huck finn :: essays research papers

Twain’s â€Å"Huckleberry Finn† was a very enjoyable read. It was my first early American novel and I could not help feel as though I was being swept along the current of the Mississippi sharing in Huck’s adventures. I was fortunate enough to travel to New Orleans a few years ago on my first trip to the American south. Huck’s narrations while powerful in their own right, were that much more meaningful because of my own experiences. While Twain ironically proclaims that there is no theme in the preface, there is a very strong theme that satirically is inescapable in the way society’s rules can stifle individual freedom of expression and thought. While at first I found the diction to be very confusing and even frustrating at times, it later seemed almost vital in order to make the narration believable, controversial, shocking, and powerful. One believes the adventures to be true because we can envision these types of discussions taking place in the mid south at that time. The multitude of adventures, told in the first person in a concise and simplistic manner was very appealing. My own province of Newfoundland has a very rich and distinctive culture, with numerous strong dialects, and storytelling is a very big part of that culture. I like the fact that the novel is controversial, and challenges the mainstream views of society. Many have debated over the years whether Twain’s novel is a masterpiece or subversive trash. It has been argued that it is â€Å"rough, coarse, inelegant, and exerts a dangerous influence on the young.† (Concord, Massachusetts, library committee). However, the reality is this is a part of life whether we like to admit it or not. If one chooses to look beyond the lies, If one chooses to look beyond the lies, bad language and criminal activity what shines through is a strong social messages meant for society as a whole. Many have questioned whether the persistent use of the word â€Å"nigger† makes Huckleberry Finn racist. I think, it has to be put into the context of the entire novel and the underlying theme. The novel portrays the worst society has to offer through the innocent and impressionable eyes of a thirteen year old boy. The book is shocking, the behaviors and attitudes towards a cast society are appalling and shameful, and should be our central focus for debate. While no one today should tolerate the use of the word in a derogatory sense, its use in the novel is vital.