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Issenberg 1
Brianna Issenberg
Mrs. Kalis
English IV
18 April 2017
How to Kill a Huckleberry Mockingbird
Throughout the span of recorded history, from the beginning to the present day, there has racism. One of the biggest understandings of this is through slavery and prejudice. Many races have been designated as inferior and thus have been shown hate, aggression and disdain. Even though racism became a commonplace in society, there were many people who fought against it either through action or through their words. Authors, Mark Twain, and Harper Lee used their words to address the racism that plagues the United States in their respective books, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird. Between these two novels there
In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huckleberry Finn (or better known as Finn) headstrong teenager who refuses to follow the rules of the adults around him and runs away with a runaway slave. And in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem Finch who is the precocious son of a lawyer who defends an African American man charged with raping a white woman. Right off the bat we can see that these two characters have great connections even when set “ … 100 years apart… ” (Rebecca H. Best). Both characters are young boys who play a major role in their respective stories, each boy makes the right choice and acts on this choice they have made, and in both stories both boys only have a father as the role of guardian. However, even with these similarities, these boys could not be more different. While Finn has his father, his father is an inactive and absent parent. “ Yes, He’s got a father, but you can’t never find him these days. He used to lay drunk with the hogs in the tanyard, but he hain’t been seen in these parts for a year or more.” (Ben Rogers/Ch 2/Huckleberry Finn) It is known by the town that Finn's father is no father figure, as such Finn was never really brought up to know right from wrong. Yet despite of this he still understands what is fair and grows a great sense of morality. “ I begin to
“ ‘Alright, then, I’ll go to hell’- and tore it up.” (Finn/Ch 31/Huckleberry Finn) Widow Douglas ignores what the town thinks of Finn and takes him in and tries to raise him properly. “ The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me…” ( Finn/Ch 2/ Huckleberry Finn) While in their story, Jem, Scout and Dill go against what the town thinks of Boo Radley. The town has depicted Boo Radley as a terrifying sociopath, however, the kids discover that this is not the truth. Boo Radley in reality is just not used to speaking to people and is very shy, despite this he is a very caring and honorable man. Another case of standing up to social injustice of course is when Atticus takes to defending Tom Robinson. While racism runs rampant in both stories, there are the few who know how unjust these thoughts and prejudice actions are and stand against the social
In the novel Huckleberry Finn, Huck goes through many adventures on the Mississippi River. He escapes from Pap and sails down a ways with an escaped slave named Jim. Huck goes through a moral conflict of how wrong it is to be helping Jim escape to freedom. Eventually Huck decides he will go against what society thinks and help Jim by stealing him from a farmer with the help of Tom Sawyer, a friend. In A+P the young man, Sammy, is confronted with an issue when he sees his manager expel some girls from the store he worked in simply because of their defiance to its dress code. In his rebellion against the owner, the boy decides to quit his job and make a scene to defend the rights he feels are being violated. In these stories, both the boys are considered superior to the authority that they are defying because of the courage that it took for Huck to free Jim, and for Sammy to quit his job for the girls because it was what they believed in.
There are many writers that convey their purposes using different methods. Many writers use different techniques to persuade their audience towards a specific idea in their writing. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain tells the story about a boy named Huck, who takes on many adventures along with Jim, a runaway slave. Throughout their journey, Huck starts to realize that African Americans are much the same as white Americans. He sees that the treatments of African Americans is wrong and cruel. Huck’s view on African Americans changes through the course of the novel because Twain introduces his idea of racism being immoral through the different uses of techniques. Writers like Walt Whitman, Brent Staples, Langston
When one is young they must learn from their parents how to behave. A child's parents impose society's unspoken rules in hope that one day their child will inuitivly decerne wrong from right and make decisions based on their own judgment. These moral and ethical decisions will affect one for their entire life. In Mark Twains, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck is faced with the decision of choosing to regard all he has been taught to save a friend, or listen and obey the morals that he has been raised with. In making his decision he is able to look at the situation maturely and grow to understand the moral imbalances society has. Hucks' decisions show his integrity and strength as a person to choose what his heart tells him to do, over his head.
Throughout the incident on pages 66-69 in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck fights with two distinct voices. One is siding with society, saying Huck should turn Jim in, and the other is seeing the wrong in turning his friend in, not viewing Jim as a slave. Twain wants the reader to see the moral dilemmas Huck is going through, and what slavery ideology can do to an innocent like Huck.
Martin Luther King said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Racism is still an issue that can be seen in the twenty-first century. Although, tons of progress has been made over the last century, some still hold on to racist beliefs. The majority of classic American literature demonstrates the racism that was present in the early twentieth century. By looking at the theme of race in the American classic, To Kill a Mockingbird, it is clear that people are quick to judge others based on their own opinions and feelings.
also says that each of the wives would tell the king a story and he
When taking a look at Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, racism is a large theme that seems to be reoccurring. What some may think to be racism in Twain's words, can also be explained as, good story telling appropriate to the era the story takes place in.
“To Kill a Mockingbird” raises a theme of the importance of fitting in, especially with the character Boo Radley or Mr. Raymond. They both are different from society’s norm in their behaviours and are marginalized through a good portion of the book. “Huckleberry Finn,” follows much the same concept, as Huck is a poor, uneducated boy and society treats him like an
Racism, a major issue in society for hundreds of years, even after the abolition of slavery, still affects millions of people. African Americans today still sensitivities towards racism, and the reading of Huckleberry Finn demonstrates the pertinence of racism today similarly to two hundred years ago. When reading novels containing nineteenth century racism, African American readers are exposed to the torments their ancestors were put through, and the novel can have a positive or negative effect in that the reader may enjoy the learning of their history but may also feel humiliated in relation to their classmates of other races. In the literary novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, the apparent racism in the book affects
In United States, racism and ethnic discrimination has been an issue since the birth of this country. Racism was highly evident in the slave era where privileges and even basic human rights were sanctioned on the basis of skin color. In his American masterpiece, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” Mark Twain masterfully dealt with the volatile issues of racism and slavery and performed a ground breaking role in raising social awareness about these issues.
In “To Kill a Mockingbird” there are many examples of racism. During the 1960s when the book was published, racism was acceptable and Black people were constantly dominated and ridiculed by Caucasian people. This novel written by Harper Lee is based on racism against Black people and the refusal of people to treat everyone equally.
“Many people today have encountered racism in some way or form. Maybe someone of a different race was treated unfairly just because they're a different color. Or someone could have been given special privileges because of their race. Dictionary.com defines racism as,”[1] “A belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to rule others.” Although racism doesn't appear to have the same effect today, as it would have in the past, it is still a big factor in our world today. This is evident with the scandal with Donald Sterlings remarks about African Americans. To Kill a Mockingbird’s main theme is racism and it was written at a time where racism and prejudice was still a norm in the south. Harper Lee grew up in Alabama so she knew first hand how people felt about African Americans. This book was written in the hopes that people would cease to see the differences in people and come together to see the similarities.
Racism has been evident all around America, even before this country was officially created over two hundred years ago. Prejudice and racism are not uncommon words in American history, because many disputes, such as war and protests, have emerged from the topic of race. This has been a common practice in the past, and is still a common practice today. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the effects of racism are shown in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s. The effects of racism were very cruel during this time, and Harper Lee reflected this through characters, such as Atticus, Jem, Scout, Mrs. Dubose, Aunt Alexandra, and Calpurnia in To Kill a Mockingbird.
The novel TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee has numerous accounts of racism and prejudice throughout the entire piece. The novel is set in the 1930's, a time when racism was very prevalent. Although bigotry and segregation were pointed in majority towards blacks, other accounts towards whites were also heard of, though not as commonly. There are acts that are so discreet that you almost don't catch them, but along with those, there are blatant acts of bigotry that would never occur in our time. Lee addresses many of these feelings in her novel.
Society is not always right. In Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a young boy by the name of Huckleberry Finn sets off on a journey along the Mississippi River to get away from his previous lives. One of the main themes in the novel is the conflict between society and the individual. During his time with Widow Douglas, a friendly woman who adopts Huckleberry Finn, he is taught about the importance of education, what is morally right in society, and how to be civilized. On the other hand, Pap, Huckleberry’s father, taints Huckleberry’s mind with his views which differ drastically from Widow Douglas’s guidelines. The moral dilemma that Huckleberry Finn faces between moralities illuminates the main message of individuality.