Huck Finn High School Curriculum Analysis

Many scholars believe that Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be taken out of high school curriculum. From accusations about Huck Finn being racist to allegations that it is historically inaccurate, to claims that it is demeaning, there are many arguments to why this novel should be taken out of the curriculum. Although many of these arguments are sound, they all overlook how Huck Finn is a positive contribution to high school curriculum, and how it teaches morals, shows history, addresses real issues, and exposes the readers to many different literary elements, all of which make it critical for this novel to stay in the curriculum.
One of the many positive contributions this novel provides is morality by showing

Twain addresses slavery and the different dialects during the antebellum era. Twain writes in the beginning of Huck Finn , "In this book a number of dialects are used, ...The shadings have not been done in hap-hazard fashion, or by guess-work; but painstakingly,and with trustworthy guidance and support of personal familiarity with these several forms of speech"(2). This personal statement shows that Twain knew what he was doing and worked actual dialect and groups into this novel. Living through the pre- Civil War time Twain was not only aware but confronted with many of the different issues he has written in Huck Finn. Twain uses this novel to share the many different dialects of that time and also to confront historical problems like slavery and racism. Although it is clear that Twain was showing history and the many dialects in his time, many are offended and do not see it this way for example, "Novelist - photographer Julius Lester, who in an essay completely ignoring the n-word controversy excoriated Twain and declared AHF [Huck Finn] was immoral in its major premises, one which demeans blacks and insults history, and that in essence it is a dismal portrait of white male psyche."(qtd. in Fikes 241) On the contrary, to Lester’s opinion Huck Finn does not insult history but actually addresses history. Whether Lester knew this fact or not but history says that blacks were not allowed to be

In order for a novel to be in a school curriculum a novel should incorporate literary elements for high school students to be exposed and familiarized with. Twain uses over 25 similes and metaphors as well as many different other literary elements such as allusion, symbolism, imagery, satire, irony and so much more. Twain often times does not just use one literary element but a combination which can be seen in the following quote from Huck Finn; "She[the Walter Scott] was very deep, and see in a minute there weren't much chance for anybody being alive in her"(Twain 89 ). This quote shows two literary elements which are symbolism and allusion. Twain uses the ship to symbolize romanticism by naming it after a romantic author Walter Scott and uses the sinking of the ship to allude to the death of romanticism and the showing of its irrelevance. Symbolism and allusion are two major elements that Twain uses in Huck Finn. Twain uses these literary elements to address relevant