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.
Essay The novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is a story about a young boy who is trying to find who he is during the civil war. In this novel by Mark Twain it speaks about this young boy, named Huck, and how his original morals are beginning to change while he helps free his friend Jim, who is a slave. Though People have argued that this book uses many racial slurs that demoralize the African American race. Though there is solid reasoning why those are not Mark Twain's true intentions.
Due to the use of such language, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is accused for being racist. But the author, Mark Twain, himself was opposed to racial segregation and the harsh treatment of blacks. So given his ideals, there must be a reason why he chose to incorporate racial stereotypes and epithet into his story. Mark Twain did not intentionally use racial slurs in order to be racist or for the words to be condoned but rather “the use of such language was intended not only to reflect American life in the South prior to the Civil War but to treat it in an ironic fashion.” ( "Federal Appeals Court Allows Huck Finn to Remain on School 's Reading
Throughout history, Americans have made a habit of discriminating against the minority population, and although there had been laws to change the equality, there was a lingering feeling of inequality in the Black population due to the continuation of segregation in the 19th century. After the Civil War, there was a political war against the rights of the Black population, causing many laws to form in argument of what a black man could do. Few court cases formed against these minimal rights as an attempt to gain equality, and although there were changes made in the laws, attitudes and desires towards the Black population hardly changed perspective.
All relationships have bumps in the road and hard times to overcome but in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the two main characters, Huck and Jim’s, relationship was special. They had a relationship that would change the outcome of millions of lives of slaves and people who were looked down upon. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn can be seen as the emergence of racial tolerance shown through the relationship of Huck and Jim. The way that Huck treats Jim on occasions such as when Jim told Huck about his family and Huck saw Jim as a normal human being with a family. Another occasion was when Huck was thinking about Jim and realized he was also white inside meaning he felt Jim was an equal.
It has been brought to my attention by your organization, that you wish to have the classic novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, banned from our school systems. Now, I can understand your views and claims against this book, but in order to stay with a clean conscience, I must not let you and your organization bring forth this motion. As the head of both the city council and the local school board, I hold some sway with the other councillors and board members as well. I shall do everything in my power to convince them to vote against this outrageous demand. That is if, I cannot convince you, or the majority of your organization to not move forward with this motion.
Jane Smiley argues that Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn suggests only “a recognition of the obvious -- that blacks, slave and free, are human” and therefore does not deserve to be shelved on the western canon nor taught in schools (Smiley). Contrary to Smiley’s statement, the story educates on many more morals and philosophies in addition to racism and depicts the protagonist Huck fighting against deeply rooted societal conventions at the time (and even in places today) that a black person amounts to less value than a white person. This novel deserves to be on the western canon as it is far more nuanced than Smiley suggests; Huck’s fighting societal prejudices, teaches people to defeat stereotypes and value people not
In the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, there are many themes that demonstrate satire. One of the themes is racism. There are many examples of racism in this book that portray the use of satire.
Overall, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, criticizes the moral conditioning of society. Twain utilizes situational irony, mockery, and absurdity to satirize racism through Huck’s journey. Twain’s use of stereotypes uncovers racial hypocrisy by criticizing the way society has taught young kids to think about black people. Twain uses irony to mock the way the government treats slaves and African
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.
Despite the connotations that Adventures of Huckleberry Finn may have lost focus in its message of anti-racism, the novel still displays a thoughtful and engaging take on the status of racism through setting and character development. Though authors like Jane Smiley believe the book is overpraised because the characters are shallow and ignored, Twain’s subtle commentary on racism through the use of his characters helps to create a realistic understanding of the social conditions at the time.
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.
Since this book contains many racial slurs and violence, people want it banned or censored. Although, Huckleberry Finn should remain how it is because altering it changes the impact of the book, people will still be exposed to these slurs, and it is an opportunity to teach readers. The censored version of Huck Finn replaces the ‘N-word’ with the word ‘slave’. This would be an inaccurate representation because they have a
The book Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain is a story written about a young boy Huck, who ran away from home with a slave Jim. He battles his feelings towards slavery and learns various other lessons along the way. Allowing this book to be taught to high school students is a never-ending controversy that has been happening since the book has been written. Huckleberry Finn is a brilliant piece of writing that addresses issues that United States still struggles with. There have been many arguments that have been against teaching Huckleberry Finn mostly over the usage of an offensive word, “nigger” which was commonly used in that time period.