Huckleberry Finn Controversy

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Recommended: Critiques of the adventures of huckleberry finn

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a controversial book. With its racial slurs and an it's portrayed of African American slaves. The book is also a great book because of its coming of age story and likeable characters. This book has caused 2 authors to write 2 different reviews about the book. Toni Morrison is about how the book is a good book and Jane Smiley is about how it's a bad book. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a controversial book in the aspects that Huck and Tom don't take Jim's freedom seriously, and the fact that Tom Sawyer is in the book, but the book has these good qualities such as, Jim as a father figure for Huck, and a black slave as a main character. In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn there is no seriousness …show more content…

Tom Sawyer is not necessary in the book, in fact, he only adds complications. “Tom Sawyer is reintroduced and elaborates a cruel and unnecessary scheme for Jim’s liberation)” (Smiley 1). THis is referring to Tom’s elaborate and long plan to free Jim and how unneeded it is. To counter this Tom is a great addition to the book in the aspect that he is the essential character for Huck’s development. Since Huck is a foil to Tom because Tom is a dreamer and Huck is a realist and down to earth. “"Now, we'll start this band of robbers and call it Tom Sawyer's Gang. Everybody that wants to join has got to take an oath, and write his name in blood." (Twain 10). Tom didn't make everyone actually take an oath in blood I mean the gang couldn't even make a ransom because they didn't know what it means. This gang was just a joke and a part of Tom's fantasy. Huck never does dreaming at all he lives in the moment and goes with what he's given in every …show more content…

In Twain's age the fact that a black man is a big part of the story never happened. If Jim wasn't in the book, Huck most likely would have been in a great depression. “What does Huck need to live without despair and thoughts of suicide? My answer was, Jim.” (Morrison 4). In the book Jim is a main character as much as Huck. “Well, den, dis is de way it look to me, Huck. Ef it wuz HIM dat 'uz bein' sot free, en one er de boys wuz to git shot, would he say, 'Go on en save me, nemmine 'bout a doctor f'r to save dis one?' Is dat like Mars Tom Sawyer? Would he say dat? You BET he wouldn't! WELL, den, is JIM gywne to say it? No, sah—I doan' budge a step out'n dis place 'dout a DOCTOR, not if it's forty year!" (Twain). This quote shows Jim thinks that Huck would sacrifice himself to save him, which shows that Jim is important to

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    847 Words  | 2 Pages

    When Huck and Jim first meet each other on the island they are just acquaintances who had little history together but the decision they make to help each other foreshadows their relationship later on in the story. When Jim first finds Huck he states, "Goodness gracious, is dat you, Huck? En you ain' dead—you ain' drownded—you's back agin? It's too good for true, honey, it's too good for true. Lemme look at you chile, lemme feel o' you. No, you ain' dead! you's back agin, 'live en soun', jis de same ole Huck—de same ole Huck, thanks to goodness!" (Twain ). By this time, Jim has heard the news of Hucks “death”, so when they find each other on the island it comes as a surprise to Jim. “People would call me a low-down Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum--but that don't make no difference. I ain't a-going to tell, and I ain't a-going back there, anyways” (Twain ), Huck thought. After Jim told Huck that he was a runaway, Huck promised not to tell anyone, which shows his values and foreshadows their relationship later on in the story. After leaving ...

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  • Adversity In Huck Finn's Life

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    Because of his rolling stone like upbringings, conformity is not a part of his forte. In some ways he takes after his father, the infamous town drunk who hasn’t attempted to contact Huck in years. But despite all of the complications and seeming misery, he is a decent boy who only gets himself into a bit of mischief. Therefore, with the difficult life he’s already had at such a young age, it’s a miracle he isn’t either depressed or a delinquent. Jim also hasn’t had it easy. Being a black man living in the south during pre-Civil War times means daily persecution. He lived a life that he could never fulfill because of the metaphorical chains he never got to take off. So he was left no other choice but to run until he found freedom. Although this would be deemed as “reckless” to society, he did it out of love for his family and fear of his life. Every decision Jim made was done with the hope that he would one day be reunited with them. His intentions were pure, and the positive light that’s cast upon him gives the readers a heartfelt sympathy for what he’s going through. Both Jim and Huck had to overcome great struggle until they found solace in the

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  • The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

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    	Huck’s attitude for Jim is racist which is seen when he decides to play a trick on Jim during their voyage. After Huck plays his trick his attitude toward Jim begins to change, "It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger; but I done it, and I warn't ever sorry for it afterward, neither" (Twain 72). The dialogue throughout the book between Huck and Jim illustrates that Jim is more than property and that he is a human being with feelings, and hopes for a better future.

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  • Hucklenberry Finn Huck and Jim

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    Mark Twain tells the story of Huckleberry Finn, and his maturity that is developed through a series of events. This maturity is encouraged through the developing relationship between Huck and Jim, as well as the strong influence Jim has on Huck. Jim's influence not only effects Huck's maturity, but his moral reasoning; and the influence society has on Huck. Jim is Huck's role model; even though Huck would not admit it. At first Jim seems to portray a Black stereotypical role with his superstitions and ignorance, although his true identity and maternal role begins to shine through as his interactions with Huck progress.

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  • Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

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    Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the greatest American novels ever written. The story is about Huck, a young boy who is coming of age and is escaping from his drunken father. Along the way he stumbles across Miss Watson's slave, Jim, who has run away because he overhead that he would be sold. Throughout the story, Huck is faced with the moral dilemma of whether or not to turn Jim in. Mark Twain has purposely placed these two polar opposites together in order to make a satire of the society's institution of slavery. Along the journey, Twain implies his values through Huck on slavery, the two-facedness of society, and represents ideas with the Mississippi River.

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  • The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

    670 Words  | 2 Pages

    Are humans naturally good, or evil? Many people argue both ways. It has been argued for centuries, and many authors have written about it. One example of this is Samuel Clemens's, more commonly known as Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The book follows a young boy, named Huckleberry, and a runaway slave, named Jim, as they both run away. Huck runs away to escape being civilized, while Jim runs away from slavery. Together, they talk about life, philosophy, and friends. As they travel down the Mississippi River, both Huck and Jim learn various life lessons. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck witnesses the depravity of human nature on his journey on the Mississippi River.

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  • Huckleberry Finn and Fredrrick Douglass

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    To compare both characters we must first view Jim in detail. Jim is a runaway slave that accompanies protagonist Huck in Huckleberry Finn throughout the entire novel. The story is set in the state of Missouri (1830’s). Jim accompanies Huck in his escapade from the clutches of his drunken father, attempting to seek salvation from slavery. The voyage of the two, one slave owning white American and the other a slave, provides a glimpse of the times when slavery was regarded as a virtue amongst white people in America rather than a sin. Mark Twain portrays Jim as a humble, kind yet audacious black American. Jim is a lovable and caring person who is highly sensitive. These qualities of Jim touches Huck deeply and that’s what leads him to save Jim when he is captured after escaping from slavery, despite knowing the consequences of the act in the southern states at the time. Huck during their escapade and adventure together comes to regard him with...

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  • Mark Twain's Ideas of Racism in Huckleberry Finn and Pudd'nhead Wilson

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    characters. The use of the word "nigger" is also a point raised by some critics, who feel that Twain uses the word too often and too loosely. Mark Twain never presents Jim in a negative light. He does not show Jim as a drunkard, as a mean person, or as a cheat. This is in contrast to the way Huck's (white) father is depicted where Twain describes using all of the above characterizations and more. In Mark Twain's novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain develops the plot into Huck and Jim's

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  • The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

    1359 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ever since the day the book Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was introduced to the readers, the critical world has been littered with numerous essays and theses on Mark Twain’s writing achievement, yet many of them are about the writing style of Bildungsroman, the symbolic meanings of the raft and Mississippi river, the morality and racism color. Whereas few of them ever talked about why Mark Twain wrote so many lies in this novel. Probably because people usually thought that the splendor of this masterpiece will be obscured by the immorality nature of lying. But actually this is no the thing, even Mark Twain himself does’t think lying is an immoral thing. As what he said in his lecture on a meeting of the Historical and Antiquarian Club of Hartford, the essay later published as “On The Decay of the Art of Lying” , he called the art of lying “a Virtue, a Principle...a recreation, a solace, a refuge in time of need, the fourth Grace, the tenth Muse, man's best and surest friend, is immortal” (Twain, “On The Decay of the Art of Lying”). We can see that Mark Twain has a mature understanding about the value of lying and he wanted to share with us his philosophy of lying through Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Therefore, the major task of the paper is to investigate this philosophy of lying in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

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  • Religion, Slavery, and Democracy in Huckleberry Finn

    765 Words  | 2 Pages

    Another theme that is dealt with in this book is slavery. In fact, slavery is one of the main topics that has been frequently debated in regards to Huckleberry Finn since it was first published. Twain himself was vehemently anti-slavery and Huckleberry Finn can in many ways be seen as an allegory for why slavery is wrong. Twain uses Jim, a slave who is one of the main characters, as a way of showing the human side of a slave. Everything about Jim is presented through emotions: Jim runs away because Miss Watson was going to sell him South and separate him from his family; Jim is trying to become free so he can buy his family's freedom; and Jim takes care of Huck and protects him on their journey downriver in a very materialistic manner.

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  • Huckleberry Finn and Toni Morrison

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    In Toni Morrison's essay, From Introduction to Adventures of Huckleberry Finn she talks about the issue of people wanting to remove Huckleberry Finn from public schools' reading lists and the libraries. Morrison raises the argument of race in this essay. This argument about race is one that still faces the world today. Morrison argues that because this argument is one that preoccupies us today we need to keep reading it. In her essay Morrison goes against the people who claim that Huckleberry Finn is racist. Morrison praises this book and holds it to the highest of standards. Morrison's opinion on this novel is made clear in her statement, “The brilliance of Huckleberry Finn is that it is the argument it raises” (pg 322).

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  • Mark Twain of Huck Finn - Satire

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    As they travel together, Huck learns more about Jim and realizes that the common stereotype of black people is wrong. He sees that there is no difference between Jim and any white man he knows except for skin color. Despite risking his life and overcoming many difficulties, Huck succeeds in freeing Jim. Focusing on racism, alcoholism, and mob mentality, Mark Twain uses his enthusiastic writing style to satirize these three traits throughout the novel. Although the book contains many words full of vivid disgust towards black slaves, it also shows that there is more to people than looks and race, emphasizing the importance of beliefs and character.

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  • Questioning Huck's Transformation: Analysis of Huckleberry Finn's Ending

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    The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, is considered a great American novel. However, over the years many readers and critics have found fault with the ending. One critic states, “Eliot feels the end of the book rounds off the story and brings the reader back to the level of the childish, boyish beginning, while Trilling sees the close of the novel as a device which permits Huck to fall back into the anonymity he prefers”. Many question why Huck leaves Jim and falls back into his childish ways, after building a meaningful relationship with Jim throughout their adventures. In the beginning, Huck views Jim as a slave who deserves to be punished for escaping but Huck undergoes a transformation throughout the story Huck moves to view Jim as a friend and equal to him in everyway.

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  • The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and its Relation to Society Today

    725 Words  | 2 Pages

    In chapter 16, Huck protects Jim by telling bounty hunters that “He’s white.” (Twain 90) The above analyzes Huckleberry Finn as a person, as a moral example, and as a revolutionary. Huckleberry (without even knowing it) led an attack on slavery and moral injustice. Mark Twain’s satirical genius allowed him to produce The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

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  • Huckleberry Finn Journal Entry

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    On February 10, in chapter nine and ten, Huck and Jim have developed somewhat of a friendship. They hide the canoe in a cavern; just in a case there were visitors that had dropped by. Unfortunately, it rains very hard, and the two hide in the cavern. The two find a washed-out houseboat, they find a dead body in the house, the body had been shot in the back. While heading back to the cave, Huck has Jim hide in the canoe, so he would not be seen. The next day, Huck puts a dead rattlesnake near Jim's sleeping place, and its mate comes and bites Jim. Jim's leg swells. A while later, Huck decides to go ashore and to find out what's new. Jim agrees, but has Huck disguise himself as a girl, with one of the dresses they took from the houseboat. Huck practices his girl impersonation, and then sets out for the Illinois shore. In an abandoned shack, he finds a woman who looks forty, and also appears a newcomer. Huck is relieved she is a newcomer, since she will not be able to recognize him. The two characters share a few important traits in common. One of the most obvious similarities is their confidence in superstition, though superstition was also a part of the society in which they lived, where people thought cannon balls and loaves of bread with mercury could find drowned corpses. The two are from “civilization” and more generally the white upper class world. Of course, Jim’s background is much deeper than Huck's. As an African American, he simply is less a part of it. Jim's freedom is endangered by that world; he must hide himself during the day so that he is not taken back to it. Journal Entry 6

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