Mark Twain's Racist Writing

I agree with how Twain resolved his conflict with Brown for two reasons. I agree because if Twain was to speak up and tell him to quit being a bully, Brown wouldn't have listened and would just keep on doing what he is doing. In the story, it states ”Brown gave no intimation that he had heard anything. But that was his way he never condescended to take notice of an under clerk.” This quote helps me prove that Twain solved the conflict in the right way because Brown sought himself as too good to hear or treat anybody lower than him in a good way. Brown was all over himself and Twain taught him a lesson.

     "Mark Twain, which is a pseudonym for Samuel Langhorne Clemens, was born in 1835, and died in 1910. He was an american writer and humorist. Maybe one of the reasons Twain will be remembered is because his writings contained morals and positive views. Because Twain's writing is so descriptive, people look to his books for realistic interpretations of places, for his memorable characters, and his ability to describe his hatred for hypocrisy and oppression. HE believed he could write. Most authors relied on other people and what they said, but because Twain was so solitary, he made himself so successful. 1"

It can cause shock in the beginning but that makes it even stronger. He manages to instill the idea that we are all special, everybody in their own way and the person sitting next to us deserves as much respect and appreciation as we do. He also demonstrates that we need to live life for the better of ourselves and others equally because that will bring us true satisfaction.

Also every person they call “nigger” does not have to necessarily be a slave. For example now in day the word “nigger” is a word african americans use among themselves, it is only okay when they are the ones saying, If a white person or any other person would try to call them this they would get offended as the history the word has and also they do not know the intentions that are being used with the word itself. The publisher of the new book’s aim was to appease to the sensitivities of modern readers by doing what he did, the replacement of all 219 instances of the word nigger to slave(willmore). The “~n-word” was put in the book a word as it speaks to a society that casually dehumanizing black people and the word “slave” is just a job description. This is much true now in day the word is used heavily among pop culture and rappers. Usually black rappers are the ones using the word but if the song is to blow up and become well known everyone singing it will just be throwing the word out there. It is not like they can make the songwriters change the word “nigger” in their song to

This paper examines Mark Twain’s work to determine whether or not he was racist. Racism is defined by The American Heritage Dictionary as "the belief that one race is superior to others." Unfortunately the issue of race isn’t black or white. There are many shades of gray in racism and even the most progressive thoughts of old seems conservative as progress enlightens new levels of thought. During his time, Twain was a forward thinking author who championed many causes, one of them being fair treatment of the downtrodden and oppressed.

Twain himself has been suggested as a racist based on the fact that he uses the word "nigger" in his book. However, Twain was an avid abolitionist. For those who claim that Twain was a racist must have only been looking out for themselves and not those who are willing to learn about the past whether it be ugly or perfect. Racism was and forever will be a dark part of the American past, and no one can change that, no matter how many books one may alter.

According to Ernest Hemingway, "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn." Along with Hemingway, many others believe that Huckleberry Finn is a great book, but few take the time to notice the abundant satire that Twain has interwoven throughout the novel. The most notable topic of his irony is society. Mark Twain uses humor and effective writing to make The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn a satire of the American upper-middle class society in the mid-nineteenth century.

Twain uses his book to beautifully point out important problems while still maintaining the innocence of a child. Nobel Prize winning author Toni Morrison describes Huckleberry Finn as remarkable for, “its ability to transform its contradictions into fruitful complexities and to seem to be deliberately cooperating in the controversy it has excited.” (Howe). Mark Twain wrote the novel as an anti-slavery novel, which suggests that he wasn't prideful, as he was in a family that owned slaves. Twain's childhood aslso helped fuel the novel. Because Twain saw how bad slavery was first-hand, he could better appreciate freedom and express his views. Sheeley Fishkins gives a glimpse into Twain's thought process by

The classic novel Huckleberry Fin, by Mark Twain, has been debated of being appropriate or not due to the racist content within. Many disagree with Mark Twain’s use of derogatory terms and phrases such as the word “Nigger” in his book. “IT seems unlikely that anyone, of any color, who had actually read Huckleberry Fin…could accuse of it being racist” (Kaplan 20). Huckleberry Fin uses necessary racism in order to show the culture and attributes of the time period as well as to portray Twains message of promoting equality and that they are not morally better if they are one race over another.

Many of Mark Twain’s writings often stand on a very thin line of what he believed to be right, and what the world considered to be normal around him. In Mark Twain’s writings it seemed to be that he felt what everyone was doing at that time in history was morally wrong. As far as speaking about the social stereotypes people had given to slaves, and also to Native Americans. Slaves in Mark Twain ’s books had the same type of rough treatments that they were being given at that time in his society, of being treated less than human, and continuously treated as livestock, or different trade goods.

Many places have decided to ban The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain since the book first came out. They believed the book has foul language and portrays African Americans very rudely. They called Mark Twain racist because of that. But I believe Mark Twain isn’t racist and his writing was trying to change the point of view for everyone around the world.

Mark Twain is an unique author full of different types of figurative language engraved into his novels. Twain has always been this way as he used his past life to inspire the way and reason of his writing. Because of his irregular past, his style is quite odd and can sometimes be critiqued. Twain is an unique writer and uses figurative language act as imagery, symbolism and irony to influence his novels. Mark Twain has endured a trial some childhood which has been the reasoning and influence on many of his characters and settings.

Racism is a major factor in our world today, many people are not aware of how racism affects our local schooling, the places we work, and even our social lives at home. In the novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, Mark Twain explains how the horribly the whites treated the blacks and how awful racism can actually be. Pap is the type of person to be totally racist, he doesn’t care what other people think of him. On the other hand Mary is a sweet girl who wants slavery to end and to make the racism stop. Then there's the doctor who tries to stick up for the blacks but does it in a way that is not the appropriate way to do so. Racism is a bad thing, but it will never go away.

Twain portrays society as negative, but he still uses Huck to show that no matter how independent you are, you still require human interaction. In the novel, Huck is shown as a free spirit who acts rebelliously against society, but once he encounters Jim, he realizes how much he had longed for another person’s company. Huck states, “I was so glad to see him—now I wouldn’t be lonely.” (Twain 42). Huck was glad to see another person who was once a part of society even if that person was viewed as low class.

An issue of central importance to Huckleberry Finn is the issue of race. The story takes place in a time of slavery, when blacks were considered inferior to whites, sometimes to the point of being considered less than fully human. But Huckleberry Finn challenges the traditional notions of the time, through its narrator and main character, Huckleberry Finn. While in the beginning, Huck is as unaware of the incorrectness of society’s attitudes as the rest of society is, he undergoes many experiences which help him to form his own perspective of racial issues. Through the adventures and misadventures of Huck Finn and the slave Jim, Twain challenges the traditional societal views of race and