lead his country to victory (1).
Tobacco has been used, enjoyed, and abused around the world for centuries. Originally tobacco was produced for pipe smoking and chewing (chewing tobacco). The first cigarette was made around the 1600’s, but didn’t become popular in America until the end of the Civil War. The invention of the Cigarette rolling machine in 1883 sparked a tremendous surge of production and sales of cigarettes around the world. It wasn’t until the 1950’s that health risks from long-term tobacco use became a real issue in the world. In 1966 the American Surgeon General demanded warning labels be put on cigarette cartons warning users the possible health risks associated with tobacco use. Tobacco use has been a growing epidemic in the United