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Racism in Huckleberry Finn The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, is one of the greatest works of American literature ever written. As Ernest Hemingway said in his book The Green Hills of Africa, "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn, " (Zwick). It (Huck Finn) is a staple from junior high... to graduate school and is second only to Shakespeare in the frequency with which it appears in the classroom... (Carey-Webb 22). However, since Twain published his masterpiece 115 years ago, it has been the subject of much unfair criticism. The problem with Huck Finn is that its dated.
What was common language back in Twain's time is now offensive to many. While some say that Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn is racist, the contrary is actually true. Twain used the central character of Jim to portray the humanity of African Americans. The book is defended because it is one of the reasons American society has changed so greatly. Huck Finn brings to light American pre-Civil War culture in a way that merely stating the facts could not (Zwick).
Today, the main objection to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the fact that the book contains the word "nigger" more than two hundred times throughout the novel. As recently as last February, the Pennsylvania branch of the NAACP led a charge against Huck Finn to have it removed from required and optional school reading lists. But, when considering the issues involved, one must keep in mind that this book was written in a different time from that which we live in today. There was no such thing as politically correct. 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. So, how can we hold a book written over a hundred years ago to the literary standards of today?
Huck Finn is not a racist book, in spite of Huck's initial racist standpoint. Through the course of the novel, Huck gains increasingly more respect for Jim, but still shows some racist attitudes occasionally. After the disagreement with Jim over the biblical story of "ole' King Sollermum", Huck remarks that "you can't learn a nigger to argue, " thus implying Jim's stupidity (Clemens 65 and 66). Throughout the book, Huck plays tricks on Jim, which are also meant to make Jim feel stupid. His practical jokes cause Jim emotional pain and even physical pain. On Jackson's Island, Huck kills a rattlesnake and places it in front of Jim's blanket to scare him.
The rattlesnake's mate comes and bites Jim on the foot. Jim is sick for four days and four nights subsequently (Clemens 46). By the end of the novel, Huck vows not to play tricks on Jim and he acquiesces to "humble himself to a nigger" (Clemens 72). He gains respect for Jim to the point where Huck will sacrifice his soul and go to Hell for Jim. Huck contemplates telling Miss Watson about Jim, but Huck decides he would rather go to hell than betray his friendship with Jim (Clemens 169). Huck's willingness to lie to protect Jim definitely shows that Huck sees Jim on a higher level than his status was in nineteenth century America.
During the push for school desegregation in the 1950 s, however, many parents raised serious objections to the teaching of this text. These objections centered around Twain's negative characterization of Jim and his extensive use of the term nigger throughout the text. Many people felt this characterization, along with the most powerful racial epithet in the English language, were insensitive to African American heritage and personally offensive in racially mixed classrooms. Critics say that Mark Twain's book, "enters as a classic only to explode like a hand grenade with all of these combustible issues" (Zwick).
Huck Finn has managed to remain a piece of classic American literature even in spite of a mountain of unfair criticism. "We must be glad that we have a public commentator like Mark Twain always at hand" (Paine) Society should be glad that they have him at their fingertips, and instead of banning his work, they should pay attention to what he has to say. As T. S. Eliot proclaimed, Mark Twain wrote a much greater book than he could have known he was writing (Kesterson 68).
The Turn of the Screw-Literary Criticism Poor Mils hart cavs in as h xprint a fraction of th narrator's lunacy. vn th last sync of th not displays th narrator's mass when sh says .".. his let hart, dispossessed, had stop. " (88) In my opinion, th only thing possessing young Mils' hart was far and insanity, initiated from th governs. Regarding th criticism and interpretation of this book, of th ons I'v rad, I agr with Lon dl's "Th Point Of View", which is his tak on th not. H stats spatially th sam thing I do, bing that th narrator is not state and not to b trust.
I think that h sums it up th bst when h says "Th read must stablish for himself th credibility of th witness; h must did btwn what th governs support and what sh claims sh saw" (233). I couldn't agr with that mor, considering that th careful and analytical read can argu just about any "ghost" sighting our narrator has had, just based upon th narrator's description. Also on 233, dl stats "Th governs' imagination, w s, discover "dates" within half. Fantasy sms to b a reality for hr. " (233) When dl says this, h is referring to th fact that th governs schematically world out this hug plot in hr mind, and thinks that th plan is ominously st up for th children to b take away by Quint and Jssl.
On th othr hand, ric Solomon completely caught m off guard with his interpretation nitid "Th Turn of th Scrw. " It wnt a completely different rout and put th blam on Mrs. Gros, somthing I hadn't vn considered. While som interesting aspects wr brought to my attention, I don't big that this is in th last bit tru. To m his interpretation sms lik a work of literature in its, lik Solomon is r-dining th near story.
In his fram, Mrs. Gros is th guilty party, and hr movie is that sh wants young Flora and Mils for half. Solomon says (on 238) "Movie? Lov and ambition.
Mrs. Gros has already finn from maid to husker- why not to governs? Hr obstacle is this young lady... ." While h dos print a reasonable argument had som interesting points, I personally big that this rating is nonsense and that th author possibly has rad way too many mystery novl's. dna Knton's interpretation is not a very opinion atd on, but rather stats that thr is mor to th not than just your basic ghost story.
On pag 209, Knton says this about Th Turn of th Scrw "H would hav his own privat 'fun' in its writing... but h would put about this cntr, not only traps st and based for th last laps of attention, but lur's... " Speaking of th thm of th story, sh mark "when th read coms fac to fac at last with th little governs and realize that th guarding ghosts and children ar only xquisit dramatizations of hr little personal mystery acting out hr story in hr trouble mind. " (210) This was by far my favorit quot, as it completely describe th truth in th not. Martina Slaughtr offers hr summary of demand Wilson's read criticism of Th Turn of th Scrw. Slaughtr says that, in agent with Wilson, Ptr Quint was in actuality a character card by th governs' own sexual doors, inspired by hr "crush" on th Until of th children. Slaughtr is also quick to point out "sexual rfcs" in th not.
Ths xaml ar "Quint on th to; Miss Jssl at th lak; Flora's toy boat, which sh card by pushing a stick into a small flat pic of wood. " (212). I think that both Slaughtr and Wilson ar trying to draw somthing that just isn't thr. While the imagination is quit impressive, I think that if you took any not vr written, you could find this as many "sexual rfcs", which in my opinion ar my coincide, if that at all. Finally, Mark Spilka spatially agr's with Slaughtr and Wilson, referring to Miss Jssl's hallucinations as "sexual ghosts" (248). I think that Spilka got way and of himself on this on, and onc again usd th power of imagination, ironically similar to th way Miss Jssl usd hrs in th not. I think that this interpretation was unnecessary, and while it isn't my position to stat fact on this not, that Lon dl and dna Knton wr dad on with the intrprtation's, and that Th Turn of th Scrw isn't much dpr than that.
Beloved by Toni Morrison The character of Beloved in the novel Beloved, by Toni Morrison, is symbolic of several important ideas that are essential to a complete understanding of the novel. In the context of the story itself, Beloved is a specter that has returned to haunt the woman that killed her when she was child. On a deeper, subconscious level to the characters within the story, the character of Beloved can be considered to be reminder of the past. Specifically, the character of Beloved helps two characters, Sethe and Paul D. , to deal with their pasts. Finally, in a historical context, Beloved can be interpreted to be a symbol of the problems that developed between mothers and their daughters as a result of the atrocities experienced through slavery. This paper will examine all of these aspects in detail and also demonstrate how they are necessary for a greater understanding of the story contained within the novel and how they complement the historical context of the story.
In the storyline of Beloved, the character of Beloved is a ghost that has returned to haunt the woman that killed her. It is important to understand the circumstances around her death in order to understand why the character of Beloved must return to her mother. The character of Beloved is the daughter of Sethe. Sethe is a black woman who has escaped a slave farm in the South with her children to the house of her mother-in-law, who is named Baby Suggs. The house is referred to as 124 in the story. Sethe fled a slave owner called Teacher, who is very sadistic man that had submitted her to many kinds of mental and physical torture.
One of the particularly diabolical things about Teacher was that he had attempted to study, in a scientific manner, the slaves he kept as if they were animals, treating them as if they were less than human. Sethe's three children flee to the house ahead of her and Sethe, pregnant with child, follows shortly afterwards on foot. As Sethe is running through the woods she gives birth to her fourth child, a baby girl that she names Denver. Eventually Sethe and Denver arrive at 124 and shortly afterward, a party is thrown at 124 by Baby Suggs.
The other people in the town appear to be jealous of Baby Suggs good fortune, and in their jealousy do not tell her, or Sethe, that a white man is coming down the road towards 124. The white man turns out to be Teacher, who has come to take Sethe back to the farm from which she has escaped. In order to protect her children from her prior life (her past) Sethe takes drastic measures and attempts to murder her own children. She kills her second youngest child, and injures the others. When Teacher finds that what shes done he decides that he cannot recover Sethe and heads for home without her stating that she is not valuable to him anymore. After his departure, Sethe is picked up by the local authorities for murdering her child but is eventually released.
Consequently, it is under the...
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Research essay sample on Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn Context Of The Story
