Many scholars admit that the study of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an exploration of the American society. The book revolves at the very heart of the American physical geography, political beliefs, and moral consciousness. In addition, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn probes readers to redefine the meaning of the conventionally held perceptions about civilization, freedom and the concept of right and wrong. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published in 1885 and documents the stories of a pre-civil war society and the controversy over slavery. The central conflict is the permeable idea of freedom is questioned in relation to the connection between the state owning states and the Free states. Mark Twain’s story is an examination of the life at America’s biggest river the Mississippi in the mid-western plains of the country. The slave owning states are south of the Mississippi river while the north of the river is the route to freedom. Slavery soon leads to war, the American civil war. The civil war would become a defining event in American history that shaped the understanding of the idea of liberty and the concept of manhood. This paper offers the argument on why the book should be a mandatory English literature read for young adults and high school students in America.
Mark Twain’s book, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is unquestionably one of the most famous American classics and also subject to its fair controversy. The novel revolves around the lives of two teenage misfits who find they floating on a raft on the Mississippi river with an escaped slave called Jim. While in the journey, Huck and Jin face challenges in rather intriguing adventures and an assortment of characters that are combination of both comedy and tragedy. In the story is brilliant humor as well as the heavy topics of slavery and freedom. The narrator of the story is named Huck and is shrewd, ingenious and quite literal. Through the shrewdness of the narrator, we are able to tell as observes on what our opinion about the book is.
The narrator is young lad fleeing from his drunken father. Huck is homeless and rebellious. While Huck is in love with freedom, he is not so sure of responsibility. At time, Huck likes to lie and to steal. When Huck meets Jim, a runaway slave from the south, both is faced with a moral dilemma. Jim would like to reunite with his family in the north where there is the possibility of freedom from his slave owner who is thinking about selling him down south for a profit. Even though Huck knows that helping Jim has the possibility of causing so much trouble, however he is faced with a moral dilemma of denying freedom to someone pursuing freedom just like he is doing. The two found themselves on a raft down the Mississippi while pursuing their own definition of freedom. The combination of the pursuit of freedom from the black Jim and white Huck raises the question of American values and the debate on the meaning of freedom and manhood in the deep south of 1800s. The ideas presented in the book are perhaps what make the book a key contender for general lectureship for the whole population of American society.
In addition to grappling with tough concepts of war and politics, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn offers an above excellent example of American picaresque fiction, use of dialect, and cultural difference within the large eagle land. One criticism is that the final pages of the book appear rushed, it is not an accident to say that Huck Finn, the narrator, make the story readable, convincing, and provocative. Compared to other Mark Twain’s stories such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyers, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is devoid of the usual humor that Mark twain is known for. However, the story tells the soul of America in the words of Jane Shlensky, “For in Huckleberry Finn’s voice- a voice as black as it is white as poor and uneducated as it honest- we are placed at the center of several controversies” (3). The controversies that we face in the book are the reality of American society. By denying our children an opportunity to bombard these issues in class, we deny a chance for American to cleanse itself of its past. Teaching of this book in class is perhaps the first step towards the realization of such a possibility.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is often considered a masterpiece of Mark Twain. Historical sources say that it took Mark Twain eight years to complete the manuscript for the book. During this time, (1876-1884), Mark Twain published other books such as Tramp Abroad, The Prince and the Pauper, and the Life on the Mississippi which are also portrayed in the most real sense in the book Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. While it is not easy for this book to be taught in class, it is a profoundly important for the moral values of the society. Perhaps one of the challenges that comes with using the book as set book lies in the difficulty between finding the difference between Mark Twain and the narrator. Ralph Ellison, the author of the famous book of the twentieth century Invisible Man, referenced by Shelley Fishkin once said that “Mark Twain’s consciousness and awareness is larger than that of any of the characters of the novel Huck is too innocent and ignorant to understand what’s wrong with his society and what’s right about his own transgressive behavior”(p.5). If we take the black kids to represent Jim and the white kids to represent Huck, would that be the representation of the society today? Certainly no. Unlike the 1800s, the African-American society is free and the racial problem is slowly becoming a non-issue as classes become a divisive element in the society. Still, rather than history, the story of the two travelers could be a very interesting study lesson on overcoming challenges and conflict and making a successful team.
Dr. Allen Web of Western Michigan University argues that the censorship, the failure of Standard English and the moral tone of the book are some of the most important reasons some opponents of the book cite for the possibility of banning it. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been discredited by parents, authors, religious fundamentalists and right wing politicians as well as librarians. But what is there concern? What arguments do they bring forth? Lionel Trifling once said that that Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is “one of the world’s greatest books and one of the central documents of American culture’ (2). T.S Elliot later declared the book a “masterpiece” that giving the book an academic respectability and a clout that quickly propelled it into the American classroom. Coincidentally, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was admitted into the American classroom at the time of the Supreme Court decision on Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education in 1954. It would be thus reasonable to argue that desegregation and the civil rights was instrumental in the acceptance of the debate on race and thus a ticket for Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to find itself in the classroom. Even as the book got the reluctant admission in classroom, teaching it would become difficult especially the tone and the language of racial slurs. How do you teach such a book in a class where the word “nigger” or “negroid” is thrown every other page? Such challenges still present daunting challenges for the general acceptance of the book as primary text for English literature book.
While understanding the concern raised, I make a case that Adventures of Huckleberry Finn must be taught in school because the intention of the use “nigger” is not meant as a slur. The Education Digest Article, “The Teachers Lounge: Why we still Need Huckleberry Fin: “Remember, first [and foremost], that ‘nigger’ is Huck’s, not Twain’s, label for blacks,” (Why we still Need Huckleberry Finn 31). The argument is the separating the artist from the characters. Mark Twain created the character to enhance the realness of the story. The character Huck was raised in the south where the use of the word “nigger” for a black person was a common thing. It is also important to understand that time changes many things and the timing of the word could also make such a big difference. Back in the 1880ss, the understanding was that black people were less than other people. It was common for black people to be disrespected by other white people. In page 117, Huck says that “He was a mighty good nigger, Jim was.” Perhaps one can see the friendship that exists between the two colleagues. Even though Huck calls Jim a nigger, he is also quick to acknowledge that he was a good person. In the novel, this becomes Huck’s turning point when he realizes that Jim is actually his equal and they are all embroiled in the pursuit of happiness and freedom. So while nay sayers would focus on rubbishing Twain for calling black people “niggers”, he should also get acknowledgement for creating a character that viewed the black people as equals. Friendship thus becomes the embodiment of equality and the pipe dream towards victory over racial bigotry. In the end, do we fail to see the realism and the historical correctness of the book by focusing on the word use or we embrace the book for its honesty? I would choose embracing the book.
Another reason why the Mark Twain’s book should be taught in American classrooms lies on the use of the less than standard language. Perhaps we have often heard the argument that instead of destroying, diversity builds. The same course of argument is prevalent in the use of the below par standards of English in Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. We must understand that Mark Twain’s goal at the beginning of his story was to reflect the truest of American values using the book. The use of the coarse language and the speech written in substandard English makes the story unique rather than below quality. Lets argue that the story was written in a different language or standard English, would we still have the same feel? It would also be hard to believe all the segments of the story. We must understand that even in the general society, no one speaks the Standard English every day. People from the south have a different dialect from Californian’s and that goes also with people from the East coast. The book offers the diversity of American experience in the most honest language. For this reason accepting it our classroom only aids the cultural mix that is paste and mortar to the history of the country.
In conclusion, this paper has made case that the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be included in the syllabus for American English studies because of its importance in the understanding of the nation’s history and the ideas that America upholds. First, we make a case that by denying denying our children an opportunity to bombard the issues of race in class, we deny a chance for American to cleanse itself of its past. Teaching of this book in class is perhaps the first step towards the realization of such a possibility. Second, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn could be a very interesting study lesson on overcoming challenges and conflict and making a successful team if we follow the example of Jim and Huck. Third, we say that while there are serious challenges towards accepting the use of casual words such as “nigger”, we understand that Mark Twain started a debate that uplifted America’s consciousness on the issue of race and slavery, and lastly we make the argument that Adventures of Huckleberry Finn a good place to start the debate on the diversity of English in America.
Works Cited
Twain, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Random House, 1996. Print.
Clark, S. "Huckleberry Finn: An American Classic, Past and Present." Teen Ink. NON-FICTION ANALYSIS, 2009. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
Web, Allen, Dr. "Huck Finn Controversy." Huck Finn Controversy. Western Michigan University, 1992. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
Shlennksy, Jane. A Teachers Guide to the Signet Classic Edition of Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Fin. New York: University of North Carolina, 2008. Print.
"Mark Twain Papers & Project: A Brief History." Mark Twain Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
