Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn Significance Essay

Significance of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn There were many social and global issues in the world that are still happening today, but a book that talks about those issues to fit the time frame should not be taken so offensively. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a classic novel written by Mark Twain. The book has many controversies about whether it should or should not be banned from schools. The book should not be banned from Norton City Schools because the use of derogatory slang is used only to portray the Antebellum era. The Antebellum era was a time period in the Southern United States that lasted from the late 18th century until the American Civil War in 1861. The Civil War was the breaking point which ended slavery in the United States. Before the civil war, slavery was not seen as wrong. The institution of slavery became the center of the Southern ideology and social norms. The relationships in the book also show
the ability of man to break social norms. The idea of a friendship between white and black in that time period was frowned upon greatly. The book has many occasions for readers to learn about history.
Jim is a black runaway slave, which is something that was very prevalent and very real in the pre civil war time. Critics who review the banning of the book “bemoaned the lost opportunities for readers to engage in provocative discussions about the role of racism in American History” (Smith 2). Readers who would engage in reading this novel may miss out on chances to learn about racism and how it was and still is. Readers who have never picked up this novel most likely have less knowledge about the use of derogatory language in it, and how it is very different than if those slang words were thrown about today. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn uses the words ‘nigger’ and ‘slave’ “in different contexts” (Smith 2). Twain uses them to show the racism that was apparent in the late 18th century Antebellum era. In the 18th century, racism was the focal point of that time period. The slang words show the connection between how life was in the 18th century vs. how life here is
now. The relationships between characters show the act of man breaking out of the box of society, which is a good lesson for readers. Huck is a white young boy, who comes from a family of slave owners. It is unusual that Huck would show compassion and trust towards a black slave like Jim. Huck and Jim’s relationship “really is the centerpiece of the text, a friendship demanding that Huck step outside the conventional morality of his era”(Bollinger 3). Huck had many chances where he could have turned Jim in and be a ‘good citizen’ according to his society. However, Huck constantly relied on his heart and the humane compassion he felt towards Jim, instead of doing what his society has put in his conscience to do. A positive and healthy relationship between a white person and a ‘slave’ in that time period was almost unheard of-and was most looked down upon. The social system in the Antebellum era consisted mostly of white men and white families owning slaves to do housework, agriculture, and to sell them for sex or for large amounts of money. Huck and Jim’s relationship shows that man is able to be unconventional and societal norms are not always normal. Others say that “there is so much racial slurs in there and offensive language that you can’t get past [it]” and that “right now we are a nation divided as it is”(Balingit 1). The racial slurs are used by the author in a completely non-derogatory way, but in a way showing the era which the novel was meant to take place in. The King and The Duke’s dialect in the book was very racist, but that is because that is how most people talked in the Antebellum era. Huck’s dialect is mostly filled with colloquialisms and altered words, because he is young and is only just following after his elders in his speech. The book has too much value and lessons about breaking the bonds of society to be banned. Huck and Jim’s relationship is one that every reader should take account of, because it is essentially the ‘perfect’ friendship. Mark Twain was not known as a racist man, he was simply just an author who wrote a book meant to fit a specific time frame. Mark Twain published Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in 1884, which is shortly after the Antebellum era actually occurred. Seeing as Twain was born in the 1830’s, he actually lived to see the pre civil war era. He was raised in it and wrote the story with the vernacular of that time period. If Twain was a racist man he would not have written the book with the relationship between Huck and Jim. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain should not be banned from schools because it is not meant to be offensive to readers and the book has valuable content. The book has occasions for readers to learn about racism in American History and shows lessons about how a man is able to separate themselves from the norms of their society. If a reader is offended by the context of this novel then the reader should open their mind to do some research about these words and their roles in American History.