The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has always been a subject of debate, especially in the matter of racism. However, this book isn't racist; people need to take the time to actually read the book with an open mind to realize this.
By simply reading the ‘n’ word in the book readers are dubbing it racist. Some, like Arac, claim that this book is “…an excuse for well-meaning white people to use the term n…” (435) But really think about this, who reads a book as an excuse to use such an awful word? Also, he contradicts himself by stating they’re well-meaning, so obviously they don’t mean to use it for racist reasons. One tends to forget that the date in which this took place and the date this novel was written in was a period where the ‘n’ word was used frequently. Though this word isn’t very nice and it brings up memories of African American hardships we need to remember that this story takes place prior to the abolishment of slavery. It’s like what Kaplan says, “…accuse it of being ‘racist’ because some of its characters use offensive racial epithets. These characters belong to their place and time, which is the Mississippi Valley thirty years before Emancipation.” (378). Which brings me to my next point, the book has to be accurate with the time period thus there were racist characters, however the characters weren’t extremely racist and cruel, and there was still white characters who cared about slaves. Anything racist was minor and only there to remain true to the time period. Various even believe that he contradicts his historical realism by making some of the characters too pleasant towards their slaves. For example Mary Jane and her sisters crying over their slave family being separated when sold, even the Duke, the bad guy, was against separating the family. Graff and Phelan share the belief that Mark Twain contradicts himself, especially when discussing how Miss Watson freed Jim in her will, “…Twain sins against the laws of realism – real Southern slaveholders were not characteristically prone to such changes of heart.” (279). Then there’s Huck who through out the story keeps his promise to Jim by not telling anyone how Jim’s a runaway slave. If Huck ever does come off as racist it's merely because of the influences society was imposing on him, he honestly didn’t know any better.
CLEARLY NOT DONE JUST JOTTED DOWN MOST OF MY MAIN POINTS AND SOME OF THE EXAMPLES.
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3 comments:
I really like the arguments that you brought up and the counter arguments that you also stated. Since you were only jotting down ideas I wont talk to you about expanding on certaint things. You had great ideas and good quotes to go with them. See if you could incorperate your own eveidence by your reading done in Huck Finn to counter with some of the arguments. But good argumnets and ideas, you just need a stronger thesis that convers all the topics of your paper.
1.The Adventures of Huckleberrry Finn should not be deemed as racist when it is necessary to demonstrate the racial hardships to provide for historical realism.
2.This is a time period when using the "n word" was a normal thing, and though it was wrong, we can't deny that it didn't happen.
3.Yes, the terms used to refer to African Americans was normal for people to use back then. Twain was simply being realistic about this time period.
4.yes
5.In regards to Huck, you could further explain how society influenced his guilt for helping to free Jim.(last paragraph)
6.You already referred to people who think it's racist simply because it has the "n word."
7.I think you made very good points in your essay, and I agree with you. To add more length, you could write a paragraph on the positive aspects historical realism brings to a novel maybe? (Just a minor fix): midway you said "various" but I don't think you had a subject. You probably meant "various people" and you were referring to those against Mark Twain.Good job.
You have a good start and your points are clear through out the essay! I like your introduction, your body paragraphs are great you have good ideas
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