The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn, Maggie: A Girl Of The Streets

As Johann Wolfgang once said, “The decline of literature indicates the decline of a nation.” America was forged by revolutionary literature, which questioned long standing beliefs, or created a national identity, as the constant development of influtional works has helped to keep this nation intact. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain exposes the underlying racism and discrimination in society, while Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane portrays a broken New York City and the grim lives of the lower class. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair uncovers the horrid conditions of the meatpacking industry. These famous works all helped to develop the core values of America, and create a nation that idealized equality amongst all people, highlighted the unreasonably poor aspects of life, and called upon

By looking at the portrayal of America in Huckleberry Finn, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, and The Jungle, it is evident that realism instated the core values of equality, self reliance, and transparency, which shaped social activism in the 20th and 21st centuries. Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn exposed the underlying racism found in a clashing society, helping to integrate equality as a core value in America, and inspiring people to fight for their rights. In this novel, a young boy known as Huckleberry Finn travels along the Mississippi River with Jim, an escaped slave. His constant negative encounters with the outside world cause him to question his ingrained view on slaves and society. As the story progresses, Huck’s bond with Jim grows, until his racist beliefs are replaced with ideas