The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by humorist Mark Twain (Essay Sample)

📌Category: Books, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
📌Words: 518
📌Pages: 2
📌Published: 25 June 2021

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by humorist Mark Twain is a book about a young boy named Huck Finn who meets and “frees” a slave named Jim. Since its debut, Huckleberry Finn has received many criticisms due to it’s derogatory terminologies, specifically towards the African American race. The question on everyone’s minds is; should it be taught? 

I believe that this book should be taught. This is not because I want to make anyone uncomfortable,–quite the contrary– instead I wish to keep people educated on the past with a book of this stature. Huckleberry Finn does not pull any punches when it comes to racial profiling. There are derogatory slurs thrown at you left and right and you are left with no option but to read the original book or download a censored version. 

You may be asking yourself, “why someone should read this book?” Though this book has harsh terms, it is realistic for the time period. It is a period of history that, though we don’t like to recall, we must remember. Slavery was a difficult point in history, especially in the United States. We need to keep records of that time period and make sure that it never happens again. Whether it’s through admittedly crude books such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn or via historical texts in libraries and other literature,   it’s our responsibility to make sure that the faults of humanity are never swept under the rug. 

Huckleberry Finn is an extremely important book historically. It depicts the average life of a runaway slave and highlights the struggles that many African Americans faced. It also shows corruption of the people and power in many scenarios, such as with the town and duke. However, it also shows that society can change. Huckleberry Finn shows us that the next generations are the ones who will spark the most change, giving us Huck Finn and his change of heart as an example.

 There are many arguments that people have made about the legitimacy of this book. Many people say that it is simply too vulgar of a book to teach. However, many people forget that Mark Twain is a humorist. Twain mostly writes satire and his stories contain significant exaggerations of real world scenarios. As stated, many people say that his books are too offensive to teach but I would say that some people should read this book with a grain of salt, as it is a satire like many of Twain’s books. Sadly, written text cannot age, even in today’s day and age. Whatever we write cannot be altered and we cannot take that back; it is the same with this book. 

By and large, Huckleberry Finn has had many controversies over it’s lifespan. From people questioning it’s legitimacy to calling it simply a vulgar read, it has gone through many rulings and has seen itself banned in public schools. I believe that banning this book is irresponsible, as it masks our past transgressions towards our African American brothers and sisters, and doing that would be an injustice to them. The book is absolutely uncomfortable to read at points, but banning it and acting as if it were never written would similarly dismiss the existence of our past mistakes. If one were to ban Huckleberry Finn, then Americans would also gladly denounce the past existence of slavery.

+
x
Remember! This is just a sample.

You can order a custom paper by our expert writers

Order now
By clicking “Receive Essay”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement. We will occasionally send you account related emails.