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Racism In The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

Decent Essays

From the minute Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn published in 1885 it presented an immediate controversy. This controversy started with many criticizing the "coarse" writing style calling it "more suited to the slums than to intelligent, respectable people" (Twain 308). While Twain frequently uses the n-word in this novel, at the time the novel was published, the racist language in it was accepted for it was commonly used. As time passed, many accused Twain of being a racist writer because of the frequent use the n-word. This controversy of whether Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is racist or antiracist had led many schools and libraries to remove it from their teaching content and their shelves. While many render Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as racist because of the constant use of the n-word, Twain is doing nothing more—and nothing less—than depicting a racist time period. Beyond the language of the book, however, there is a greater antiracist message that many fail to acknowledge because of Twain’s [adj.] presentation of Jim and Huck.
People who read Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for just face value and find Twain racist are simply ignorant and single-minded. Critics point out that Twain creates racist characters and therefore Twain himself, is a racist, however, anyone who accuses Twain of being a racist is missing the point of the novel. Furthermore, accusers are oblivious to the fact that this novel takes place in the South twenty years before the

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