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Argumentative Essay On Huckleberry Finn

724 Words3 Pages

The book Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain is a story written about a young boy Huck, who ran away from home with a slave Jim. He battles his feelings towards slavery and learns various other lessons along the way. Allowing this book to be taught to high school students is a never-ending controversy that has been happening since the book has been written. Huckleberry Finn is a brilliant piece of writing that addresses issues that United States still struggles with. There have been many arguments that have been against teaching Huckleberry Finn mostly over the usage of an offensive word, “nigger” which was commonly used in that time period. If high school students are not taught the messages entwined within the book, then those students …show more content…

Some say that “[Huckleberry Finn] promote[s] bad morals and course behavior for young people”.
Huckleberry Finn is satirical, funny and stands on a thin line between anti and pro slavery. He struggles throughout the story because he cannot decide whether he would like to turn Jim in because helping a “nigger” is bad. But as the story progresses, this young pro slavery taught boy, discovers the meaning of friendship through Jim which in his time and place seems like an impossible task.

Another person who argues against the works of Mark Twain is John Wallace and he felt that, “racism can only be undertaken by graduate level students”. Wallace believes that the lessons that Huckleberry Finn can only be understood by college level students. As far as one can tell, Wallace believes that the teachings are important but cannot be fully appreciated until a time after high school. This statement would be more convincing if the protagonist of the story Huck, wasn’t a young boy himself. Children in high school are closer in age to Huck than those at a college level. Children in high school are more likely to live the story through Huck’s eyes rather than just read the story because the children in high school are closer in age, making the students relatable to Huck. By doing so, students not of a college level would be more likely as to pick up the lessons that Huck teaches especially at the time in the text when Huck decides that he will go to Hell for

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