The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Essay Preview: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, is acknowledged to possibly be the utmost book of American literature. Nevertheless, others would oppose of this position. Since the book was published and put on public library shelves, Huck Finn has been criticized by a variety of people with diverse beliefs. According to New York Times, the first library to ban the book was the Concord Public Library Committee, who viewed the book as, “trashy and vicious” on March 16, 1885. The way they viewed the book, the book had been taken off the shelves and now people were to buy it if they wished to read Mark Twains novel. In fact, according to Bill Walsh, Twain actually “wrote a letter thanking them” about banning his book. Mark Twain liked how he now was getting his novel so much news exposure and making more money off the ban. However, in our time, the book is still being criticized and many groups such as the NAACP are trying to remove it from school reading lists and other public libraries. In Walshs article, “Most objections revolve around the use of the word nigger.” Their belief is that the novel is teaching racist ideas to readers and black students shouldnt have to read this kind of book. In addition, Walsh writes that the opposed consider Jim as a “bad stereotype”. This is another view of why people want this book banned. Lastly, Walsh states, “There have been countless attempts to clean-up the language in the book.” This was done to only quiet down critics and groups but in the long run the book could not have given its full meaning that Twain wanted to emphasize. As for the meaning, Mark Twain satirizes racism through Jims characterization and his interactions with whites throughout the classic novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
To embark on, Twain did not mean in any way to teach his readers racist ideas. In fact, he essentially added a notice right before chapter one. The notice says:
Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; person attempting to find a plot will be shot.
The author did not really signify this, but rather use satire to actually tell you to find the motive, moral, and plot. He did not want a reader to look at the word “nigger” and not get the meaning. Additionally, an article by Peter Salwen, he tells how “you can search through all of Twains writings…youll be hard to find a derogatory remark about the black race.” Now why would you call someone racist or his piece of work racist if he or she has not written or said something thats belittling to black people? This does not mean he does not speak of black people, in truth according to Salwen, when Twain compares blacks and whites, his comparison are “…not conspicuously flattering to the whites.” Again, how can one be racist if he or she is making remarks that make it seem black people are better than whites if he or she is white themselves? These just prove that Mark Twain is not a racist person and wouldnt write a racist book. An article called, “Racism in Mark Twains Huckleberry Finn,” it tells that “…its important to separate the ideas of the author from the ideas of his characters…” This is really telling the reader to read between the lines. The ideas of a character are not the ideas of the author. Mark Twain may pinch his experiences in there but he is not telling readers his ideas but rather he is trying to tell you how the ideas would be like that in that certain time period. Jims journey is actually about “freedom and the quest for freedom” according to Salwen. Jims point of the story is being a runaway slave trying to achieve freedom with the help of a little white boy. In the article, “Attack on Racism”, it tells that “blacks were seen as inferior.” This was realism, in the South, white people were superior and Twain wrote realistically. And again from Salwen, he wrote, “…nice people didnt consider the death of a black person worth their notice,” and on the topic of the word nigger, “…it would be amazing if they didnt use that word.” Really in the South, people saw blacks as property not human and they could careless about them. For the word nigger, its how they addressed blacks and Salwen is poking fun that if they didnt say it, it would be amazing because none of this controversy on Huck Finn would happen. Back in the article it tells, “To say the Twain is racist because of his desire for historical accuracy is absurd” (“Attack on Racism”). This is true, Mark Twain wrote realistically and truthfully. He couldnt have over rationalized this book.
One of the finest examples of satire found in the novel was in chapter 32 where Aunt Sally asks about the steamboat explosion. It goes as follows:
“Good gracious! Anybody hurt?”
“Nom. Killed a nigger.”
“Well, its lucky; because sometimes people dont get hurt…”
Mark Twain wants to express how blacks were really treated and how it was really harsh. Blacks were seen as just property and inhuman. There was nothing special about blacks is what Mark Twain wanted to satirize. Though Twain wrote this part, he made Jim human. He gave him characteristics which was uncommon for southerners to do. Critics view Jim as a stereotypical slave. According to an article by Leslie Gregory, “The depiction of Jim originates from traditions of his time.” Mark Twain is not meaning to say that all slaves were like Jim. He is taking some basic actions and thoughts that a slave would have in that time period or how they would act at that time. He wrote the novel as realistic as possible. According to Salwens article, “Jim is the moral center…man of courage and nobility.” The author is expressing Jim as human and not property. Through the racist white people in the novel, Twain uses Jim as satire to society by making him have emotions and expressions to prove that blacks need to be seen as humans. The article, “Attack on Racism,” states that Jim “shows deep affection” when Huck is separated from him on the river. That is an example of Mark Twain giving Jim expressions and he teaches that other blacks are like this. From the same article, it gives another example of Jims feelings when “he cries while thinking of his own family and now he misses them.” These genuine feelings also prove that Jim and other blacks are not selfish and care for others. Thomas Gale wrote that Jim is