Controversial Criticism Of Huckleberry Finn

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All across the United States, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is known as a great American classic. Although it has been perceived to many controversial, there are many valid arguments as to why it is the quintessential American novel. The themes Huck Finn portrays obvious themes that play a key role in America; especially in the time it was published such as racism, slavery, and a child running away from home to help out someone who was seen as below him. Along with the controversial elements in the paper, the novel’s characters also had individual voices that made them all stand out in a way that made it more interesting to read. The theme of perseverance is apparent as Jim and Huck Finn are separated on multiple occasions. …show more content…

Taking place in times of slavery, Huck Finn was based around the major theme of racism, slavery, and human morals. As most people are able to agree, racism was a colossal issue in the early 1800s, and it is still apparent in modern day. What made it so questionable in its era was how present immense racism present in America in the time this book was published. Twain willfully took a stand against the majority of America in writing Huck Finn. Mark Twain showed in just short of 300 pages. “No! A servant ain’t nobody there. They treat them worse than dogs” (Twain 176). By putting this quote in the book, Mark Twain was making a political statement against racism. A protagonist saying the servants are treated worse than dogs to another character shows Twain’s views on slavery. For a human to be treated worse than a dog, common society must think pretty low of then, and they may not have been seen as humans at all. Twain throws subtle and small quotes like this one in the book to sort of persuade or sway the reader’s views as they read each page. “’Sold him?’ I says, and begun to cry; “why, he …show more content…

Everyone knows that every story with such a somber theme needs a little bit of comedic relief every once in a while. Huck Finn is told in first person by the fictional character Huckleberry Finn, himself. The novel starts off with Huck introducing his story as if he were a real life person. “You don’t know about me, without you have read a book by the name of ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,’ but that ain’t no matter” (Twain 3). Going into the novel, the reader already has a pretty clear idea of Huck’s personality. He takes himself seriously without being a boring character to read about. Every single character in the book has its own differing dialect to show uniqueness. “Ye old father doan’ know, yit, what he’s a-gwayne to do. Sometimes he spec he’ll go ‘way, en den agin he spec he’ll stay” (Twain 20). The way Jim speaks shows that his knowledge of the English language is minimal. All of the characters have a special way of speech. Pap’s speech seems to stand out in a less intelligent way. “Tramp-tramp-tramp: that’s the dead; tramp-tramp-tramp; they’re coming after me; but I won’t go-Oh, they’re here! don’t touch me-don’t! hands off-they’re cold; let go-Oh, let a poor devil alone!” (Twain 31). This quote makes it evident that Pap wasn’t the best father to Huck. The contradicting

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