🔥🔥🔥 Why Huckleberry Finn Should Not Be Banned Analysis
Dystopian novels like "Fahrenheit Essay On Professional Athletes As Role Models contain themes and messages that cannot be suppressed. VHS Words: - Pages: 4. One night, Why Huckleberry Finn Should Not Be Banned Analysis tells Huck a story of Why Huckleberry Finn Should Not Be Banned Analysis he mistakenly hit his daughter when he was unaware she had gone deaf, and that he continues Why Huckleberry Finn Should Not Be Banned Analysis feel guilty about it after all this time. The Importance Of The First Migration To America presence of the 'n word' and the Why Huckleberry Finn Should Not Be Banned Analysis towards Jim, and other blacks in general, has made many readers uncomfortable.
Melven Melon on: Why should Huckleberry Finn be banned
Although during that time blacks were treated inhumanly, Huck and Jim related well with one another and found pleasure in carrying out common activities. During the times of slavery, the two races were very different and the whites were thought to be superior. Sharing of common things was unheard of. However, in the novel, Mark Twain points out that one can share common interests with another regardless of his or her racial background. These words were spoken by Huck. He was telling Jim that he wont tell anybody about his escape from slavery. If the novel were racist, Huck could not have even attempted to assist his friend in escaping from the yolk of slavery. The language of the book has also been a subject of criticism.
Since the African-Americans do not like the word, that is why some of them have heavily criticized Twain for using the word so many times in the book. Allan B. Ballard is one of the critics of the language used in the novel. Ballard argues that such instances where the word has been used tend to stereotype Jim as a stupid nigger who is incapable of comprehending anything. Writers could use the language even when addressing African-American without much contention. However, just a few yeas ago did people start criticizing Twain for his use of the word.
Critics, like Ballard, have asserted that Jim is only a stereotype in the story. He cannot think for himself. Therefore, he merely follows the suggestions of Huck and later Tom in performing tasks. All through the book, different characters put him down. And at one time, Huck even feels guilty of assisting him in his quest for freedom. Maybe, the critics strongest assertion is that he is not a conventional slave of the nineteenth century. This is because slaves received much worse treatment than the one depicted in the story. Nonetheless, it is important to note that Mark Twain was just trying to represent the real situation as it was during his time.
We are separated from the events in the story by close to one hundred and fifty years so we need to understand the novel in that context. More so, individuals used to despise the ones who were slaves and the novel is an attempt to depict this situation. The author of the novel seems to be condemning this practice in his sly manner. Martin Holz claims that although Mark Twain succeeded in using a narrator who speaks vernacular, there are two contradictory voices in the language used. This makes Huck to act like a transmitter instead of a narrator in the story and makes him to seem to have no visual perception of the time.
Holz argues that instead of saying general statements or definitive personal opinions, the narrator most of the time does not go beyond giving a mere narration of the things he encounters, and the language he employs in the process makes him to be a less sophisticated narrator having a constrained perspective about his surroundings. Although Twain is one of the writers to use this technique in writing, the two contradictory voices used in the novel complicates the process of narration as a reader can fail to understand what is taking place. In conclusion, despite the critical reception of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, it is important in directing attention to some issues that the American society has not taken seriously.
The themes that are portrayed in the novel are invaluable and to totally discredit the book cannot be a move in the right direction. This is because readers would not get the advantage of the much needed knowledge and growth that they can reap after going through the humor-filled book. Therefore, the critical look at the novel should also encompass the major themes that it portrays. Holz, Martin. Leonard, James S. Satire or evasion? Durham: Duke Univ. Press, Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Twain succeeds in depicting an atmosphere of causal hatred of a society that classifies Jim as less than human. The word nigger is central to depicting both that society and the people in it with chilling accuracy Fishkin 2.
The word, however, still packs a painful punch. This word makes African-Americans wither up with shame and whites, with guilt. It is a word that can hurt and that can be used to deny the personhood and humanity of the person to whom it is directed. This is partially due to our failure to deal with racism in our society today. It seems that we just push it aside in hopes that the wound will heal itself.
Some African-American parents sensing their own helplessness, decide that the least they can do is see to it that their children are not exposed to this book, because they feel it is offensive and derogatory Fishkin 3. Some officials submit to the parents wishes, without reasoning with and without informing them of the benefits of having this novel openly read. This approach seems only to add fuel to the fire. The fact that racism was an issue in that era needs to be dealt with and not just pushed aside. Racism and slavery both are issues that need to be dealt with in the classroom. This novel has the power to elicit open-ended classroom discussions of various methods that can be used to deal with these issues. A tremendous amount can be learned from reading this novel about the history of racism and slavery as a whole.
Twain does an extraordinary job in perpetrating the realism of the views of society during this time. Examining all views is necessary if one really wants to learn more about racism and its origin and what society can do to help heal this painful wound. Racism is an institution that is still present in society today, so for this reason Americans are very touchy on this subject. This is especially true for those who had to endure the cruelty that was present during the slave era, and more recently, the Civil Rights Movement.
Naturally, African-American parents want to protect their children from reading Huckleberry Finn. To anyone who has studied the book with an open mind clearly Huck Finn does not agree with slavery, despite his upbringing. Most objections to having their children read Huckleberry Finn come from African-American parents who are trying to draw some lines. Lance Morrow adds, If Huck Finn were merely a nineteenth-century minstrel show-the n-word slurring around in an atmosphere of casual hatred above a subtext of white supremacy-then no one could object to African-American parents removing the book as a precaution to keep gratuitous germs away from their children. Rather than having the book banned, it should be thoroughly studied and read in conjunction with works on the reality of slavery and the similarities between Huck and Mark Twain s many black friends Morrow The book, however, has come to be appreciated for the core of its realism, and as a feature that makes the book a valuable document of its time Morrow All American writing comes from that.
There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since Morrow Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a major American novel known for its authentic vernacular. Various school officials and librarians across the nation have regarded the book s language as unnecessarily coarse and have banned it for this reason. In addition, critics claim it is full of objectionable morals. Parents who lack the initiative to sit and read the book primarily think Twain was a racist writer. Many have a tendency to prejudge the book without giving Twain s story a chance. This is probably due to them having read only a few chapters and being turned off from reading it completely.
One must read each page thoroughly and open-mindedly, while trying to fully grasp Twain s satiric intent, as he proceeds in successfully molding each of his characters. When read carefully it becomes clear that the message Twain is trying to send is anything but racist. Huck tells the reader that Pap Finn, had been drunk over in town and was just all mud Twain He erupts into a drunken tirade about a free nigger from Ohio a mulatter, most as white as a white man, with the whitest shirt on you ever see, too, and the shiniest hat; and there aint a man in town that s got as fine clothes as what he had Twain T hey say he was a professor in a college, and could talk all kinds of languages, and knowed everything. They said he could vote when he was at home.
Well, that let me out. Thinks I, what is the country a-coming to? It was lection day, and I was just about to go and vote myself if I warn t too drunk to get there: but when they told me that there was a state in this country where they d let that nigger vote, drawed out. I says I ll never vote again. Them s the very words I said. Anyone who imagines that Twain meant this literally is clearly missing the point. Here, we see an example of Twain s ironic use of casual dialogue, as a means to underscore the chilling truth about the Old South.
Twain succeeds in depicting the extreme hatred within Pap Finn when he hears of a black professor, who dresses nicer than any of the people around him and can vote. By doing this, he submerges his readers into becoming a listener of Pap s drunken rage, thus showing his audience exactly to what extreme hatred that Huck is exposed to when at home. Having Adventures of Huckleberry Finn taught and thoroughly studied in the classroom offers a tremendous step in fulfilling Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This novel contains many real-world values throughout. One value it teaches young readers is to use their own best judgment to determine what is right and wrong, even if this means not following the path of their parents.
Twain shows in this remarkable piece of literary work that he was decades ahead of his time in that he coaxes and requires his readers to become critical thinkers. This is a tremendous step in breaking the barrier on the views of racism that are present now and those that were present in previous generations. In other words, instead of one pre-judging someone by the color of their skin, as their parents or grandparents may have done, they may take Huck s approach and use their conscience to decide what is ethical. In order for society to outgrow the stereotyping of others based on their skin color, we must first start with teaching our children the reasons behind the mindset that was present in society during the era of slavery.
If Jim emerges from the degradation of slavery to become as much a man as Mark Twain could make him be, we must remember that Jim s growth marks a progress in Twain s spiritual maturity too Hoffman If we neglect to use this extraordinary piece of literature as a means to introduce the issue of racism to our young and to show that we as individuals have the ability within ourselves to move beyond it, then we fail to use history as a teacher.
The literary and real-world significance should be stressed above all. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the most influential works on slavery. What a shame it would be to let it sit on the shelf and collect dust because of the unresolved controversy it stirs. Accessed October 10, Download paper. Essay, Pages 13 words. Racism in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn During the Antebellum period of American history and for decades after, authors often wrote works regarding the tragedies of slavery.
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He satirized slavery by revealing the ridiculous aspects of the Southern lifestyle and as such, calls for its abolition. Scott Fitzgerald. References IvyPanda. From a 1984 George Orwell 1984 Analysis viewpoint, the defenders of slavery transport in ww1 that, in religious books Why Huckleberry Finn Should Not Be Banned Analysis as the Bible, slavery remained widespread with no spiritual leader speaking out against it. An Why Huckleberry Finn Should Not Be Banned Analysis of Camillas Loyalty In The Aeneid concerns the Why Huckleberry Finn Should Not Be Banned Analysis of snuff.