Free Essays on Huck Finn

Many people think that Huckleberry Finn is a racist novel and they have even gone as far as banning the novel from certain schools. They base this view on the fact that the word â€Å"nigger† is used very often and they see the black people being portrayed in a degrading way to show that they are inferior to the white society. Contrary to this idea, Huckleberry Finn is not a racist novel. Mark Twain actually attacks racism by satirizing the lifestyle of the white people and shows that they have no reason at all to think that they are better than the blacks. This satirizing of the white people is effectively seen in the portrayal of the king and the duke. Mark Twain starts to mock the king and the duke as soon as they are first introduced in the novel. Their appearance gives a negative impression right from the start. The king is described as having, â€Å"an old battered-up slouch hat on, and a greasy blue woolen shirt,† and he’s wearing, â€Å"ragged old blue jeans britches stuffed into his boot tops.†(Pg. 121) The duke is described as much the same. This first impression makes us feel as if these men are scum and we don’t have a very good perception of them. The second thing that these men do also is used to mock society in two ways. The first man (the duke) makes up a story that he was actually the Duke of Bridgewater. He said that he was the son of the infant duke that was ignored to take over a position. Not to be outdone, the second man (the king) makes up a story that he was actually the rightful King of France. Mark Twain uses Huck Finn to show what he thinks of these two men. â€Å"It didnâ€℠¢t take me to long to make up my mind that these liars warn’t no kings nor dukes at all, but just low-down humbugs and frauds.†(Pg.125) These men are putting up a false front just like society does and Mark Twain shows through Huck that he can see right through this false front. The second thing that is mocked is the fact that these peop... Free Essays on Huck Finn Free Essays on Huck Finn The Adventures of Hucklebery Finn has many recognizable features which have helped sustain its reputation as a classic over the years, and among one of the most important of these features is the Mississippi river. It carries Huck and Jim upon a winding path through a series of adventures. The river provides symbolization for many important aspects integral to the novel's theme. These aspects include the journey to freedom and subsequent struggle for freedom and Huck’s morals, attitudes, and irrepressible nature. The novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is constructed around the 2,350 mile long Mississippi River. Huckleberry Finn, a misunderstood outcast from society, is unhappy with his new life of morality and cleanliness since being adopted by Widow Douglas. In conjunction with that, his drunken bum of a father reappears into his life, subsequently gains custody of him, kidnaps him and beats him. This begins the struggle of Huck’s journey to freedom. He realizes that the river is the ultimate symbol of and tool to his independence and a better life. Huck has never been good at answering to anyone but himself; the river allows for him to be completely responsible for nothing and no one. He fakes his own death and escapes, where he meets a runaway slave named Jim. Huck knows that the baggage of being responsible for another person during his excursion, particularly a runaway slave, is dangerous and cumbersome, but takes him a long anyway because he is a good person at hear t. So, â€Å"The two set off together on a raft down the Mississippi, intending to turn up the Ohio River to freedom† () The Mississippi was such a widely used river that being surreptitious was imperative to the success of the journey-they could only travel at night in fear of somebody seeing the runaway Jim, which posed time and location constraints on the two fugitives. () â€Å"... described how the idea of freedom germinated† Huck Finn, having ... Free Essays on Huck Finn Tom Sawyer Adventures The Adventures of Tom Sawyer The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is concerned with the escapades of a young boy living in a Mississippi River town during a summer in the 1840s. Tom lives with his Aunt Polly, his dead mother’s sister, along with his half-brother, Sid, and his cousin, Mary. By the second chapter, Tom’s mischievous character is revealed with the well-known fence whitewashing scene. Tom meets the new girl in town, Becky Thatcher, and falls in love with her. He begins an intense flirtation with her at school, which leads to his asking her to be â€Å"engaged† with him by lunchtime of her first day. Tom’s vagabond friend, Huck Finn, the town drunk’s son, asks Tom to meet him at the cemetery at midnight, to test the wart-curing properties of his dead cat. While there, the boys stumble upon the murder of Dr. Robinson by Injun Joe during a grave-robbing attempt. Muff Potter also part of the gang, is pinned with the crime by Injun Joe. Tom and Huck, however, are the only ones who know the truth. Tom, Huck, and another friend, Joe Harper, decide to run away from St. Petersburg to Jackson’s Island, in the middle of the Mississippi. There they live the life of pirates, frolicking day and night. After several days, the town prepares funeral services for the boys, by the time being convinced of their death. The boys dramatically return to town in the middle of the Sunday church services, and they are forgiven for their mischief. As the murder trial of Muff Potter gets underway, Tom is racked by guilt over allowing a man he knows to be innocent to be convicted. On the final day of the trial, Tom is called as a surprise witness, and he proceeds to finger Injun Joe with the crime, who springs out of the window and escapes. Tom and Huck stumble upon Injun Joe and a stranger at a deserted house on the outskirts of town, and learn of a stash of gold Joe is carrying.... Free Essays on Huck Finn ‘Should High School Students Read It?’ ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ is a classic novel ad should definitely be read by high school students. The fact that the novel includes racism and vulgarity makes the book even more interesting. The racism wouldn‘t offend anyone assuming that they are educated, that they know that it was purposely written that way, and that times have changed since the setting of the story took place. Themes and Twain’s view of society also add to the great appraisal that I give this book for high school students. The one part of the book I don’t agree with is the authors view of American society. When high-class people are described in the book, they are seen as proper, educated, well-mannered, charitable, frugal, well-invested people, yet they are cruel, racist, cussing, gambling, alcoholic, violent people that want everything for themselves. Such is the example of the Grangerfords and the Sheperdsons. I believe that this view is skewed and somewhat of a development from Mark Twain’s personal childhood memories. I do admit that some people I know do have some of these traits, but not to such an extreme level, most people are well-rounded, they have their goods and bads. There are four main themes to the book, and they all tie together to help form the plot of the book. Here’s my understanding of it: Huck and Jim both want freedom from certain things; while searching for freedom, Huck and Jim must battle loneliness together; and Huck experiences rebirth, (he becomes a new, pure person), as he makes his individual vs. society battle, which is always having to decide between the right, moral, human, logical, pure decision, and the merciless decision that abides with society. There was no easy way to say all of that, which is another reason to read the book as a high school student. The book is a deep, twisting, beast-of-a-novel, and yet, it is humorous, interesting, and under... Free Essays on Huck Finn Huckleberry Finn, the main character, learns he must grow up fast if he wants to survive life. Huck Finn has a drunkard as a father, a hogshead as a home, and a mother of which he never knew. He is a congenital liar, a thief, and someone who has no respect for the rules of society. He will use every technicality to get off with doing something completely wrong, but is ok by him. Huck is not all evil as one would think by this introduction. He in fact believes in personal freedom, something that he never really has had. Jim, a slave to Huck, also has to deal with many problems of society. The greatest one in fact is the fact that he is a slave. Jim is a very modest person; he will sacrifice anything to help his fellow man. Huck sees this and begins to think of Jim as a human being also, and will â€Å"go to hell † for Jim. Although Jim is a slave, he does not think of people based on their skin color, but in fact believes that everyone is equal regardless of skin, and even age. One may ever say that Jim is Huck’s true father. Both Jim and Huck have experienced life at a tedious level. They have their highs and lows, but mainly life is not all it is cracked up to be. For Huck, he must experience having a horrendous father who beats Huck to a pulp any time he is sober. And for Jim, the fact that his family is not considered human by society but rather chattel that can be bought sold or even traded at the slightest whim. Together Huck and Jim must work together to escape the society which has allowed them to live the vile life they had, and move to a place where society will let them start a brand new life. When Pap, was not around, Huck felt better about himself. He enjoyed life a little more, did not have to worry about coming home on time, only to get beat up by his own pap. He kept Huck with him all the time, and he never got a chance to run off. After Huck was kidnapped, life was worse than he ever expected. H... Free Essays on Huck Finn The difference between life on the river and life in the towns along the river is an important theme in the novel ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ by Mark Twain. Twain uses language to draw the contrast effectively as well as through the atmosphere that has been created, the diction, the punctuation and the figures of speech employed. The two paragraphs, which most effectively display this contrast, refer to the peaceful life on the river and the vile nature of the streets and lanes of a town. In the fist paragraph Huck describes in mostly monosyllabic and colloquial expressions how pleasant life on the river is. At the beginning of the passage Huck uses the image of swimming peacefully to describe how the time passes, ‘you might say they swum by, they slid along so quite smooth and lovely. The alliteration of swum, slid and smooth helps to formulate a mental semblance of the swift and steady motion of the river and like the rivers flowing the words also seem to easily flow. This image is appropriate as it directly relates to the motion of the river on which they are travelling. ‘Here is the way we put in the time.’ Presents Huck’s idyllic life on the river is as routine. The words ‘then’ and ‘next’ are repeated several times in the first half of the passage, their function and effect is ensure that the passage flows, much like the river, in a slow and constant sequential manner. A sense of relaxed movement is conveyed and emphasised by diction and alliteration throughout the passage ‘then a pale place in the sky; then more paleness’. The use of onomatopoeia ‘swift’ allows the passage to progress in the same continuous and serene motion as the river. The words and phrases ‘nice breeze springs up’ and ‘smiling in the sun’ particularly emphasise the freshness of the scene. Huck’s use of personification ‘everything smiling in the sun’ depicts the contentment that everything arou... Free Essays on Huck Finn Many people think that Huckleberry Finn is a racist novel and they have even gone as far as banning the novel from certain schools. They base this view on the fact that the word â€Å"nigger† is used very often and they see the black people being portrayed in a degrading way to show that they are inferior to the white society. Contrary to this idea, Huckleberry Finn is not a racist novel. Mark Twain actually attacks racism by satirizing the lifestyle of the white people and shows that they have no reason at all to think that they are better than the blacks. This satirizing of the white people is effectively seen in the portrayal of the king and the duke. Mark Twain starts to mock the king and the duke as soon as they are first introduced in the novel. Their appearance gives a negative impression right from the start. The king is described as having, â€Å"an old battered-up slouch hat on, and a greasy blue woolen shirt,† and he’s wearing, â€Å"ragged old blue jeans britches stuffed into his boot tops.†(Pg. 121) The duke is described as much the same. This first impression makes us feel as if these men are scum and we don’t have a very good perception of them. The second thing that these men do also is used to mock society in two ways. The first man (the duke) makes up a story that he was actually the Duke of Bridgewater. He said that he was the son of the infant duke that was ignored to take over a position. Not to be outdone, the second man (the king) makes up a story that he was actually the rightful King of France. Mark Twain uses Huck Finn to show what he thinks of these two men. â€Å"It didnâ€℠¢t take me to long to make up my mind that these liars warn’t no kings nor dukes at all, but just low-down humbugs and frauds.†(Pg.125) These men are putting up a false front just like society does and Mark Twain shows through Huck that he can see right through this false front. The second thing that is mocked is the fact that these peop... Free Essays on Huck Finn Huckleberry Finn The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the greatest, most daring novels in the world. Mark Twain’s style helps to realistically portray early America. Mark Twain tells the story through the voice of Huck, the very kindhearted main character. Everything that Huck says reflects the racism and black stereotypes typical of the era. This has lead to many conflicts from readers since the novel was first printed. However, the story has inspired some. James W. Tuttleton says in an article he wrote that â€Å"Huck Finn is regularly denounced as racist trash† (The San Francisco Chronicle [1885] 6) . Yet, again to oppose that is a quote by a reader, â€Å"Anyone who is offended by this book is obviously ignorant of the true purpose of this book (which does not show slavery to be right, I might add) and perhaps should find out a little more about it than what OTHERS have told them.† (Soapbox [Shumway.2000] ). The author does use the word ‘nigger’ a l ot, he says it to the slave Jim and also to any other blacks that he sees as insulting or of poor standard. Huckleberry Finn still stands as a powerful representation of experience through the brand new eyes of an innocent boy. The only way Huck knows to treat the African American culture is the way he was taught and raised. This is how he treats the African Americans in the story. Twain’s literary style in capturing the novel, Huck’s casual attitude and truthful position, and Jim’s absolute acceptance of the oppression by the names all signify this. Twain uses southern dialect but he does not blatantly degrade the Negro society. If the author wished-for the story to be racist, he would not write about the way Huck felt towards Jim. â€Å"He [Twain] tried to evince the beauty of Huck and Jim's friendship by sealing it in flawed and humble English.† ( Race Traitor [D’Andrea 1992]). It is seen some throughout the book that Huck sees Jim as a white man. Huc... Free Essays on Huck Finn Superstitions in Huckleberry Finn In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, there is a lot of superstition. Some examples of superstition in the novel are Huck killing a spider which is bad luck, the hair-ball used to tell fortunes, and the rattle-snake skin Huck touches that brings Huck and Jim good and bad luck. Superstition plays an important role in the novel Huck Finn. In Chapter one Huck sees a spider crawling up his shoulder, so he flipped it off and it went into the flame of the candle. Before he could get it out, it was already shriveled up. Huck didn't need anyone to tell him that it was an bad sign and would give him bad luck. Huck got scared and shook his clothes off, and turned in his tracks three times. He then tied a lock of his hair with a thread to keep the witches away. "You do that when you've lost a horseshoe that you've found, instead of nailing it up over the door, but I hadn't ever heard anybody say it was any way to keep of bad luck when you'd killed a spider."(Twain 5). In chapter four Huck sees Pap's footprints in the snow. So Huck goes to Jim to ask him why Pap is here. Jim gets a hair-ball that is the size of a fist that he took from an ox's stomach. Jim asks the hair-ball; Why is Pap here? But the hair-ball won't answer. Jim says it needs money, so Huck gives Jim a counterfeit quarter. Jim puts the quarter under the hair-ball. The hair-ball talks to Jim and Jim tells Huck that it says. "Yo'ole father doan' know yit what he's a-gwyne to do. Sometimes he spec he'll go 'way, en den ag'in he spec he'll stay. De bes' way is tores' easy en let de ole man take his own way. Dey's two angles hoverin' roun' 'bout him. One uv'em is white en shiny, en t'other one is black. De white one gits him to go right a little while, den de black one sil in en gust it all up. A bo...