The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn Essays (1369 words) -

The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn Cindy Hall THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN In the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, also known as Samuel Langhorne Clemens, uses several major themes. The book is primarily about racism. Some of the other topics are freedom, bondage, religion, and society versus the individual(Grant 2758). Twain also uses a variety of colorful vernacular dialects. The book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been criticized from the time of its publication to today. ?Mark Twain has been seriously accused by some readers of being a racist writer,?(Salwen 1). Twain uses the ?N? word over two hundred times in this novel. To sundry black readers Twain's writings are offensive and called trash. Mark Twain implies within the book that black people are not as smart or intelligent as white people are. Most black readers believe this book should not be read in any school under the college level. It has been removed off the reading list for numerous elementary schools. Most of the teachers requesting this book to still be taught are white. Their argument for this novel to stay in the schools is that it shows how society has bettered itself. These teachers say ?if you teacher slavery, you have to use the language they used?(Wallace 116). Some readers and writers believe this book is the best book ever written. For example Ernest Hemingway quotes ?all modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.... All American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since?(Zwick 1). Like Hemingway others believe Mark Twain is the finest humorist and meaningful novelists there ever was. Mark Twain does not just describe the scenes, but gives you a clear vivid image. During each scene on the raft Twain makes you feel like you are floating along the river with Jim and Huck. Some parts of the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn that have been called racist are when Aunt Sally and Huck are talking about the accident on the steamboat. Aunt Sally says ?Good gracious! Anybody hurt Huck says ?No'm,? ?Killed a nigger.? And then Aunt Sally says ?Well it's lucky, because sometimes people do get hurt? (Salwen 1). That is not racist, it is simply how blacks were thought of during the pre-Civil War period. When Twain wrote this book, people did not think of a black person as anything put property. Twain does not mean to offend anyone. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn gives a positive view of blacks. For example ?the Nazi party, the Ku Klux Klan, and the White Citizens Council see an antislavery, antiracist message? (Wallace 119). They all say this book is not racist, because Huck is helping a slave escape. If Mark Twain were racist, he would not have Huck helping Jim, but Huck turning Jim in as a runaway slave. Some readers believe Mark Twain is putting Jim d own during the most of the novel, but anyone can see through Huck Finn that Jim was treated as a decent human being and not a slave. During the entire course of the book Twain had great feelings for the black slave, Jim. Huck and Jim are both searching for freedom. While searching for their freedom they form a bond with each other. Jim helps Huck escape from the Widow Douglass and Pap. Both Huck and Jim feel free when they are on the raft together. ?Freedom exists neither in the North nor the South, but in the ideal and idyllic world of the raft and river?(Grant 2758). While on the raft, race does not matter and that is when they form their love for each other. Huckleberry Finn begins to look at Jim like the father he never had, and Jim begins to look at Huck as his best friend. Huck battles with his ?conscience over whether or not to turn Jim in as a runaway slave?(Twain 92). Without question Huck accepts what he has been taught by church and society about slavery. Huck knows helping a runaway slave is morally and illegally wrong. Other words by helping a slave escape Huck is breaking one of society's most biggest laws at