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Mark Twain's 'The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn'

1534 Words7 Pages

ACTIVITY #1: STUDENT CRITIQUE (REVIEW)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a great book that has a lot to say about many topics that were going on in society during 1885 when it was written. At first, it can be a difficult book to read but once you get into it and understand the dialect then it’s actually a fun book to read. Huck Finn has a lot of humor and adventure in it which makes you want to find out what will happen next with Huck, Tom and Jim. However, the main purpose of the book is to really show how ridiculous society was during slavery and the racism that existed. Mark Twain was using the story to show the hypocrisy of people and how they thought about race. For example, during one conversation with “Aunt Sally” about his trip, …show more content…

Even though Slavery ended , the Jim Crow laws were still in effect. These laws allowed for the segregation of the races and still allowed for racism to continue until the Civil Rights movement nearly 100 years later. So, it is not a surprise that the 1885 review saw the story as a fun adventure and not about race even though it does say Huck is struggling with a moral issue. Also, during the time of the 1885 critique, the Ku Klux Klan was intimidating blacks and lynchings of black people happened all the time. So, the people at the time did not see all the issues going on with race and the treatment of black people. While states like Connecticut where the review were written did not have a history of slavery there still was a lot of racism across the country and northern states were not always aware of what was really going on in the …show more content…

For example, we are a very political correct society today so I understand where the author is coming from in their critique. However, I also agree with them in that we shouldn’t try to change the works of great authors like Mark Twain. I come for a minority background and have heard a lot of stories from family about how my Native American ancestors were treated so I can relate to not wanted to say things that could upset certain minority groups or sound racist. I was raised to know that we are all equal and that we should treat all people with respect so I can relate to not wanting to say negative things about a certain group of people or calling them insensitive

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