The reason Mark Twain wrote “Huckleberry Finn” using this word was because he wanted to demonstrate that racial prejudice and slavery was still prevalent during their time. In my opinion, I agree with those who say it is “censorship” and that the words of a literary icon should not be altered. When this word is altered into the word slave, the entire meaning of the novel alters, as well. It goes against
Throughout the novel, Mark Twain tries to convey a message against slavery and racism in southern white society, by showing the lack of knowledge and wrong doings of society at the time, and by making comments on major social issues, in the form of an adventure tale, Twain makes the topic of slavery, easier to discuss and
Loewen explores many topics in which U.S. History textbooks mislead students, hide information, fail to discuss the topics at all, or flat-out give false information to their readers. He discusses some reasons and effects of this problem as well. In the first chapter, “herofication” is described as distorting a figure to become a “hero.” For instance, most people depict Helen Keller as an inspiration to everyone, but she was also a radical socialist and supported the Soviets’ cause. In the next ten chapters, Loewen takes the reader chronologically through history (and thus through history textbooks also), getting into the heart of the faults in these teaching and learning resources.
Many of the social changes involved the South because the Union had been fighting for emancipation of slaves, so the social changes weren’t as drastic. Meanwhile, in the ex-confederacy, they were still fighting to keep slavery alive and still viewed blacks as property. Near the end of the Civil War, when it looked like confederates were losing anti-black groups started forming. In fact, in Harper’s Weekly in 1874, an image was featured and it depicted two people, one from the kkk and one from the white league, holding a banner that had black in fear and said worse than slavery. Their audience were those who agreed with emancipation, and more specifically blacks who had just been free.
Is freedom a self destructive and impractical system? According to George Fitzhugh, in his book, Slavery Justified, freedom is used to pull people down and further enhances human greed and suffering. Fitzhugh also speaks about the supposedly positive aspects of slavery while spouting logical fallacies that further prove his lack of knowledge and credibility. He describes the condition of slavery as a benefit to society. On the other hand, Frederick Douglass in his autobiography, The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass, recounts his life story and how essential freedom is to him and fellow slaves.
At the end of the Civil War between the North and South arose the Reconstruction era. This was a time period of the late 1800s where the united states, specifically the North started to attempt the rebuilding of the South. Abolitionists were eager to see the end of slavery and Lincoln attempted to end slavery. President Lincoln attempted to put in place the Emancipation Proclamation which stated all slaves in confederate states would be free. This was to weaken the southern states; except, the confederate states did not obey.
While the slave system of the United States used the “One drop rule” to decide if someone was black, it cannot help but to undermine the concept of whiteness and the idea that white blood is superior. Even though Warwick is successfully performing the role of a white man, there is always the threat overhead that someone will find out that his blood is not “pure.” His sister and mother both live in an area that know them and their background, which is why, despite their “superior” blood, the family is “under the shadow of some cloud which . . . shut them out from the better society of the town” (21). This “shadow” is their known black lineage. No amount of performance in the town that knows that they are not “pure” whites will allow them to move as whites in white
The Power of Words In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, one particular word is creating a deep controversy in the reading community. The word, “Nigger” is used in the novel as a derogatory term for a black person. The mentioned “six letter word” is subject to much debate on whether or not The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be published without the word. Although the novel has been republished without the word, readers from all across the United States have been arguing that taking away the dreadful “six letter word” demoralizes the history, pain, and learning opportunities that the word carries in the novel.
John Howard Griffin dives, head first into the subjects of prejudice, diversity, and racism; in his novel Black Like Me. During his transformation from a white man to a black man, he see’s the injustices thrown upon African Americans. Not because of the way they act, but because of the way they look. The novel Black Like Me brings about a realization of the hypocrisy of White Americans and opens the eyes to the readers, whether they want to accept it as truth or not.
Those who feel the novel encourages racism say that because of the stereotypes used when featuring Jim, how Huck and Tom treated Jim, and how often the N-word is brought up Twain had hoped to encourage racism. However there is still strong evidence that proves why that might be a misunderstanding. If twain was intending to encourage racism then why would he make Him seem so much of a better person than the duke, king, and Huck's father. Also when Twain illustrates the black and white symbolism he portrayed Him as white man and Huck's father, who is a white man, as dark and scary. Then throughout the story as a reader you feel empathy for Jim he begins to become one of the favorite characters in the novel.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn deals with the social climate of 19th century southern America, and in turn, the complementary racism to anyone not white. Although set in twenty years before the book was released, it (and Mark Twain) received a lot of criticism for the novel by a society that hadn’t evolved quite to what Twain had expected. Ironically enough, the book is now banned for the opposite reason it was banned when it came out. The book was considered vulgar, through its language and through its actions. The idea of a white boy who would treat a slave as a human wasn’t taken lightly.
Although The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was written over a century ago when the U.S. looked very different than it does today, the themes that it contains are still relevant in society. One of the most present themes in the story deals with racism and the treatment of African-Americans. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was set in a time and place when slavery was a part of life, and the attitude of white characters towards black characters reflects this; even more open-minded characters like protagonist Huck Finn seem to regard African-Americans as part of an inferior species. This theme is still relevant today because even though racism is in many ways less of a problem than it was in the time of the story, people, whether consciously
“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 ever sorry for it afterwards, neither.” (Chapter 15, Huck Finn). This is one of many phrases said by either Huck Finn, or the other characters in the classic, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. For some years now there has been an argument on one word in this quote. People are fighting for the word, nigger, to be removed from Mark Twain’s book.