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Manipulating Language In Huck Finn

770 Words4 Pages
Foreigners make up one quarter of the U.S. population (U.S. Immigration Statistics). In other words, 81,281,909 people are left struggling to find a community in which they belong. As a result, cliques are created based off similar beliefs and languages. However, there are measures a person can take in order to become accepted into a particular group that they might otherwise not belong in. Manipulating language is one resource that can be used to blend into a desired community. Diction choice can establish relationships between individuals to form a clique. Intelligent words may act as a gateway into elite societies, while simple words can strengthen individual relationships. For example, in the novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck finds he needs to keep a relationship with a run away slave named Jim. The need to strengthen their relationship arises when Huck decides he will help free Jim from slavery (Twain, 92). Even though Huck does not have perfect grammar, but is more educated than Jim, he uses the same slang as Jim to connect with him. Consequently, this allows Jim to feel as though him and Huck are socially equal despite their racial differences. Their similar way of speaking and outcast personalities work together to create a tight- knit community of two. In addition to diction choice, syntax can be a determination factor of blending into a society. With about 28% of American immigrants not able to speak English well, they are often out casted by American
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