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The Powerful Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay

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The Powerful Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

When Samuel Langhorne Clemens first published his story, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, he was criticized severely. On top of that, the book was banned from libraries and schools alike. The book was thought to be a bad influence on children because it represents the breaking of the law as moral, it recommends disobedience and defiance on the part of young people, it portrays churchgoers as hypocritical, and the most admirable characters in the book habitually lie and steal and loaf (Johnson XII). In this day and time, though, the book has become required reading for many schools, and is found in almost every library in the country. Why has there been a change in attitude …show more content…

The cruel thing about it is that slaves were people and they were sold like cattle. This peculiar notion that one person can actually own another body and soul is supported not only by the law and government, but by the church and religion as well (Johnson 110). I do not believe it is a coincidence that Jim belongs to and is being sold down the river by the person in the novel who makes the greatest show of her religion, Miss Watson (Poirier 91). A reflection of the religious notions of the slaveholding society, which believes the Bible approves of slavery, is shown when Huck thinks he hears the voice of God-"the plain hand of Providence"-telling him he should return Miss Watson's property after they run away (Twain 208).

In Chapter 12 of Huckleberry Finn, Huck and Jim come across a rapidly sinking ship occupied only by three dangerous thieves who are secretly plotting each other's demise (Crowley 76). The ship, the Walter Scott, which eventually disappears beneath the waves, symbolizes the Old South in its dying years as being dominated by thugs, thieves, and killers. The noble men involved with a noble cause had died out and were no longer present (Johnson 177-178). This is the reason that one cannot find a noble Southern gentleman in the story. Twain's satiric scorn of this failing society is directed particularly at what was called the code of honor, a pattern of conduct that incorporated both the love of

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