The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

Introduction

In American history, only one piece of literature has been revisited time and time again, still retaining the controversy that has followed it through the years. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, is one such book. Over the years, many authors and well-known well-educated members of society have analyzed this book, writing paper after analytical paper on the moral fiber of the book. Some argue that the book is the basis for all literature that has ever come out of modern day America. Others claim that the entire novel is a piece of racist trash, and that Mark Twain himself is a racist and ignorant man. Others still claim that the book is just plain bad, and not the great classic that is supposedly is. Using some of these well-written essays, I stand to prove that the book is entirely not racist. Rather, it is a satirical exploration of the final days of slavery, poking fun at everything equally. If Twain were to be anti-anything, he would have to be anti-everything, because nothing is sacred in his lampooning style.

Discussion

First published in 1884, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as a novel represents many years of anguish for Mark Twain. In fact, Twain himself was not happy with how his book was moving near the end of the novel, and put it aside for a period of three years (Smiley 62). He came back to the novel, and wrote what many critics describe as, well, a bad ending. He wrote the final twelve chapters, in which Huck and Tom plan and fail at Jim's elaborate escape, and Jim gives up his freedom to save Tom's life. It is here, as Jane Smiley says, that the novel fails, and goes from bad to worse. In fact, in Smiley's opinion, every single seen without Jim in it fails, mainly because she holds the notion that Jim is the protagonist. Well, I'm sorry, Ms. Smiley, but it is there that you are wrong. The story follows Huck, and rightly so, because the name in the title of the book is Huckleberry Finn, and not Jim. Logically, to leave Jim on the raft, which represents freedom, would be safest. One cannot expect Mark Twain to leave his characters on the raft for the duration of the novel, and if he wishes to have characters venture into the land, which is deep in Slave Country, it makes sense, plot-wise, to leave Jim on the boat, for his own safety.

Many naysayers bring up the issue of racism. One of their main points is Twain's use of the word "nigger". Modern critics, who learned to write and read in today's "politically correct" society, are criticizing Twain's book, which was written just after Slavery ended. Slavery existed in Twain's lifetime, and this book, composed mostly of his own childhood memories, is less racist than it is a relatively historically accurate portrait of life in the mid 1800s. Jane Smiley compares Mark Twain's almost ...