Huckleberry Finn Reflection

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Recommended: Desire for freedom in huck finn

Reading Huckleberry Finn this semester was probably my favorite thing we read. Even though the language was hard to understand at times I really enjoyed reading it! It had drama, suspense, a great story line, and it was in the past. Before we had computers, cars, and iPhones. Back in Huckleberry Finn's time things just seemed to be much more simple and the people got away with a lot more than they should have. Times have changed so much since Huckleberry Finn's day. Black people are no longer slaves who try to flee North for freedom and parents are not allowed to treat their children as badly as Huck's father treated him. Young boys are not allowed to go out late at night to meet up with friends and if a young boy went missing, like Huck, there would be a frantic search to bring him home. Times have changed. How and is it for the better?
One of the biggest issues about Huckleberry Finn, in my opinion, is how black people were slaves. It is a part of America's past and learning about Jim and his story while reading Huckleberry Finn it is heartbreaking. All Jim wants to do is find his family and for white men to tear families apart like that is just cruel and heartless. I think that American's history of us enslaving black people is downright embarrassing and we should be ashamed to do that to another human being - it is just wrong. I think Jim is such an interesting character and has a horrible past. I like how Jim and Huck have this new friendship and it is so unlikely. They traveled at nighttime so they could go unseen by other people who would catch Jim and Huck trying to escape from their past. There is a statement from "BlackLoyalist.com" that says "Most slaves ran away at night hoping their absence would not be noticed unti...

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...ing done so, he can resume where he left off without having missed any part of the story." I think that reading Huckleberry Finn really opened up my eyes to all the adventures you can have with book and I think that I forgot that. Although it was very difficult to read at the times I enjoyed it and the language he used was a little too much for me to handle at time because it was offensive. "Indeed, Twain had introduced a new literary genre--breaking ground by writing in a regional dialect, using an offensive word for black people more than 200 times, taking the risk of alienating readers." (Chicago Tribune) I use to enjoy reading and now it is like I would rather watch a movie because it is a lot easier and it is shorter; but reading is something that cannot be replaced. While reading Huckleberry Finn I think I found my love for reading again and I hope I keep it.

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