Analysis of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Everyday humans are faced with racial prejudice and societal stereotypes. These are, by no means, new topics of discussion. Such issues took hold in society centuries ago. Not only is it a burden on the minorities, but it has negatively affected humanity as a whole regardless of ethnicity. Sadly enough, this has become the societal norm. People are very quick to dismiss based on what society tells them rather than what they discover for themselves. Nearly 150 years ago, a man called Mark Twain wrote a novel in order to bring to light the issue of societal prejudice. However, each year, nearly since its release, many teachers and parents have attempted to keep this book, The Adventures of Huckleberry …show more content…
Some say that it is the fault of the media and the government in order to keep the population distracted, but it is more likely that it is due to the ignorance of society and the desire to belong. Whatever the reason may be, the problem will never be solved if the human race maintains this separation. The only way to overcome racial prejudice is to stand together. Society says to blame the “niggers,” or immigrants, or muslims, or whoever it may be. Huckleberry Finn states in the very beginning of the book, “That is just the way with some people. They get down on a thing when they don’t know nothing about it” (Twain 2). While Huck was talking about snuff here, it really sets the theme for the entire novel. Nobody knows anything about Jim, except that he is a slave and a “nigger.” Nobody knows him except for his lost family and Huck, who discovers that Jim is more human, and has better values than any of the “white” people Huckleberry meets along the way. Mark Twain used the characters of Huckleberry and Jim not only to portray the issue of racial prejudice in society but to show how it may be overcome. One can no longer form his or her opinion of something if he or she knows nothing about it. One can no longer judge someone based on the color of their skin without knowing that person’s personal values. There are countless terrifying problems that face the world today. It is trivial that something as petty as race can get in the way of that. There is only one race: the human
The appropriateness of Huck Finn being used in a High School curriculum has been a widely debated topic since the time that it was published. Many believe that the book promotes racism and stereotypes and provides no value to students in the classroom. Being a High School student that has read this book, I strongly disagree with these negative views. Some might say that Huck Finn celebrates racist stereotypes because of the way that many of the characters in the book talk about and treat black people. For example, minstrel episodes, which served the purpose of making the audience laugh at minorities’ expense, and the frequent use of the ‘N’ word, are very offensive to many people today.
Huckleberry Finn is unable to choose between his friendship with Jim and society. While he understands he “helped a nigger to get his freedom; and if I was ever to see anybody from that town again I’d be ready to get
The novel Huckleberry Finn has been a classic but controversial piece of history. Huck is a young racist boy. The society as a whole was racist. The lack of consequence for treating Jim badly because of his color is all about the time period. The limited knowledge can lead an individual into being a racist, but a strong minded young adult like Huck should be able to know the humanity of black people.
Writing in many ways is artwork — writers are able to use words and sentences in order to make big ideas as a painter is able to use his paint to illustrate big pictures and ideas; but like a picture, writing can be read and seem differently to each of the readers eyes. Works of literature such as these can be subjected to controversy from disputes of true meaning in the text. The novel Huck Finn has been challenged and criticized by adults and children for being full of racist language and bigotry. Since its publishing in 1885, the book Huck Finn has created an enormous public debate on whether or not Huck Finn should be taught in the classroom. Mark Twain, the author of Huck Finn, wrote the book to be full of racist ideas, in order for
Marie Herrin Mrs. Huffaker AP Language 12 January 2016 Racism in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn An issue of central importance in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is the controversial topic of racism. In chapter six, Twain manipulates his reader’s response to racism by controlling the speaker and surrounding circumstances of the bigoted statements in a way that pushes the reader to reject the racism because they have already rejected the speaker. In order to influence his readers, Twain utilizes the rhetorical devices of characterization and satire to show the immorality of the racist message.
Rosa Parks once said, “Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome.” She describes that the future of our world has to be aware of things that have happened in the past, such as racism. The NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, is a civil rights organization that displayed their position on this certain situation. The NAACP position is correct in that Mark Twain’s un-sanitized version of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be taught because the book describes the important awareness of the historical oppression of people, it provides a value of morality from that time period that students should learn, and gives an important lesson about race that should be taught to students.
In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the racist attitudes of the Deep South in the late 1800's are shown. Mark Twain portrays a runaway slave, Jim, as a racist caricature who does whatever is asked of him and exhibits little intelligence. The reader can initially see this through the use of the word "nigger" that is all throughout the book. In the modern 21st century this term is taken offensively, but in the 19th century this term was commonly used and Twain took advantage of it.
When Huck and Jim lost each other in the fog, Huck thought it would be a good idea to play a trick on Jim. By telling Jim that everything that happened was only him dreaming, but Jim was smart enough to realize Huck’s hoax but not let on about it. When Huck figured out Jim wasn’t happy about the trick, he had to “work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger” (4). In the beginning Twain makes Huck see Jim as unequal to him, by still having Huck use degrading names, and having to force himself to apologize. Inequality was a major issue during Twain’s life, and by having Jim stereotyped as unequal to Huck, though both are very similar in morals and education, Jim is still lower than Huck.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an American classic, it was the starting point for all great American Literature. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been awarded all of these honorable titles because of its abnormal and controversial plot line. During the time period when the book was written, it was unacceptable to view African- American’s as anything other than slaves. They were viewed as inferior to whites and were treated like property, they had no rights. The main character of the book, Huck, disagrees and disobeys these norms and pushes the boundaries of society when he becomes friends with a slave from his childhood; Jim.
The black man on the back porch is afraid of the rattle snake because it is bad luck, or the innocent little slave is quick to believe everything one tells them at the drop of the hat. These are just some of the many racist stereotypes of the 1840s. A character named Jim is the star African American whom Twain bestoys the mission of being the stereotypical black man to prove a point. He along with his much more pallor companion Huck go on exciting adventures that unfold the events which expose the racist conduct of the time. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain saturates his novel with potent images of acute racism severe enough as to create a satirical mien that exposes the absurdity of prejudice.
The reason being, stereotypes. A stereotype is a specific image or idea about a particular person or group. Psychology today discusses “ In their explicit use, stereotypes serve as a set of clear and open biased beliefs that people consciously use as part of their thoughts, decisions and social actions.” People think of stereotypes without even knowing that they may be stereotyping a certain person or group of people because it has become a natural thing. The question that is left unanswered is if people were aware that they are stereotyping unconsciously would they change the way in which they thought.
Huckleberry Finn is taking place where slavery and racism is hugely used and courage. Even though, Huckleberry was not racist himself, he believes in the same rules as the society around encourage. When he has to be put to the test whether what the right thing is at what mind state Huckleberry Finn must decide. Growing up Huckleberry Finn is raised with a wrong heart and only has a mindset for two different types of people: slaves and whites. Huckleberry was now in a different position as he was a younger and now will make a different person with a different Heart a “Sound Heart”
Those who feel the novel encourages racism say that because of the stereotypes used when featuring Jim, how Huck and Tom treated Jim, and how often the N-word is brought up Twain had hoped to encourage racism. However there is still strong evidence that proves why that might be a misunderstanding. If twain was intending to encourage racism then why would he make Him seem so much of a better person than the duke, king, and Huck's father. Also when Twain illustrates the black and white symbolism he portrayed Him as white man and Huck's father, who is a white man, as dark and scary. Then throughout the story as a reader you feel empathy for Jim he begins to become one of the favorite characters in the novel.
The adventure of Huckleberry Finn is a novel set before the Civil war, when slavery was legal and seen as the social norm, but written during post civil war. This novel demonstrates all the aspects or traditional America, as far from what it is today. Mark twain illustrates a lifetime were slavery and racism were seen as a natural part of life. Through incidents, comments by the characters and statements by the narrator 's Twain illustrates a satirical atmosphere on slavery and racism.
The book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published in 1885. Twain wrote this book as a sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. In the process of writing he ended up creating a book about how racism and how wrong it is. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was in 1839-1840 in the Mississippi Valley where Jim and Huck meet many different people, and this is where most of the stuff they went through happened. Huck Finn is a 12 year old boy ,who has no sense of right and wrong Huck is the main character and affects how the story went.