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Stereotypes In The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain

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Many people argue that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain are offensive. This book takes you back during 1835-1845 when slavery was still active. While some people believe it brings history to our time others believe it is wrong and disrespectful. I however think that Huckleberry Finn is a great book with good intentions, with a splash of hard history. This book is mature, which can be the reason why so many people decline his work. He focused on a time when African Americans were treated badly; he brought this to his novel which brought him bad publicity. You can argue that it is racist but in reality Twain is using the real language of the time to capture and portray the South at the time, and how blacks were being treated. Throughout the novel the word “nigger” is used quite frequently by white southerners. Many people believe that way Twain being racist but that …show more content…

Blacks in the novel are portrayed as superstitious and gullible and it is understandable that many readers are offended by these stereotypes. However, in contrast to these stereotypes, Twain gives us Jim the runaway slave. Jim in many ways contradicts these racial stereotypes: he is resourceful, clever, compassionate, and friend to Huck. When it comes time for Huck to consider telling Miss Watson that her slave has been captured, Huck finds himself in a dilemma. Does he do what he views as “right,” turn Jim in, or does he do the “wrong” thing: helping a slave and true friend who has sacrificed and genuinely cared about Huck’s wellbeing throughout their river raft adventure? This is another reason I believe Twain was not being “racist” but bringing some real life drama in him

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Should the word “nigger” be used in high school literature? That is the tough decision that many high school teachers face when try to decide whether or not to teach The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Huck Finn uses the n word throughout the book to refer to a friend who is a slave. Even though that word can be very offensive, it is a big part of our history that high school students should be mature enough to learn about. Many students do not continue on to college after high school; therefore, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be allowed to be taught in high school.

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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.

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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.

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This book is very satirical. During Mark Twain’s time this was something that was unheard of. Today, Huckleberry Finn is controversial for another reason. Huckleberry Finn is thought of by many as anti-black. It has many examples of racism throughout the book.

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1724 Words | 7 Pages

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.

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Twain focuses on the character development and learning experiences of Huckleberry throughout the novel. Although taught that slaves were property and lesser people, Huck decides to follow through with helping free Jim regardless, even going as far as claiming he was willing to face consequences in the afterlife for doing so, because he thought Jim was just as human as he and other white men were and felt it was necessary to do so, despite what he learned from the White-dominated society he was raised in. This aspect was very important to me personally, as it represents the empathy and selflessness most humans are given by nature before being corrupted by societal hatred amongst other people. Empathy and compassion are two very important elements in my life, as I value them deeply both in social and political circumstances, and I think Twain did a great job of representing both of those things honorably through Huck’s

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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.

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There is a very high probability that when this book was introduced, it was met with significant controversy from both sides of the nation. In fact, Twain himself fought in the civil war on the confederate side and experienced his family members owning slaves. “Twain was born in Missouri, a slave state, and fought in the Civil War, however briefly, on the Confederate side. His father occasionally owned a slave and some members of his family owned many more.” (Getting Past Black and White, pg. 56).

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