The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain has been opposed regularly following its release. The constant usage of bad choice words has really hurt this book's relationship with many people. The inclusion of the bad words, however, helps explain various details in the book. For example, it talks about the main differences among multiple ethnicities and color. If there is no emphasize made, it will be difficult to understand, and there won't be that same feeling. The novel really stresses on influential morals and simple beliefs, like the separation between good and bad. I truly believe that the novel should be allowed to students in high school for it to be thoroughly understood. If there are some individuals who feel bad reading this then it would not be forced upon them.
Therefore, many people are very critical of Twain and his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because of his approach and overall racist views of certain characters in the book. For instance, there have been situations in which Jim is being described wrongly and immaturely by the author. Though if we actually look into the novel, Twain was never intentionally trying to discriminate or being racist. He was just talking about the values and how modern day life was around that time. To prove he was not a racist individual, there was a letter found in Yale that showed his kind qualities. He had offered to pay the billings of an African American student. In this quote from source F, it talks about his intentions for paying, “I do not believe I would very cheerfully help a white student who would ask a benevolence of a stranger, but I do not feel so about the other color. We have ground the manhood out of them, & the shame is ours, not theirs; & we should pay for it.'' What he is trying to say is that it was almost his duty to help the African American man because of all the wrongdoings between the two races in the past, so it was to bring the relationship on the right path. Through this situation, we can all see that as a human being Twain isn't a racist. His bad words and inappropriate diction as the characters in the novel was just to show how reality and life were back then to make the story even more appealing.
While some of the inappropriate words in the novel are really bad for teenagers like us and younger kids, Twain used them to give the audience the thrill of the story and really experience what was going on. Some may say that he could have utilized other words that have a negative sort of meaning, but the use of bad words bring up the uproar in that time frame. In Source G, one “USA Today” article really stressed about the word choice in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, “Convey the language and attitudes of Missouri in the 1840s, in a book written in the 1880s when Jim Crow laws were being passed in the South to deprive blacks of their civil rights,” To look into it, the story takes place in Missouri, where discrimination and particular word choice is used. There was never really an end to the racism in this moment so Twain has the ability to use some of that diction to show a trend.
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Ironically some of the bad words Twain uses are taken more offensive than instances that actually should be cared about in that moment of time. For instance, there should be many judges that should question the original people who genuinely lived these horrible lives and treated human beings like that. There are many critics and school teachers that want to make this novel very appropriate in terms of its language, but that would change what happened in the past which brings no truth in what you will teach the students. When you look at source D, the comic talks about how pointless and awkward it would be to completely change these stories to make them way different than the original work. It's very simple to understand that Twain's work has its own meaning and uniqueness. So changing anything will go against the point of the message. Obviously, in our society saying bad words have a sprial effect of consequences. In the novel, these words are very normal to them and thus creating a situation of why was that allowed back then and how will it affect our community going forward..
Likewise, there is a negative vibe and snowball effect to when children do hear such words in books. This is exactly the reason why The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is questionable for readers. It will make schools ban such books and put a negative image on. This is why the Gribben's addition will be much more appropriate for the general audience. In source G once again Gribben really talks about the changed and redone book will be for specific individuals that truly have an uncomfortable feeling when reading these bad words. One thing that won't really make sense according to Gribben is to substitute words that won't give the reader the same reaction and feeling compared to the audience who read the original. There will however be the same passion and basic moral lesson in this book. Logically they should the sell the redone book in children bookstores and school libraries.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn really delivers impactful messages about the wrongdoings in life and the unfortunate path of slavery and the negative connotation it had. It is fair to say that most of the bad words are very inappropriate in our society today, but I defend Mark Twain for not being a racist man. He was just stating and describing what society was like at this time period. Although I firmly believe this content should be taught in high schools because this piece of history is critically important for our future men and women. And I respect anyone who does not feel comfortable reading this material. They can read the Alan Gribbon's redone book which should give you the necessary understanding of Huck Finn.
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