Racism in Huck Finn
Ever since it was written, Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn has been a novel that many people have found disturbing. Although some argue that the novel is extremely racist, careful reading will prove just the opposite. In recent years especially, there has been an increasing debate over what some will call the racist ideas in the novel. In some cases the novel has even been banned by public school systems and censored by public libraries. The basis for the debate is how Jim, a black slave and one of the main characters, is depicted. However, if one was to look at the underlying themes in the novel, they would realize that it is not racist and could even be considered an anti – slavery novel. The most popular problem people have with this book is the use of the word “nigger”. It must be remebered that during this time period it was not considered much of an insullt. You can also notice in the book it was not meant offensively by Huck, or taken offensively by Jim. This is what Stephan Shepard had to say about the banning of the book and the use of the word “nigger”: In addition to removing Mark Twain's novel from the
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Huckleberry Finn, King Duke, Pap Hucks, Huck Jim, Mississippi Valley, Jim Huck's, Mark Twain's, Mark Twain, Jim Huck, South Blacks, huckleberry finn, mark twain, university press, description jim, oxford university press, throughout novel, twain reader, oxford university, hundred ago, hucks father, york oxford, york oxford university, anti – slavery, book word nigger, york cambridge university,
Approximate Word count = 2576
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)
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