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Yann Martel's The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

Decent Essays

In the novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the main character, Pi Patel, laments that his tger companion, Richard Parker, did not give him a proper goodbye, as having one would have offset some of the pain of parting. A novel’s ending can be viewed in a similar way: a good ending leaves the reader satisfied and ties up loose ends the way a proper goodbye helps tie up the pain of parting. However, a bad ending, or no goodbye, leaves the reader empty and irritated, since the story has not accomplished its purpose for the reader. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain had an inappropriate ending because it did not effectively fully humanize African Americans and the main character, Huckleberry Finn, did not fully overcome his racist …show more content…

This is especially problematic considering that the book is supposed to contain the moral of racial equality: if Huck cannot overcome his racism, why should the reader? Most notably, Huck never seems to stand up for Jim despite seeing Tom’s cruel pranks: Huck has not grown up enough to speak up for what is right despite peer pressure. The fact that Huck participates in and admires Tom’s schemes is even worse as it shows regression since Huck had previously tried to be nice to Jim. Huck also does not fully overcome his racist tendencies because he does not seem bothered by the fact that other African Americans are being enslaved; he is beginning to view only Jim in a more human light, but any such progress is seemingly subverted by going with Tom’s cruel treatment of Jim. Huck’s lack of progress in overcoming his racism, especially the fact that he caved into peer pressure and did not show concern for other slaves, indicates a lack of character growth that ruins the ending of the …show more content…

Huckleberry Finn was intended to make readers of the time sympathetic to the plights of blacks; by treating Jim poorly, the novel’s ending instead only seems to reinforce racism. The fact that there had been progress in Jim’s humanization in previous parts of the book worsens this, as it shows that this progress does not truly matter. By treating Jim poorly, the novel’s ending subverts any previously held lesson of racial equality and instead would have made readers of the time reinforced of their

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