Controversy In Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn

There are many important and historical themes in Mark Twains “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” The one that I found to be the most interesting and the most historically accurate was the controversial racism that is presented all throughout the book. A lot of this time period was predicated on racism, and this book shows it by giving us eye opening examples from beginning to end.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is, perhaps, the most famous novel in American literature. Chances are that you made a poster about it in middle school, read it in high school, and wrote several reports on it in college. However, as famous as the novel is, it is also notoriously controversial for its language and portrayal of African Americans (which I will term “narrative realism”). After eventually capturing a coveted spot in the American literary canon, concerned calls from the American public for its ban only grew. Today, the great controversy over whether the novel belongs in the American literary canon in the first place continues. However, there is a clear answer: the novel deserves its coveted spot in the American literary canon

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a significant book in the history of American literature that presents readers with the truth of our past American society in aspects such as speech, mannerisms, and tradition that we must embrace rather than dismiss by censorship. It is a novel that has been praised and proclaimed America’s “first indigenous literary masterpiece” (Walter Dean Howells) as well as one that has been criticized and declared obscene. It has undergone much scorn and condemnation as a novel and many feel that it should be censored. This, however, is not the way it should be. Huckleberry Finn is a masterpiece and, as a matter of fact, it is one on many levels. The story itself, though

The most profound and challenging conflicts in the novel are those concerning Jim and racial tensions. In Huck's society black people are considered to be a lesser race and are born slaves. Huck, however, has almost no racial prejudices toward Jim and

Lots of students, administrators and even parents believe they should have students writing and studying standard writing instead of pre-Civil War dialect. However, Mark Twain’s dialect helps his readers understand the reason for the pre-Civil War dialect and the use for the “n” word.

If the author wished-for the story to be racist, he would not write about the way Huck felt towards Jim. “He [Twain] tried to evince the beauty of Huck and Jim's friendship by sealing it in flawed and humble English.” ( Race Traitor [D’Andrea 1992]). It is seen some throughout the book that Huck sees Jim as a white man. Huck tells the reader this when he realizes that Jim misses his own family and children, “I do believe he cared just as much for his people as white folks does for their’n” (150). Any words that seem to humiliate African-Americans is simply a casual use of Southern slang and not purposeful. Huck talks the way he was taught according to the culture then to stylize a specific behavior toward black slaves. However, his feelings toward Jim throughout the novel has taught Huck to conquer certain stereotypes, such as black stupidity and apathy. Huckleberry still

Mohandas Gandhi once said, “Morality is rooted in the purity of our hearts.” However, it may not hold true in Twain’s novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In the novel, the protagonist Huck Finn’s morality and perception of others is shaped by the society he lives in, demonstrating that an individual’s morality or the epistemological sense of right and wrong can be largely influenced by society and the living environment. Yet despite strong traditions of the 19th century south, Huck is able to live away from the “civilized” world, leaving behind his hometown and travelling down the Mississippi river with Jim, a runaway slave. Huck’s unusual experiences with Jim contrast with his predetermined notions of race and power in the midst of the Jim Crow Era, thrusting Huck into a great crisis of morality dictated by his consciousness instead of his intellect. Through Huck’s journey in the search of morality, Twain conveys the theme that that morality is dictated by society, despite the goodness of an individual’s consciousness, it is difficult for and individual to intellectually challenge societal paradigms.

“The evil that is in the world almost always comes of ignorance….” Albert Camus, a French author and philosopher once made that observation about society. In his mind, a lack of understanding of the issues led to problems for everyone. Mark Twain, an American novelist, saw problems in society and went about to expose the ignorance behind them and encourage change. That is what he was doing in one of his most well known novels, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, three issues, identified by Twain, are explored in education, religion, and conformity that are still relevant today.

Mark Twain has always been one of the most controversial authors of all time. Though in recent years, there has been increasing controversy over the ideas expressed in his novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In some extreme cases the novel has even been banned by public school systems and censored by public libraries. The basis for this censorship is the argument that Mark Twain's book is racist, but in reality Twain was against racism and used this book to make people aware of what was going on in the south. He did this by using the regional dialect of the south, showing the attitude of the other characters in the novel toward black people, and showing his depiction of black characters. If one were to "read between the lines"

In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Jim, a runaway slave, faces many obstacles in his journey to freedom. Huck Finn, a teenage boy and friend of JIm, is also facing difficulty with whether or not he should be helping Jim escape slavery. Many characters throughout the novel struggle to deal with conflicts. A conflict that people in today’s world are struggling to deal with, is the controversy over whether Huckleberry Finn is a racist novel or not. All-in-all, Huckleberry Finn is profoundly antislavery. Twain creates Him as a man who is brave and heroic. Twain also demonstrates that the blacks and whites relationship is not the only concern over racism, and reveals the voice of a slave attempting to survive in a white slave culture.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a Mark Twain classic, wonderfully demonstrates pre-Civil War attitudes about blacks held by whites. Twain demonstrates these attitudes through the actions and the speech of Huckleberry Finn, the narrator, and Jim, Miss Watson's slave. These two main characters share a relationship that progresses from an acquaintance to a friendship throughout the novel. It is through this relationship that Mark Twain gives his readers the realization of just how different people's attitudes were before the Civil War. Twain also reveals the negative attitudes of whites toward blacks by the cruel manner in which Jim is treated with such inferiority.

People often hesitate to accept what they do not understand. In the absence of love and compassion, it is no question that fear, ignorance, and hatred, all contribute to a melting pot of negativity in the world. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, is about the love and friendship cultivated by a young boy and a black slave on the Mississippi River. Despite the pair’s differences, they are able to endure the struggles and difficulties that the toilsome journey brings. Mark Twain, in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, emphasizes the shift in Huck’s view towards slavery by contrasting Huck’s initial tone of reflectiveness to his assertive tone, both collectively addressing the issue of racism in society.

An issue of central importance to Huckleberry Finn is the issue of race. The story takes place in a time of slavery, when blacks were considered inferior to whites, sometimes to the point of being considered less than fully human. But Huckleberry Finn challenges the traditional notions of the time, through its narrator and main character, Huckleberry Finn. While in the beginning, Huck is as unaware of the incorrectness of society’s attitudes as the rest of society is, he undergoes many experiences which help him to form his own perspective of racial issues. Through the adventures and misadventures of Huck Finn and the slave Jim, Twain challenges the traditional societal views of race and

This is again Twain making a mockery Southern values that considered it a sin to be kind to black people. Twain’s critics consider the novel to be racist and quite outwardly. They cite the common use of the word “nigger” as the most obvious instance of the book’s racism. To have used the words Negro or African American would have taken away from the story’s impact and would make it sound ridiculous. If Twain wanted to write a historically accurate book as he did then the inclusion of this word is totally

 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is considered by many to be the greatest American novel ever written.  Despite this praise, Mark Twain’s masterpiece has never been without criticism.  Upon its inception it was blasted for being indecent literature for young readers because of its lack of morals and contempt for conformity.  Modern indignation toward Huck Finn arises from its racist undertones, most notably Twain’s treatment of the character Jim.  As is the case with many canonized yet controversial books, the biggest conflict revolves around the inclusion of Huck Finn on required reading lists of public schools throughout the country.