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Is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Racist?

            What is racism? Racism is discrimination based on the belief that some races are by nature superior. There is a current debate that the description of the novel "Huckleberry Finn" is racist leading to some schools banning it from their libraries. Jim's character is described as an uneducated and simple sounding; illiterate slave and some people have looked upon this characterization as racist. Jim is depicted as a slave in the south during a period when slavery was common and widely accepted as the way of life. Slaves of this time period were not provided any formal education; never allowed any independent thought and were constantly mistreated and abused. The author in my opinion is merely describing how a slave spoke in those days and was trying to give you the true feeling behind his thought, while writing this tale. I think that the book "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" isn't racist.
             The use of the word "nigger" is most certainly a very slanderous slang term that is not socially acceptable in present times. The dialect in which Jim is speaking indicates how Jim spoke do to his lack of education and refinement that white people refused to provide to slaves. This provision was not permitted as white slave owners viewed blacks as property and as being unable to learn proper grammar and structure of the English language. Some historians have stated that this was also so because it allowed the white's to maintain control over their slaves in order to "keep the upper hand." We as a modern society should maintain an open mind when dealing with literary works such as Huckleberry Finn and bare in our mind that novels such as these are written during socially diverse and sometimes opposite ways of thinking. We should not ban a literary work such as Huckleberry Finn simply because it is not accepted by modern day standards. As we look further into the character's dialogue we find that Twain has written as accurately as possible the way that he would sound, and also to make you stop and think and picture in your mind them speaking that way.


Essays Related to Is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Racist?

1. Racism in Huck Finn

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn can be read as a novel that illustrates the moral growth of a young and nave teenager as he desperately attempts to escape the perils of civilization. ... The portrayal of African Americans in this novel is reflective of a racist attitude manifested through the use of language, depiction of African-American characters, and the general attitude towards the African-American race in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. ... The use of the word "nigger,"" a racially charged epithet in the contemporary era, is present more than 200 times in The Adventures of Huck...

  • Word Count: 596
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

2. Adventures of Huck Finn

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ranks fifth on the American Library Association's list of the 100 most frequently challenged books of the 1990's. ... Two very important themes from The Adventures of Huck Finn are the acceptance of others and the quest for freedom. ... The strongest argument against this book is that many feel it was written with racist intention. ... The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn contains an abundance of racial slurs, however, many of these critics can't go past the language and are unable to grasp Twain's true intent. The Adventures of Huckleb...

  • Word Count: 478
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

3. Banned Books-Huckleberry Finn

Being ranked fifth as one of the most challenged books in the 1990s, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, can definitely be considered a very controversial novel (Huckleberry 1). ... When The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was first published, immediately many people began to think of it as offensive. ... However, this library was not the only one to believe The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was offensive. ... In more recent years, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is considered controversial because of the racism it contained (Zwick 1). ... The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ...

  • Word Count: 1219
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

4. Huckleberry Finn

In a diverse and constantly changing society, the issue of censoring classic literatures has long been controversial; does the novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn perpetuate racism, or does it have literature value? ... In either case, the novel by Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, has dramatically opened the door to challenging the personal issue of racism versus a classic American novel. ... In comparison, many historians and teachers proclaim that the highly sensitive racial slurs that occur in the novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, are in context because of its histor...

  • Word Count: 640
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

5. Huckleberry Finn

Huckleberry Finn Debated, 1884-2001 You don't know about me, without you have read a book by the name of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," but that ain't no matter. --Huck Finn Few books in the American literary canon have been both as influential and as thoroughly debated as Mark Twain's 1885 novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. ... In his 1935 book, The Green Hills of Africa, Ernest Hemingway wrote that "all modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.... ... Interactions between the novel and American culture continue to influ...

  • Word Count: 407
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

6. Huck Finn

Many classics such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and others alike, have been censored or banned in several places. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been a hotly debated book since it was first published in 1885. ... The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, along with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, was removed from the children's section of the Brooklyn Library, "I wrote "Tom Sawyer" and "Huck Finn" for adults exclusively, and it always distressed me when I find that boys and girls have been allowed to access to them," ("Tom Sawyer" and "Huck Finn") Twain's books are accus...

  • Word Count: 1484
  • Approx Pages: 6

7. Inappropriate Content in Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain's, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," has been controversial since it was released in 1884. Huck Finn has been everything from the rise of American literature to a racist novel. ... Huck Finn was designed to portray the realist aspect of life.Twain intended to make The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to satirize life in the South and the change from slavery to equality. ... In today's society, many high schools are racially mixed, so when classes dive into The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, if teachers don't confront the issue of the novel's use of the "n...

  • Word Count: 920
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

8. Censoring Huckleberry Finn

There are many people that want The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain censored. ... Huckleberry Finn is not the person they want to act like. ... Yes, the n-word is racist and offensive, but the whole time period was racist and that cannot be rid of unless the whole book is destroyed and many other history books too. ... Some characters in the book may be racist, but the book itself is completely anti-racist. ... The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. ...

  • Word Count: 1309
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

9. The Controversy Over Huckleberry Finn

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was written by Mark Twain, and was published in 1885. ... The number one reason why "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is banned is because of the racism throughout the book. ... Some people see Huck Finn as a racist, but this is not the case. ... When Twain wrote "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", it was the first book to be written in dialect. ... I can completely understand why someone, especially an African American, would be offended by "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". ...

  • Word Count: 905
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

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