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Example research essay topic: Huck Finn Twain - 2,289 words

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Mark Twain once commented that? A classic is something that everybody wants to have read, but nobody wants to read? (q. in Hill, xi). Despite making this remark, Mark Twain went on to earn his place at the top of American literature and his novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is considered a, if not the, American Classic.

At the time Mark Twain made this quote he was known as little more than a humorist. Now, however, Twain is remembered for his wonderful storytelling, enduring characters, and delightful use of satire. Twain? s humble beginnings, as Samuel Langhorne Clemens, started in the small town of Hannibal, Mo. , near his beloved Mississippi River. Clemens spent his childhood exploring the river and?

taming? the wilderness around his small town, which he often referred to as St. Petersburg in his writings. Clemens? Midwest upbringing contributed greatly to the laid back sarcasm and Bible Belt morals that were present throughout many of his stories (De Voto 12). In 1852, at the age of 17, Clemens published his first sketches in the Philadelphia Saturday Evening Post.

When he was 18, he left Hannibal for New York to work as a printer. At age 21, Clemens met steamboat pilot Horace Bixby. Clemens persuaded Bixby to take him on as an apprentice and teach him the Mississippi River for the fee of $ 500; he received his pilot? s license two years later.

While on the river, he changed his name from Clemens. ? Mark the double twain? is the phrase that meant the water was at two fathoms, a safe depth for steamboats. (De Voto 13 - 17). When the Civil War broke out in 1861, the traffic on the Mississippi was suspended and Twain? s career as a pilot ended. Twain joined a volunteer militia group named the Marion Rangers where he?

learned a little about fighting and a lot about retreating? (Lynn 30). The summer of 1861 Twain, with is brother Orion, who was appointed as secretary of Nevada Territory by Lincoln, headed west by stagecoach. At that time the Nev. Territory was full of miners looking for gold and silver.

Twain soon became involved in prospecting. He traveled to prosperous regions like Humbolt and Auorua, but still failed to strike it rich and ended up working in a quartz mill to support himself (De Voto 20) Twain left the West in 1866 for New York to work as a correspondent for the San Fransisco Alta California. His first job was aboard the a tour ship called the Quaker City that was departing for trip to Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Before leaving, Twain published The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calvarus County, a collection of stories from his western days (De Voto 23). When Twain returned to America he was asked by Elisha Bliss of the American Publishing Company to write a book about his Quaker City experiences.

The Innocents Abroad was released in 1869 (27) The year he returned home was a busy one for Twain. He traveled back to California and Nevada on a lecture tour, published several more sketches and became engaged to Livy Langdon. He was 33 years old (28) When Twain married Livy (25 years old) two years later, his life took a dramatic turn towards stabilization. He was contracted to write Roughing It in 1970, and his first child, Langdon, was born. Langdon was premature and lived a sickly life for two years before passing away in 1872. Twain bought a land in the upper-class Nook Farm community and that March Suzy Clemens was born. (28) After publishing several more sketches and falling into financial difficulties more than once, Twain moved his family to Hartford, CN where he wrote, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, A Tramp Abroad, the Prince and the Pauper and A Connecticut Yankee in King Author?

s Court (32 - 35). Twain's life, however, was bound to turn sour at some point. In 1896, his eldest daughter Suzy died in Hartford; followed by the death of his wife in 1904. In December of 1909, his youngest daughter, Jean, died.

After her death Twain wrote The Death of Jean, his last writing ever to be completed. He then vowed never to write again (40). After Jeans death, Twain's own health began to slip. On April 21, 1910 he slipped in to a coma. Near sundown his heart failed and he died in his bed at Hartford at age 74. At Twain's birth, in November of 1857 Halley?

s Comet was seen in the sky. The next time it appeared was 74 years later, in April, around the time of Twain's death. During his life Twain commented that? he shall go out with the comet? an amazingly accurate prediction (47). After one sorts through the never ending reviews and wealth of information on Mark Twain's writings, there are three points that are brought up frequently.

One is the question of whether or not Mark Twain was being racist in his portrayal of Jim when he wrote Huck Finn. A second is the fact that while many will argue Huck Finn as the great American novel, there were many critics in Twain? s life that regarded him as little more than a humorist. Another common point is the role that Mark Twain played as a moralist in American Literature.

During the time period in which Huck Finn is set, blacks were still slaves and little more. Blacks were referred to as? niggers? , and at the time it was not the derogatory term that it is today. However, the book has been banned in several places for its constant use of the term?

nigger? and when it was published many considered it trash and rubbish, certainly not an adventure novel suited for children. Louisa May Allcolt commented that? ? If Mr.

Clemens cannot think of something better to tell our pure-minded lads and lasses, he had best stop writing books for them? (q in Telger 13). There are others who feel that Twain was sympathizing with the blacks, John K. Rice wrote, ? I believe Twain showed a care and interest in the Negro race, portrayed through the character, Jim? (Ensor 43), The way Jim was portrayed in the novel is a key component in the argument for or against Twain? s? racist?

views. Some critics see Jim as a father figure, someone who teaches Huck about life, friendship and the true meaning of freedom as they travel down the Mississippi. Others think that Twain was characterizing Jim as ignorant and naive, and in that sense, stereotyping the entire Negro race. In fact some scholars, such as Ray B. Browne, believe that all of the different characters in Huck's river voyage were depicting a group of people that lived in the mid 1800?

s: ? The? king? and? duke?

owe something of their depiction to the post- Civil War stereotype carpet baggers. Jim belongs, at least partially, to a postwar Vaudeville tradition of a? happy darky, ? played on stage by white men in blackface, who used a parodied version of black dialect? (Telger 16).

Some argue that Jim? s manner of speech alone is an insult enough to African-American culture, but Twain makes it very clear before the book even begins that the talk of the characters was carefully thought out and studied, and he was merely presenting the characters as they would have behaved and talked in real life. While scholars and critics can toss views and insight about Twain? s? racism? , I hold my own opinion. I believe that Twain was not racist, and that Jim was just another of Twain's memorable and lasting characters that perhaps showed more truth than many wanted to see about the African-American?

s at the time, maybe by daring to portray him as a human that did have emotions after all. At the time I write this, I have yet to finish reading all of Huck Finn, so I base my opinion on what I have read so far and what I know of Twain himself. While at times the term? nigger? , as used in the novel, strikes us as harsh and packs a bit of a sting each time we hear it; it was how blacks were referred to at the time Twain wrote the novel. It would have been ridiculous at that time for Huck to refer to Jim as a Negro, and to call him an African-American was literally unheard of. Calling him a black was about the softest name that Huck could be allowed to use.

I believe that using any of these terms during Huck Finn would be similar to speaking of homosexuals as? sexually confused? instead of? gay? , or? sensitive? instead of using the harsh name?

fagot? . If an author were to write a book presently and speak of homosexuals in any of these considerate manners, who knows what slander would come from the critics. I also do not believe that, from the person that I have learned and assumed Mark Twain to be, he would purposely try to belittle and insult an entire race of people through one character in a book. If Mark Twain was racist toward the blacks, America would have known it. Instead, Twain made comments that spoke very negatively toward any kind of prejudice. ? Where prejudice exists, it always discolors our thoughts? (q in web).

In the book, Jim is made out to be a likable character. I think that his naiveness and innocence is meant to show Jim in a safe, nonthreatening way, not as stupid slave. Another point that I find differs from source to source is that fact that some believe Mark Twain to be little more than a humorist, while others praise his works as unmatched in American Literature to date. In a 1901 article written by Harry Thurston Peck, Twain is criticized as being just a humorist, and not a very good one at that.

Peck writes that the only reason that people are still giving Twain good reviews is that they feel they are obligated to. Putting aside all prejudice and looking at his work in a purely achromatic way, a critical and truthful judgment upon Mark Twain can be summed up in a very exiguous space. Mark Twain is first and last and all the time, so far as he is anything, a humorist and nothing more. Some unduly optimistic persons who are fond of literary cults grown under glass have tried very hard to make the world believe that Mr. Clemens has great gifts as a serious novelist and romancer, but they are poorly mistaken. A hundred years from now it is very likely that The Jumping Frog alone will be remembered.

Yet just because it was Mark Twain and because Mark Twain was once a true, spontaneous and original humorist, the poor creatures who now write about him believe that everything he says must be amusing and delightful. If they do not feel the fun of it themselves, they think they ought to and they write it just as though they did? (q in Zwick). It was rare, however, in reviews to find very many who felt the same as Peck. Most people hail Twain as a great novelist and storyteller: ? Mark Twain was a greater artist than he was humorist; a greater humorist than he was a philosopher; a greater philosopher that he was thinker.

The humor of Mark Twain is American in its point of view, in its love of the incongruous, in its fondness for colossal exaggeration; but it is universal in that it deals not with passing phenomena, or with matters of temporary interest, but with essential and permanent aspects of human nature, ? (q. in Zwick). ? In his writing Twain is unmatched so regard, he has in literature no equal, and in life he has had but one superior, Abraham Lincoln. There are few things as interesting, as attractive, as instructive, as a man who, without sacrificing his own independence stand out as the type of his country, ? Henry Dwight Sandwich? New American Type, 1908 (q in Nylon 489) Many critics also agree that Huck Finn is a great piece of work, and many have called it the?

Great American Novel? . HL Mencken called it? Perhaps the best novel ever written in English? (q in Telger 29). I must agree with the second view, that Mark Twain is indeed one of the greatest writers America has ever seen. His use of satire keeps a grin on the readers face. His characters reach out to us and teach us lessons.

Not only are they likable, but they are memorable, I don? t believe that any character in American Literature, be it Hester Price, Jay Gatsby, or Ethan Frome, can? t teach half the lessons that we learn from Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn as they make their way through adventures. Twain also has a great gift for description. There are pages in many of his books that are nothing but descriptive details about a place or person or happening. Coming from most writers, this would become tedious and boring.

Twain, however puts us inside the medieval castle or in front of the crowd of peasants. His details have allowed readers to bump along the Nevada Territory desert in the stagecoach alongside him. We can almost feel our feet dangling off the rugged raft into the cool water of the Mississippi. I think that to be a great author, you have to be able to amuse your readers while still teaching them. It is a joy for me to read Twain% 2


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Research essay sample on Huck Finn Twain

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