ipl-logo

Romanticism In Huckleberry Finn

1535 Words7 Pages

Perhaps no piece of literature is as divisive as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Since 1884, Mark Twain’s most famous work has been at the center of controversy in America, . Inclusion of the n-word over 200 times and various minstrel caricatures have prompted many, including the NAACP to label it as offensive and remove it from schools across America. Throughout the course of Huck Finn, the two main characters, Huck and Jim, a footloose child and an escaped slave, travel down the Mississippi River to freedom, facing various obstacles the entire way, ranging from con-men to the morals of white southern society; focusing on how the two characters, specifically Huck, evolve throughout the story. Conversely, as a novel Huck Finn provides …show more content…

Right off the bat starting with Tom’s Gang, Twain satirizes these romanticist tropes relentlessly. Thus, by not following romanticism, Twain presents slavery and racism wholly, as it was without any rose-tinted glasses. This is a significant factor in the novel, and one of the reasons such controversy has stirred around this perceived issue. In the same sense, Twain embraces realism, attempting to give a true to life representation of the world Huck and Jim live in. Towards the end, plans to free Jim have been labeled by critics as a return to minstrelsy, but under the surface they represent the systematic oppression of freed slaves and African Americans. They were seen as ploys for the whites to use for entertainment with no concern to their situation or troubles. Tom uses Jim for his own entertainment, and this is acceptable to society. Huck is even confused as to why Tom would help him, as Huck does not know that Jim has been freed. Huck labels this moral development as a result of his poor upbringing and rejection of society. Viewing Tom through Huck’s eyes, even the idea of helping a fellow person in trouble is completely negated as society deems it not “okay”, his astonishment visible when he says, “Well, I let go all holts then, like I was shot. It was the most astonishing speech I ever heard - and I’m bound to say Tom Sawyer fell, considerable, in my estimation. Only I couldn’t believe it. Tom …show more content…

The NAACP has campaigned for the novel removed from schools on account of over 200 uses of the n-word, particularly in the passage about Jim and the witches. This only serves to humiliate and bring up painful memories that serve no purpose (Wallace). These critics also point out what appears is a degradation of Jim’s character. He falls under quite a few caricatures of the time all of which are used by the opposition to assert that Twain is abandoning any attempt to finalize the evolution observed between Huck and Jim, allowing him to fall back into the role of a “stupid quiet slave” (Caricature). While an argument can certainly be made for this theory, it is better explained by the context it is presented in. When thrown back into society, all of the progress Huck and Jim have made striving for equality is negated by the fact that they are back in white society. The PBS film “Born to Trouble” explores this possibility. Specifically, the professor from Seattle notes how the inclusion of the words and actions critics deem offensive are what give Huck Finn its power. Without them it would just be another book, without any real lesson on racism and the evils that pertain to it (Born to Trouble). As a realist, Twain is faithfully representing the cruel mindset of the 1860s-80s no matter how ugly it appears on text. It is this brutal realism that creates the controversy

Show More
Related
604 Words | 3 Pages

This shows how people view Jim and the severity of his escaping. The views of slavery are so set in stone that the black boy escaping is more heinous a crime than that of a white man killing his son. Twain uses figurative language throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. One example would be when he is describing a summer storm in chapter 9. Twain talks about the trees looking “dim and spider-webby,” and how when the wind blows through, it “set the branches to tossing their arms as if they was just wild.”

Read More
1255 Words | 6 Pages

Many books have been censored or banned in libraries and schools across the United States because of their suggestive or inappropriate content. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, a sequel to the popular The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, is one of the books that are being illuminated as “unfit to read”. It is the story a young boy, Huck, and a black man, Jim, in the 1800s, who ran away and their journey across the Mississippi River. It is a controversial piece in a majority of the classrooms across America. In this book, the N word shows up over two hundred times (Here's Why Banning 'Huck Finn' Over The N-Word Sends The Wrong Message).

Read More
160 Words | 1 Pages

Living in the 1800s was a very confusing time for a thirteen-year-old American white boy named Huckleberry Finn. African people were faced with inhuman acts of slavery, prejudice, and discrimination. Choosing between what was right and wrong was a challenge, especially for Huckleberry Finn. Huck’s peers tried to corrupt him into believing that slavery was the norm and black people were to be shunned. Mrs. Watson, for example, was Huck’s adoptive mother whom consistently told Huck to not associate with people of the African culture.

Read More
752 Words | 4 Pages

Overall, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, criticizes the moral conditioning of society. Twain utilizes situational irony, mockery, and absurdity to satirize racism through Huck’s journey. Twain’s use of stereotypes uncovers racial hypocrisy by criticizing the way society has taught young kids to think about black people. Twain uses irony to mock the way the government treats slaves and African

Read More
1481 Words | 6 Pages

Twain knows exactly how the reader will have ambivalence after reading the n-word numerous amounts of time. After Twain strips Jim of his humanity with the dehumanizing “n-word”, there are moments in which Twain was able to set off a sequence of events that would not have been possible if that word was not implemented, such as the instance in which Huck states “I know he was white on the inside” (Huckleberry Finn). This quote from Huck depicted the fact that he believed that Jim, although he is colored, he thought Jim was”white on the inside”. This statement from Huck might not have been as powerful if the use of the n-word was not implemented and used numerous times. The fact that Huck was able to see through the whitewashing of society towards his perspective on people of color and slaves in general, he was able to realize and see Jim as a equal.

Read More
1195 Words | 5 Pages

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain, is a book in which captures the adventures of a young boy named Huck Finn who runs away from home and makes his way down the Mississippi River in which he meets a runaway slave named Jim, together they undertake serious of adventures. This piece of literature has left many of its readers shocked and angry due to the extensive use of the n-word. In Huckleberry Finn, the n-word is used over 200 times which has led many schools to ban the teaching of this book or simply replace it with another classic American literature. There is always two sides of a story, in this one there is three. The argument continues with the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn whether it should be kept

Read More
1030 Words | 5 Pages

Writing in many ways is artwork — writers are able to use words and sentences in order to make big ideas as a painter is able to use his paint to illustrate big pictures and ideas; but like a picture, writing can be read and seem differently to each of the readers eyes. Works of literature such as these can be subjected to controversy from disputes of true meaning in the text. The novel Huck Finn has been challenged and criticized by adults and children for being full of racist language and bigotry. Since its publishing in 1885, the book Huck Finn has created an enormous public debate on whether or not Huck Finn should be taught in the classroom. Mark Twain, the author of Huck Finn, wrote the book to be full of racist ideas, in order for

Read More
768 Words | 4 Pages

Although there has been an overwhelming amount of debates regarding the teaching of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in high school settings, students should still have the opportunity to experience this novel, even if additions or compromises need to be made, because of the story’s historical significance, underlying portrayal of African American dignity, and overall benefits engendered by Twain’s writing. Many argue that African Americans are undermined throughout the story, but the abundance of dignity underlying Jim’s character and the compromises that can be made in the classroom are often overlooked. The most controversial part of the book for many parents seems to be the fact that “it uses the ‘n’ word more than 200 times -- which they say is damaging to their children” (Beckett, Huck Finn’s Fate to Be Decided).

Read More
1724 Words | 7 Pages

Those who feel the novel encourages racism say that because of the stereotypes used when featuring Jim, how Huck and Tom treated Jim, and how often the N-word is brought up Twain had hoped to encourage racism. However there is still strong evidence that proves why that might be a misunderstanding. If twain was intending to encourage racism then why would he make Him seem so much of a better person than the duke, king, and Huck's father. Also when Twain illustrates the black and white symbolism he portrayed Him as white man and Huck's father, who is a white man, as dark and scary. Then throughout the story as a reader you feel empathy for Jim he begins to become one of the favorite characters in the novel.

Read More
799 Words | 4 Pages

Along with the way that Huck treated Jim, Twain made him sound like an unintelligent thing, not a human being but just a thing. There were many problems that Jim faced with Huck and one is specifically pointed out as the reason The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was a racist tale and not one that started to show racial tolerance. During the escape of Jim from Aunt Sally’s house Huck devises a simple plan to get Jim out of the barn safely But then Tom comes along and makes the plan much more complicated and insanely dangerous for Jim. Huck instead of stopping Tom from doing this plan asks him why they should do a complicated plan that might hurt Jim and then decides to revert back to his old self and toy with Jim. After all the morale improvements that Huck has made in the end Jim is still being toyed with instead of treated like the free human being he was.

Read More
1585 Words | 7 Pages

The Adventures of Controversial Finn; Racial Edition The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has seen controversy after controversy over its entire lifetime, and in this moment of history, it is no different. The Adventures of Huckleberry, a novel by Mark Twain, revolved around Huck (a white child) and Jim (a black runaway slave) who join together to escape a dark and limiting past. In the late 19th century, when the book was published, it was banned for being deemed as abolition propaganda, while today it is banned in many school districts, nationwide, for its constant and recurring use of the “N-word”. There has been multiple answers to this controversial book, but currently there are three core solutions: leaving the original

Read More
474 Words | 2 Pages

In the small town of Hannibal, Missouri, a young author named Samuel Langhorne Clemens began to absorb his knowledge about the reality of life in the South during the early 1800’s. At the age of 41, Mark Twain, Clemens pen persona, had created one of the world 's most controversial but fantastic articles in American Literature. Throughout Mark Twain’s compelling novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a realistic setting of the old south is portrayed through the use of language including the disturbing ”N” word, satirical representations of Southern people, and typical southern scenery. Despite the book 's literary value and complete historical accuracy, select people and schools continue to either label the novel as racist or ban it in

Read More
1403 Words | 6 Pages

The black man on the back porch is afraid of the rattle snake because it is bad luck, or the innocent little slave is quick to believe everything one tells them at the drop of the hat. These are just some of the many racist stereotypes of the 1840s. A character named Jim is the star African American whom Twain bestoys the mission of being the stereotypical black man to prove a point. He along with his much more pallor companion Huck go on exciting adventures that unfold the events which expose the racist conduct of the time. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain saturates his novel with potent images of acute racism severe enough as to create a satirical mien that exposes the absurdity of prejudice.

Read More
497 Words | 2 Pages

The Reality of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn “One nasty, offensive, mean-spirited little word should not be allowed to defeat the real education of our students” (“Huck”). In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain, it takes one word to offend most of the populace, but little do readers see how they miss the life lessons and morals written between the lines. The big debate on whether or not Huck Finn should be taught in schools derives from one word--nigger. This is sadly unfortunate because readers tend to miss the overall message the book has to offer because their focus is solely on this one word. I think that readers should look at why Twain chooses to use the n-word in his novel, the fact that the word itself offends people even though it is still used today, and lastly the

Read More
1083 Words | 5 Pages

Naturally, as his bond with Jim cultivates, Huck unknowingly treats him as a human. Through Huck’s sensibility, he states, “It didn’t take me long to make up my mind that these liars warn’t no kings nor dukes at all … I hadn’t no objections, ‘long as it would keep peace in the family; and it warn’t no use to tell Jim, so I didn’t tell him” (Twain 125). Correspondingly, Huck gains a consideration for Jim and his personal feelings, which he expresses nonchalantly through motley aspects of their journey.

Read More

More about Romanticism In Huckleberry Finn

Related Topics

Open Document