Huckleberry Finn

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, demonstrates Huck’s moral development as he encounters new people and a series of new events. During his adventures, Huck has always been taught from society to view black people as inferior. However, his conscience allows him to rise above society’s racism. Although Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn were child hood friends, the fact that the two grew up with different family backgrounds: Tom was well nourished, on the other hand Huck was abused by his father, Pap, an alcoholic.

This resulted in the two characters having different morals, though Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer established their own rules for living differently, both in essence had the same morals to begin with. Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer established their rules for living differently. Huck Finn encountered new characters in the novel, that was when he began to see the flaws of society. He went against society to save a man who he would have never had considered a friend in that life time. Huck Finn’s morals were that of a realist and practical. As Miss Watson attempted to teach Huck about religion and though he had no interest in “… no stock in dead people” (Twain 4).

Huck had not been taught with social values in the same way as a middle class boy like his childhood friend, Tom Sawyer had been. Another scenario of Huck’s morality developing as he encountered new characters is when the two frauds do their best to play the role of the Wilks brothers and try to corrupt Mary Jane and her sisters. Huck is morally against the King and Dukes plan. He realizes he has got to get the money and expose the two frauds because of his adoration for Mary Jane. Huck reaches a moral dilemma and decides to tell the truth for the first time in his life. He says Im blest if it dont look to me like the truth is better and actuly safer than a lie(180). Huck’s conscience is what told him that it had seemed “right” to have helped Jim. The choices that Huck had made in the novel would have given the average white man a heart attack because it had gone against what society has always taught them black people were inferior.

Huck then discovered that because of the background he had grown up with he applies the rules that he had grown up with to the rules that he had been taught to have created his own rules. Although there were times in the novel were he had portrayed that of a follower and not a leader Huck’s failures as a human being are natural because humans aren’t perfect and do make mistakes. Tom was everything Huck wasn’t which was creative and dominating. Tom had grown up in a luxurious household, he was a clever boy who was constantly looking for trouble and enjoyed pulling pranks. He had a good heart and conscience, whenever he saw that his actions had hurt another person in a serious way he knew what was right and wrong. His morals were reflected from reading romance and adventure novels.

Though throughout the novel we don’t see much of Tom he definitely grows as a character, he doesn’t reform completely, but he does grow to care about others more. What sets Tom Sawyer aside from Huck is that his morals would have never allowed him to have done what Huck Finn did, and that was to help Jim. “….I couldn’t ever understand…how he could help a-body set a free nigger free” (291). He knew all along that Miss Watson had passed away and Jim was free, but he makes Jim believe that he isn’t for self entertainment. “…and wanted to tie Jim to the tree for fun” (5).

Because of this selfish act Tom Sawyer was never able to understand what it was like to have not been self-centered. Huck realizes and understands he isn’t capable of pretending to be something he is not. I was letting on to give up sin, but away inside of me I was holding on to the greatest one of all (205). Before he tears up the letter to Miss Watson, he says, All right, then, Ill go to hell (206). For a boy such as Huck wanting to sacrifice himself for another human being emphasize that fact Huck knows what was right and understood what he did was completely unethical to anyone else. To have has grown up in the situation that he did, Huck had preserved. Throughout his journey Huck learned many things. He saw the cruel and unjust society he was a part of the whole time. The only difference is that he realized it was morally wrong.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel that was written by Mark Twain. The novel was published in 1884 in England and a year later in the United States. The book chronicles the adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a boy running away from being “sivilized” and Jim, a runaway slave. The book follows them as they travel down the Mississippi River. As the novel progresses and Jim and Huck become closer friends, we begin to see Huck’s inner struggle. He is torn between two different moral commitments- to the slave society he has grown up in and his friendship with Jim.

Huck has been trained to tolerate and support slavery, and his friendship with Jim enables him to see the injustice of the institution. Completing my part of the PIOP, Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation, enabled me to see the similarities in the beliefs of Abraham Lincoln and Huck. Both grew up in a time and place where slavery was considered acceptable and racism was ever-present. As the two grew up, or in Huck’s case spent time with a slave, their views began to gradually change. It took Lincoln a while longer to believe that slavery was morally wrong, but for most of his life he advocated for the abolishment of slavery.

My part of the project gave me an opportunity to research one of the greatest reformers, orator, and president this country has ever seen. Abraham Lincoln’s humble beginnings in a one-room log cabin in Kentucky gave him the ability to empathize with the common man and those less fortunate than him. From the beginning of his political career until his assassination, Abraham Lincoln advocated for the abolishment of slavery, at first saying it would benefit the United States economically and then on the basis that it was morally wrong. Even though his point of view made him unpopular in the South, he was still elected president in 1860.

Abraham Lincoln being president guaranteed slaves and free blacks that they had someone on their side; someone to advocate on their behalf. When southern states began to secede from the Union and the Civil War broke out, Lincoln was presented with an opportunity to free the slaves once and for all as a war tactic. On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation that freed all slaves in rebellious states. Although Lincoln maintained that his duty was to “save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy slavery,” emancipation is argued as one of his greatest achievements.

Lincoln was the first president to combat the issue of slavery head-on. Even though the Emancipation Proclamation didn’t as work as well as he hoped, it paved the way for the passage of Amendment 13 which outlawed slavery in the United States. Mark Twain wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn twenty years after the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation. Slavery had been abolished and the North and South were somewhat getting along. Why would Twain publish a novel about morals about an institution that was no longer in place? Legally, blacks and whites were equal, but there was still a problem with racism.

Originally developed in Spain, one of the various styles of writing used by authors is that of the picaresque novel, which involves a picaro, or rogue hero, usually on a journey, and incorporates an episodic plot through various conflicts. Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (AHF), is a picaresque novel, marked by its episodic plot with a unifying theme of the river and the characterization of Huck Finn as a rogue hero. The novel’s periodic plot is demonstrated by Huck’s many adventures in separate episodes having independent conflicts.

Gary Weiner, a former English teacher, states that “the picaresque novel is [… episodic. Various scenes may have little to do with one another, and entire scenes may be removed without markedly altering the plot as a whole” (88). The conflicts that govern Huck’s encounters with people like the dishonest and devious king and the duke, the Grangerford family, or Colonel Sherburn are very different and disconnected from one another. Whereas one episode involves two crooks, the duke and the king, the other involves a long-standing family feud between the Grangerford and Sheperdson families, and the third involves a Colonel defending his honor, with very little connection among the episodes.

Tom Quirk, an author, editor, and English professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia, also purports that “Huckleberry Finn is a highly episodic book, and the arrangement of episodes observes no incontestable narrative logic. The feud chapters precede rather than follow the Boggs shooting not for self-evident artistic reasons but because we are to suppose that is the order in which Huck lived them” (97). The different conflicts exhibit the novel’s picaresque style and are used to relate the story of a wandering rogue hero.

Though the story’s plot is episodic in nature, there is, however, a unifying factor of the river, shown through the conflict and water diction. John C. Gerber, a well-known Twain scholar, affirms in “Mark Twain: Overview” that though “episodic in nature, the story nevertheless holds together because of the river [and] the constant presence of Huck as narrator”. Every episode in the book takes place along the banks of the Mississippi River, as Huck and Jim travel down the mighty river, trying to find Cairo.

From the crashed steamboat to the Royal Nonesuch spectacles along the riverside towns, the small conflicts are related by their proximity to the river. Leo Marx, Senior Lecturer and William R. Kenan Professor of American Cultural History Emeritus at MIT, cites T. S. Eliot, a poet and also another critic, in saying that “‘The River gives the book its form. But for the River, the book might be only a sequence of adventures with a happy ending'” (12). Water diction is used to purvey a sense of the unifying river in the book.

As Huck and Jim raft down the river from Jackson Island, Huck comments: “Two or three days and nights went by; I reckon I might say they swum by, they slid along so quiet and smooth and lovely” (AHF 129). The river physically holds the story together and also underlies the whole novel. Huck can be compared to Weiner’s definition of a Picaresque hero as: “The picaresque novel is a witty, satirical form that revolves around the exploits of a lower-class hero of dubious morals, often called a ‘rogue hero. ‘ This hero lives by his wits as he moves through the various strata of his society.

The hero is constantly in and out of trouble but often uses his street-smarts to emerge from compromising situations. ” (87) To that extent, these four character traits are seen in the hero of the story, Huckleberry Finn. Huck can be characterized as having dubious morals through his actions and reasoning. Huck justifies some of his immoral actions, such as stealing, by using his pap’s own actions as a precedent. Quirk states, “Huck is often capable of pseudomoralizing, citing his pap as authority for lifting a chicken or borrowing a melon” (92).

As Huck tells the reader during the preparations to help Jim escape from the Phelps residence, “Along during that morning I borrowed a sheet and white shirt off of the clothes-line [… ] I called it borrowing because that was what pap always called it [… ]” (AHF 256). Also, Huck rationalizes his immoral action when he sneaks into a circus without paying. He defends his action by saying that he did not need to waste money: “I ain’t opposed to spending money on circuses, [… ] but there ain’t no use in wasting it on them” (AHF 159). Huck, therefore, carries out improper and immoral actions akin to thievery.

Weiner verifies this: “there is no honor among thieves, and Huck, by necessity, has become one of them” (83). Thus, Huck demonstrates the characteristic of being a rogue hero through his immoral actions and their justification. Rogue heroes travel ‘through’ various social strata; through the episodes that Huck experiences, Twain presents the many levels of antebellum Mississippi valley American social strata. Huck starts traveling with Jim, a runaway slave, down the Mississippi river, and eventually befriends him, a lower class individual. Huck, after playing a cruel joke on Jim, apologizes to him.

This is highly out of convention for the milieu of the time, as Jim is naught more than a slave, while Huck is a white boy: “It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger – but I done it, and I warn’t sorry for it afterwards, neither” (AHF 98). This exemplifies one instance where Huck mingles with a person of a lower class. Additionally, Huck cares enough about Jim that he resolves himself to free his friend and suffer the consequences: “I studied a minute [… ] then says to myself, ‘All right. Then, I’ll go to hell’ [… I would go to work and steal Jim out of slavery again [… ]” (AHF 228). Huck sacrifices the most valuable part of himself, his soul, to stay with his lower class friend Jim. Huck also interacts with people of higher social classes: “Tom Sawyer, his aunt, the Widow Douglas, and Miss Watson are all drawn from the middle class. The Sheperdsons and Grangerfords represent the wealthy, aristocratic upper class” (Weiner 73). Miss Watson, who cares for Huck in the beginning, and the Widow Douglas are not overly wealthy, but do have several slaves (AHF 11).

The Phelps family, who Huck mingles with when they mistake him for Tom Sawyer, also belongs to the middle class. Huck describes them as well-off, but not overly wealthy family: “Phelps’s was one of these little one-horse cotton plantations”(AHF 232). The cotton plantations were very successful at the time, but the Phelps’s is one of a smaller size, denoting their middle-class status. When Huck arrives at the residence of the Grangerfords, an upper-class, aristocratic family who he stays with, he describes: “It was a mighty nice family, and a mighty nice house, too.

I hadn’t seen no house out in the country before that was so nice and had so much style” (AHF 112). Huck also describes the house as having features like a fireplace and other luxuries that only the affluent could afford. Therefore, Huck satisfies another requirement of the rogue hero, interacting with characters from various social classes. Another facet of the picaresque hero is his constant entanglement with trouble. Each episode that Huck experiences, embroils him in that conflict until he escapes to stumble into the next conflict.

After the episode where Huck and Jim are separated in the fog, they encounter a group of slave-hunters; following that, more trouble befalls them as a steamboat runs into their raft, forcing Huck into the water. Eventually, Huck washes up on the property of the Grangerfords, where he faces the next conflict. In his attempts to escape from trouble, Huck often inadvertently stumbles into more trouble. Huck quick-wittedly answers “‘Goodness sakes, would a runaway nigger run south? ‘” to the king and the duke’s wondering if Jim is a runaway slave (AHF 138). However, according to R. J.

Fertel, a Twain scholar, Huck’s quick-witted answer “gets [Jim and Huck] out of the frying pan and into the fire: the duke responds by printing the slave bills that enable their rafting by day and that leads ultimately to Jim’s being sold back into slavery” (92). The different conflicts in the story as well as Huck’s responses and reactions get Huck often into trouble. Finally, Huck fulfills the fourth criterion for a rogue hero by using wits and practical knowledge of the world to avoid or escape from trouble. Whenever Huck is tangled in a problem, he concocts a story for himself on the spot and manages his way out of trouble.

According to Fertel, “[Huck], [… ] [is] an improviser always ready with a tall tale or scheme or counter scheme [… ] Huck’s improvising is [… ] harmless, brought to bear on others only to avoid trouble” (94). After Huck tries to slip away from the duke and the king after the townsfolk find out that the two are not the real relatives of the deceased man, Peter Wilks, the king catches Huck and asks if he was trying to give them the slip. Huck quickly lies that the man “‘that had aholt of me was very good to me [… ] and he was sorry to see a boy in such a dangerous fix; [… he [let] go of me and whispers ‘Heel it now, or they’ll hang ye for sure! ‘ and I lit out'” (AHF 219). Similarly, when Jim is in danger of being discovered by raftsmen, he quickly lies to them and convinces them that his father has smallpox: “‘[… ] gentlemen, if you’ll only pull ahead, and let me heave you the head-line, you won’t have to come a-near the raft;'” the men immediately back off: “‘Keep away, boy – keep to looard. [… ] Your pap’s got the smallpox and you know it precious well. [… ] Do you want to spread it al over? ‘” (AHF 103).

Huck lies again to protect himself as well as Jim. In addition, he uses his practical knowledge to support his story when he is cornered by Mrs. Judith Loftus. To see if Huck was really from a farm, as he had told her while in the guise of a girl, she asks him questions, such as “‘Which side of a tree does the most moss grow on? ‘” to which Huck promptly and correctly answers “‘North side;'” Huck’s practical knowledge convinces her, as she responds, “‘Well, I reckon you have lived in the country,'” and relieves Huck of momentary trouble (AHF 71).

Quickly concocting stories and lies as well as utilizing practical knowledge characterize Huck’s wit, fulfilling this criterion of the rogue hero. An episodic plot and Huck Finn as a rogue hero establish Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as a picaresque novel. The plot consists of many episodes with separate and disconnected conflicts, all bound by the river. Huck Finn can be characterized as a rogue hero, thus fulfilling all the necessary criteria for the picaresque novel.

Christian Morganstern once explained, “home is not where you live, but where you understand yourself” (Morgenstern 1). The transcendentalist finds his home, and therefore himself, not in civilization, but in nature. In Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck runs away from his “civilized” home to the Mississippi River to seek refuge. Much like Thoreau going to Walden’s pond to escape the corruption of society, Huck finds solace on the river. Only when he goes ashore does the peace and tranquility of the River get interrupted by people and society.

Ironically, they travel down the Mississippi toward the corrupt slave culture of the pre-Civil War South. The journey on the river symbolizes Huck’s escape from the immorality of society into an idealistic, or utopian home on the raft where he can develop his own moral beliefs while the southward direction represents the ultimate inescapability of society. Although the Mighty Mississippi represents Huck’s sanctuary, it ironically propels Jim and him southward toward the very slave culture they are trying to escape.

Resembling Marlow’s adventure on the Thames in Joseph’ Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness, the Mississippi transports Huck toward evil. While traveling into the Heart of Darkness, “the air was dark above Gravesend, and farther back still seemed condensed into mournful gloom, brooding motionless over… ” (Conrad 1). Although the circumstances differ, the idea that they are traveling down hints that they are bound for hell or in the direction of evil. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the evil they are headed towards is slavery.

As they travel down the river, the world around them becomes increasingly chaotic. In the antebellum South, Huck witnesses this disarray first hand when Colonel Sherburn shoots Boggs. Sherburn explains to Huck that people “in the South… think [they] are braver than any other people–whereas [they’re] just AS brave, and no braver. Why don’t juries hang murderers? Because they’re afraid the man’s friends will shoot them in the back, in the dark–and it’s just what they WOULD do” (Twain 149). This passage is Twain making a reference to the Ku Klux Klan.

He vicariously speaks through Sherburn, a Northerner, to convey with judgments of the corrupted South. As Huck travels further South, Twain… However, as long as Huck and Jim stayed away from civilization, they were untouched by the evils of society. This suggests that maybe it is not the direction they are headed, but rather the people who lived upon the shores that are evil. As long as they stay on the raft, their own little lifeboat, Huck and Jim were untouched by the wickedness that dwelled around them.

Thoreau, a Transcendental author, reinforces this reverence for nature when he explains that “Nature [is] not our foe, but an ally, not a dark force to be beaten back, but a marvelous force to be admired” (Garner 1). Nature acted as a sanctuary for Huck, and he felt more at home on the Mississippi than with the unethical people of society. Whenever Huck leaves his raft, his symbolic Walden sanctuary, and came to shore, he ran was faced with the corruption of society. The first time this occurred is when they met the King and the Duke.

Not long after, Huck realizes that “these liars warn’t no kings nor dukes, at all, but just low-down humbugs and frauds,” but puts up with them for Jim’s protection (Twain 128). These two men would put on shows and con people out of their money and then run away. As soon as Huck could, he planned on leaving them behind so Jim and he could go back to their peaceful times on the river. In addition, when floating down the river Huck is able to define his own morals away from the pressures of society.

The river is not just an unknowing, unfeeling body of water, but becomes the catalyst to assist Huck with his moral growth. He learns that “a sound heart is a surer guide than an ill-trained conscience” and that he should listen himself and not the ways of his more civilized elders (Hammond 3). Over the coarse of the novel, Huck finds a home and his morals while traveling down the Mississippi River. Although the people on the shores try to civilize and make him conform to their evil ways, he refuses because the river has become his asylum.

A Special Friendship Racial equality has been an issue throughout the history of the United States. The problem stems from the legalization of slavery. From then on, people of all the different races have advocated for the rights of minorities. One of those such people, who strove to break the barriers, was Mark Twain. In his novel, The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn, A young white boy named Huck sets out in adventure with a black slave named Jim. Throughout it, Hucks relationship grows from one of acquaintance to one of friendship, teaching Huck to go against society. Twain makes a social statement that a color should not define a person.

In the beginning of the novel, Huck’s relationship with Jim is one of only acquaintance. He has had minimal contact with Jim and sees him as merely just slave. Huck doesn’t fully acknowledge the fact that he has feelings. He even allows Tom to play a trick on Jim, “Tom said he slipped Jim’s hat off and Hung it on the tree”(Twain 6). Although he did try to stop Tom from doing, Huck doesn’t think much about it , as he doesn’t really care about Jim since he is just a slave. After the incident Jim comes to believe that witches rode him all over the world and that the hat was left on the tree. Huck never tells him the truth.

By the time Jim and Huck have set out in the raft, they’ve developed a special bond. Huck doesn’t fully understand this until he plays a mean joke on Jim that leaves Jim deeply hurt,” when I got all wore out wid work, en wid calling you, en went to sleep my heart was mos broke bekause you woz los, (… ) , en all you could think of how you make a fool uv ole jim, (Twain 55) After the incident, Huck comes to the realization that Jim isn’t just a slave but a person. Huck knows he has feeling and from this point on he begins to question the morality of slavery. Huck’s relationship with Jim eventually grows into friendship.

They both care about each other and look out for one another. In many instances Huck saves Jim from being captured, “But lawsly, How you did fool em, Huck dat was the smartes dodge! (Twain 96). ” Huck goes out on a limb to save Jim from being captured by slave hunters. This demonstrates how their relationship has completely changed. There is now trust and commitment in their friendship. Jim also looks out for Huck. Jim is almost like a father figure to Huck because he takes care of him in a way that only fathers do, “ He often does that, he gets up and doesn’t wake me” (pg 155). Jim sacrifices his sleep so the Huck gets a good night rest.

Jim is putting Huck first instead of himself, just like a father would do. One of the most important aspects of Huck’s and Jim’s friendship is that Huck learns to go against society. He begins to start thinking for himself and comes to the conclusion that Jim shouldn’t be a slave. Although he struggles with this idea throughout the novel, he eventually makes the final decision to break away from society. This is seen when Huck decides to help jim escape when he is caught, “ All right then, I’ll go to hell”(pg, 214). Huck makes a moral decision to go to hell by helping Jim escape.

He knows that society tell him it is wrong put does it anyway. After this, Huck sees Jim as his equal. He says “ I knowed that he was white inside” (276). He comes to the conclusion that Jim is just the same as he is in the inside. The color of Jim skin does not define who he is in the inside. By showing how Huck’s and Jim’s relationship grows from one of acquaintance to friendship, Twain demonstrates how a color should not define a person. Twain himself goes against society to show this powerful message. His massage has had a lasting impact in society. He was able to do this by simply standing up for what he believed in.

In this modern day and age, everything offends someone. Eating at Chick-fil-A hurts the LGBT community, going to see the latest Adam Sandler movie gets the Jewish mad at you- so why is it surprising that Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is being changed to please people? Whether they be teachers, students, black or white, there need be no change in Huck Finn. And if any change were to be made- that would be censorship. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn portrays a message that cannot be missed about the racist ideals of society at that time.

Using demeaning words like “nigger” and “injun” serve purpose in Twain’s work. His repetition of ugly phrases like those show just how ugly community values were back then. In Source B, Gribben admits to changing those words to more family friendly terms, specifically “slave” and “Indian”. Those are not always correct, though. Often times, “nigger” is used from one African American to the other, to show an acceptance of brotherhood and a communal understanding of struggle. The replacement of “slave” is not correct in this case, or in others.

“Slave” is defined as a person who is property of another. This is not accurate either, considering Jim, the main African American character in the book, ran away from his owner and no longer held that specific job. Even if he were still a slave, the correction would not be correct at all. African Americans were never kindly titled “slave”. They were spit at, and the harsh use of the word “nigger” slapped them across the face like it does to students across the country who read it now (Source D).

Taking away Twain’s most purposefully placed word completely takes away from his message. Without the original vocabulary, society cannot learn the important message that Twain is trying to teach. Twain’s use of “nigger” is like a whole new form of imagery. Many students shift uncomfortably in their desks when they hear it out loud, some will even go as far as claiming to hate the book because of the tense and demeaning language (Source A). This is what Twain wanted.

The use of “nigger” has not changed at all over the years, and ignoring it would be equivalent to ignoring an entire chapter of our history books, one that very much defined our country. The poster-word for the discrimination of African Americans is “nigger”, therefore Huck Finn would be ripped of its historical accuracy if the word were removed. Twain wants reders to empathize with the book’s victims, because only then would his readers be able to understand the harsh pain of the word. Twain’s message is simple: “nigger” is not okay.

But there is no other way to prove this than to force it upon the reader. Twain was and continues to be a literary genius. His willingness to take a chance and make a reader empathize and feel something is what makes his book such a learning experience. Stripping the book of its most infamous word, “nigger”, cowards away from its most obvious message. If everything mildly offensive was censored, there would be nothing left to read. So instead of complaining about history, enjoy the beauty of Twain’s book, buy some Chick-fil-A, and the rent the newest Adam Sandler movie- before it’s too late.

Huckleberry Finn is a wonderful book that captures the heart of the reader in its brilliance and innocence. Despite many critics have attacked its racist perspective;the piece merely represents a reality that occurred during antebellum America,the setting of the novel. Twain’s literary devices in capturing the focal of excitement,adventure,and human sympathy is a wonderful novel that should be recognized,not for bigotry, but that it is the candid viewpoint of a boy that grew up in that era.

And even then,the protagonist does overcome some social prejudices of slavery because he is concerned with the well-being of his runaway slave friend Jim. That the mockery of the slave race in the end allowed by Huck is more about fulfilling the awes of Huck towards Tom. The novel is a success because it does not fail to capture the one singular point of growing up for Huck:boyhood. Mark Twain definitely characterizes the protagonist,the intelligent and sympathetic Huckleberry Finn,by the direct candid manner of writing as though through the actual voice of Huck.

Every word,thought, and speech by Huck is so precise it reflects even the racism and black stereotypes typical of the era. And this has lead to many conflicting battles by various readers since the first print of the novel,though inspiring some. Says John H. Wallace,outraged by Twain’s constant use of the degrading and white supremacist word‘nigger’.

Yet,again to counter that is a quote by the great American writer Ernest Hemingway,”All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn…it’s the best book we’ve had…There has been nothing as good since”(The Green Hills of Africa [Scribner’s. 1953]22). The controversy behind the novel has been and will always remain the crux of any readers is still truly racism. Twain surely does use the word‘nigger’often,both as a referral to the slave Jim and any African-American that Huck comes across and as the epitome of insult and inferiority.

However,the reader must also not fail to recognize that this style of racism,this malicious treatment of African- Americans,this degrading attitude towards them is all stylized of the pre- Civil War tradition. Racism is only mentioned in the novel as an object of natural course and a precision to the actual views of the setting then. Huckleberry Finn still stands as a powerful portrayal of experience through the newfound eyes of an innocent boy.

Huck only says and treats the African-American culture accordingly with the society that he was raised in. To say anything different would truly be out of place and setting of the era.Twain’s literary style in capturing the novel,Huck’s casual attitude and candid position,and Jim’s undoubted acceptance of the oppression by the names all signifies this. The thesis has three chapters. Chapter one is introduction of the whole work. Chapter two give some information about the criticism literature. Chapter three give a deep look at the research about the racial problems in the book Huck Finn. Chapter four is the conclusion part.

1 Literature Review

Literary criticism is an attempt to evaluate and understand the creative writing,the literature of an author.Literature includes plays, essays,novels,poetry,and short stories. Literary criticism is a description,analysis,evaluation,or interpretation of a particular literary work or an author’s writings as a whole. Literary criticism is usually expressed in the form of a critical essay.

In-depth book reviews are also sometimes viewed as literary criticism. Controversial in death as he was in life,Mark Twain has been seriously accused by some of being a”racist writer,”whose writing is offensive to black readers,perpetuates cheap slave-era stereotypes,and deserves no place on today’s bookshelves.To those of us who have drunk gratefully of Twain’s wisdom and humanity,such accusations are ludicrous. But for some people they clearly touch a raw nerve,and for that reason they deserve a serious answer.

Let’s look at the book that is most commonly singled out for this criticism,the novel that Ernest Hemingway identified as the source of all American literature:The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. For Twain’s critics,the novel is racist on the face of it,and for the most obvious reason:many characters use the word”nigger”throughout.But since the action of the book takes place in the south twenty years before the Civil War,it would be amazing if they didn’t use that word.

A closer reading also reveals Twain’s serious satiric intent. In one scene,for instance,Aunt Sally hears of a steamboat explosion. “Good gracious! anybody hurt? “she asks. “No’m,”comes the answer. “Killed a nigger. ” But anyone who imagines that Mark Twain meant this literally is 580 missing the point.Rather,Twain is using this casual dialogue ironically, as a way to underscore the chilling truth about the old south,that it was a society where perfectly”nice”people didn’t consider the death of a black person worth their notice. To drive the point home,Twain has the lady continue: “Well,it’s lucky,because sometimes people do get hurt. “

That’s a small case in point. But what is the book really about? It’s about nothing less than freedom and the quest for freedom. It’s about a slave who breaks the law and risks his life to win his freedom and be reunited with his family,and a white boy who becomes his friend and helps him escape.Because of his upbringing,the boy starts out believing that slavery is part of the natural order;but as the story unfolds he wrestles with his conscience,and when the crucial moment comes he decides he will be damned to the flames of hell rather than betray his black friend. And Jim,as Twain presents him,is hardly a caricature.

Rather,he is the moral center of the book,a man of courage and nobility,who risks his freedom–risks his life–for the sake of his friend Huck. Note,too,that it is not just white critics who make this point. Booker T. Washington noted how Twain”succeeded in making his eaders feel a genuine respect for’Jim,'”and pointed out that Twain,in creating Jim’s character,had”exhibited his sympathy and interest in the masses of the negro people. “

The great black novelist Ralph Ellison,too,noted how Twain allows Jim’s”dignity and human capacity”to emerge in the novel. “Huckleberry Finn knew,as did Mark Twain[Ellison wrote],that Jim was not only a slave but a human being[and]a symbol of humanity… and in freeing Jim,Huck makes a bid to free himself of the conventionalized evil taken for civilization by the town”–in other words,of the abomination of slavery itself.

In fact,you can search through all of Twain’s writings,not just the thirty-plus volumes of novels,stories,essays,and letters,but also his private correspondence,his posthumous autobiography and his intimate journals,and you’ll be hard put to find a derogatory remark about the black race–and this at a time when crude racial stereotypes were the basic coin of popular fiction,stage comedy,and popular songs. What you find in Twain is the opposite:a lively affection and admiration for black Americans that began when he was still a boy and grew steadily through the years.In a widely praised post-Civil War sketch titled”A True Story,”for example,he wrenchingly evoked the pain of an ex-slave as she recalls being separated from her young son on the auction block, and her joy at discovering him in a black regiment at war’s end.

And on those occasions when Twain does venture to compare blacks and whites,the comparison is not conspicuously flattering to the whites. Things like: ?”One of my theories is that the hearts of men are about alike,all over the world,whatever their skin-complexions may be. ” ?”Nearly all black and brown skins are beautiful,but a beautiful white skin is rare. ?”There are many humorous things in the world;among them is the white man’s notion that he is less savage than all the other savages. “

2 Methods/Research

Design The null hypothesis for this research is that half of the university students study literature will think that there are racial discrimination in the book Huck Finn and others won’t. 1000 students in their third and forth years of university will be the subject.

They must never see the book or the movie of Huck Finn. They come from both big cities and rural area. They are divided into four groups.The first two groups(each has 250 students)include the students from big cities,part of them students from rural areas. First,all of them will hear the story of Huck Finn. Then they wi answer relevant questions about the images of Huck Finn in th questionnaires and during the interviews.

The questions are about th using method of language,the plot design and the thinking of Huck,et Finally,the movie of Huck Finn will be shown. Students will describe th image of Huck and their views about racial problems in this book According to their answers,different answers will be divided into differen groups.After these works,comes the analyses of the statistics and dat After comparing the answers of the four groups,gives the conclusio whether literary students from big cities and from rural areas have th same opinion of the racial discrimination in this book. As expected,half o them will have the same opinion and half of them won’t.

3 Anticipated Results

3. 1 Time-Table

My studies will last more than two years. I decide to spend about 5 hours per month on my studies. I plan to spend the first six month developing my proposal and methodology and completing the literatur review.During this period,I will also attend some relevant courses abou reader’s response theory. Then I will spend about six months i questionnaires and interviews. After that,I plan to spend eight months i analyzing the statistics and data. Finally, four month will be used mainl on the thesis.

1. Develop proposal and methodology and complete the literatur review
2. Attend some relevant courses about reader’s response theory
3. Design the questionnaires Collection of official and unofficia statistic
4. Analysis the statistics and data
5. Mainly work on the thesis

3. 2 Anticipated result

University students from different countries will have differen opinion on the same thing. As expected,half of them will have the sam opinion and half of them won’t. However,if the result doesn’t suppo my anticipated result,I will try to find the weakness of my researc design,and improve it. Then do the research again and again. If I als can not get the anticipated result,I will accept the result with a scientifi attitude.