Mark Twain: Controversy and Admiration
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Many writers have used their talents to influence the way a generation thinks, but few writers have had the remarkable influence of the legendary Mark Twain. In his books, you see insights into the human psyche and each word he wrote stirs both controversy and admiration. In the following paper, we will see if Mark Twain used this to show a true emotional bond between Huckleberry Finn and, the negro, Jim or if he used them to make the statement that these two races could live as one.
During the time that Mark Twain was a young man slavery was practiced very often and not looked down upon by the people, actually it was almost a status symbol to have many slaves, due to the fact that slaves were expensive both to take care of and buy. The conditions in which a slave lived were atrocious, a slave was often under nourished and disease riddled. In the time Mark Twain lived, most of the people would have looked at a free slave unfavorably. This proves that beyond a shadow of a doubt Twain was before his time and embraced the ideals that all men were created equal.
Huckleberry finn stated in reference to his father, “you cant never find him these days. He used to lay drunk with the hogs in the tanyard” (Twain PG#. 20). Twain obviously meant, for the reader, to infer from that statement that Huck was not only mistreated by his father but also shut out by him. Franklin Dahal, of Psychology today stated, “as a rebellion towards parents or authority, most teenagers will strike at the beliefs or cultures of their predecessors” (Dahal PG#. 136). By Hucks willingness to help a negro he rebelled against one of the most deeply felt ideals of his time.
“The intensity of his struggle over the act, suggests how deeply he is involved in a society which he rejects” states Guy A. Cardwell, author of Discussion Of Mark Twain (Cardwell PG# 66). Huck is locked in a vicious cycle in which he hates his surroundings both politically and socially. Cardwell goes on to state, “In a word, he is a boy, and merely and exactly an ordinary boy on the moral side” (Cardwell PG# 150). Huck is surrounded by a hated for negroes, a hatred he does not share. He is also in a loveless relationship with his own father. These facts lead to, Huck being able to rebel against his father and the system. He is also able to find a surrogate father in the special kind of love that Jim has for him.
Harold Bloom said that “Hucks voyage toward spiritual freedom is counterpointed structurally by Jims search for a quite literal freedom” (Bloom PG#. 190). In this statement, we see how the white young male has something of great importance in common with an older negro. It is this insight that we see at different times in the book, especially when their both hunted, when their both experiencing the same discomforts in the cold Mississippi River, and the fear they felt on its shore. These feelings that they