Huckleberry Finn Book Review Essay Text

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this term papers huckleberry finn and other 60,0+ term papers, college essay examples and free essays are available now on reviewessays.com autor: reviewessays bull november 2, 2010 bull 1,092 words 5 pages bull 513 views mark twain apos s masterpiece the adventures of huckleberry finn through much criticism and denunciation has become a well respected novel. Through the eyes of a thirteen year old boy, huckleberry finn, twain illustrates the controversy of racism and slavery during the aftermath of the civil war. Since huck is an adolescent, he is vulnerable and greatly influenced by the adults he meets during his coming of age. His expedition down the mississippi steers him into the lives of a diverse group of inhabitants who have conflicting morals.

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Though he lacks valid morals, huck demonstrates the potential of humanity as a pensive, sensitive individual rather than conforming to a repressive society. In these modes, the novel places jim and huck on pedestals where their views on morality, learning, and society are compared. Huckleberry apos s first encounter with physical perplexity comes when he has woken up alone: i set up and looked around, a little scared. Awaking from his accidental nap, he was stunned by the sudden realization that he did not know where he was.

Another illustration of huck apos s physical disorientation was when he was found in a solid white fog 269. During his separation from jim, huck confessed that he hadn apos t no more idea which way i was going than a dead man 269. While he was still had not united with jim, he suffers from another bout of confusion. This exemplifies how huck apos s mental disquietude melted into the physical realm.

Throughout his voyage down the mississippi, huck has various arguments with jim, which force him to question the facts that he has been taught from a white society. These serve as metaphors addressing different beliefs that are disputed amongst the rivaling races. Huck and jim quarrel about king sollermun twain 266 , who threatened to chop a baby in half.

Jim debates that solomon had so many children that he became incapable of valuing human life. Huck then defends what he believes to be de wises apos man dat ever live apos 266 by explaining to jim that he has apos clean missed the point apos 267. Huck apos s subsequent comments relate jim apos s conclusion about solomon and his view of white treatment of blacks as infinitely replaceable bodies. Instead of bickering, huck went on talking about other kings, and let solomon slide 267. Shortly after, they commence a new discussion when jim asks, why, huck, doan apos de french people talk de same way we does? twain 267. Huck tries to explain the language barrier by pointing out that cats and cows, two fundamentally different creatures, do not communicate the same way, and by the same logic, neither should frenchmen and americans, two fundamentally different cultures.

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However, jim challenges the equivalence of the comparison on the basis that both the french and the americans are men, making the analogy unsound. His argument is an additional indication that in this society not all men are equal. Their numerous deliberations show that both jim and huck are clever, but the former is less constrained by conventional wisdom than the latter, who has grown up in conservative white society. Whereas huck, through introspection, comes to his own conclusions, tom, huck apos s foil, surrenders himself to dogmatism, gathering his opinions and knowledge from misunderstood romantic novels and teachings from sunday school.

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In their first encounter, tom admits that he has derived all of his of ideas from popular, fictional books that he has read. Fascinated with fancy language, contracts and scandalous acts, tom stresses that literature must be preserved even at the expense of human dignity. While tom places great importance in fictitious models, huck is guided by empiricism. As americans, there are blemishes there we don’t like the mirror to remind us of.

For over 130 years, the adventures of huckleberry finn by mark twain has held up that mirror and dared us to look at the reflection. When huck finn was first introduced in the adventures of tom sawyer, he was tom’s untamed friend, the one who was always ready to play hooky and look for pirate treasure the friend tom could always trust to follow him without question. In his own story, huck takes over as narrator with his distinctive american voice, sharing with us not only his escapades since fleeing his abusive father, but also his growing philosophy about slavery and the world. In many ways huckleberry finn is the story of jim, the runaway slave who accompanies huck on his adventures. A complicated character, jim goes from silly to tragic, sometimes even within the same paragraph.

He dreams of freedom, not just for himself but for his wife and children, sharing with huck his desire to purchase each of them back and if he can’t buy them back, he’ll steal them.  to help emphasize the heartbreak of jim’s plight, huck witnesses a family split up by a slave auction. The adventures of huckleberry finn has been one of the most banned books in our nation’s history. From complaints about its use of foul language and stereotypes, to just being a flat out bad influence, this book has never escaped controversy. For me, whenever i pick up mark twain’s masterpiece, my first question is always who exactly did twain picture as his audience. Sometimes it feels like a children’s adventure, and sometimes a bleak tale for adults. Yes, huck may dress up like a little girl and get in comic misadventures, but this is also a novel with slavery, beatings, child abuse, alcoholism and murder.

If you look at the novel as merely a contemporary tale for twain’s time period, it is masterful how he handles jim for that reader. Twain begins by hitting all of the stereotypes americans would have expected, then he builds on the character until he emerges as a hero, sacrificing his freedom to carry an injured white boy to safety. With events like the recent racial unrest in ferguson, missouri, mark twain’s home state, it is obvious that we still need the adventures of huckleberry finn.

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Our reflection in the mirror is still dirty, and equality in america still has a long way to go. After all these years, it still encourages us to be strong, like huck, and to tear up the paper and proclaim against our wrongheaded beliefs: all right, then i’ll go to hell. scott southard is the author of the novel a jane austen daydream which was just released as an audiobook. Scott can also be found online at his website the musings and artful blunders of scott d. Southard at sdsouthard.com. there's a reason why many consider the adventures of huckleberry finn to be one of the great if not the greatest american novel. It broke many of the literary rules of its time and thus set the pattern for much of american literature ever since. It's told in first person dialect by a great hearted but ignorant bumpkin of a boy who understands far less than the reader but who knows how to follow his heart over his head.

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