Huck Finn, should it be banned
Controversial in death as he was in life, Mark Twain has been critically accused by some as being a "racist writer." These critics believe his writing is insulting to the black readers of his books and deserves no place on today's bookshelves. Many others believe the previous idea is falsely believed. At several points in the novel, Jim's character is described to the reader as stupid and childlike, and some people have looked upon the characterization as racist. Believing that Twain is only racist toward the black people is incredibly farfetched. He is just as chauvinistic towards the white society in the novel. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the basis for all American literature. Without Huck Finn, America would have never been blessed with great pieces of literature from such people as Hemmingway. Ernest Hemmingway himself once stated that truth. That, among other reasons, is why The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, should not be banned from the high school curriculum. On a superficial level, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn can appear to be racist. The first time the reader meets Jim, a very negative description is given. The reader is told that Jim is illiterate, childlike,
The anti-black feelings of this novel are the most obvious forms of racism. Mark Twain uses references to slavery and undignified words to show Jim's inferiority to white citizens "Him... the runaway nigger..."(277). Another instance that illustrates the inferior position of Jim is in depicting him as a fortuneteller, "Miss Watson's nigger, Jim, had a hair-ball as big as your fist, which had been took out of the fourth stomach of an ox, and he used to magic with it."(18). The statement is degrading because it makes it seem like only black people believe that they can tell the future. This representation is a pessimistic example because the degrading description is portrayed as ignorant by racial standards. The statement also shows how the white society views the African-American. The white community views the blacks as ignorant people. This common form of racism is why African-Americans want this book banned. Another example of racism in the novel is a form of prejudice against whites. There is a form of ignorance in nearly every white character in this novel; though not every one is ignorance is totally noticeable. The use of racist and vulgar language is constantly heard from the white adults as well as the children in the novel. Constant racist remarks from white characters portray them in a negative way because such ignorant remarks make them sound adolescent. Although nearly all the racist remarks in the book were whites insulting blacks, Mark Twain had taken on the occupation of becoming the whites racial profiler. Tom Sawyer has been playing Jim all along just for the fun of it. Jim could have nearly died, thanks to Tom's immaturity. It shows the lack of care the whites had for blacks, thus, the whites have lost nearly all of the black people's respect. This was Mark Twain's oblique way of showing the whites i
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1237
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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