The Controversy over The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been called the greatest American novel by many illustrious critics and authors, such as Ernest Hemingway. It made waves in the literary world by employing an uneducated narrator who recounts the entire story in his own peculiar dialect, rather than a conventional narrator who would always use proper grammar and syntax. It also is a biting criticism of the hypocrisy of the South. Finally, it is a story of the friendship and respect that develops between two people, one white and one black.

Despite all these positive aspects of Huck Finn, many people insist that it should not be taught in schools. They claim that the novel is racist and point out that a certain derogatory word is used throughout in reference to black people, which may make black readers feel uncomfortable. Worse, they insist that the book encourages racist attitudes. For these reasons, certain people believe that Huck Finn should not be taught in schools.

This attitude, while justified to a certain extent, overlooks too many important points. First of all, Mark Twain, in writing this novel, was attempting to portray the characters realistically. To do so, he had to use that word for African-Americans that people find offensive today, because it was the term commonly used at the time.

Secondly, while the book does portray racist attitudes, these attitudes belong to the Southerners that Twain is satirizing in the novel. Obviously, if these people are the object of his satire, Twain is not encouraging readers to be like them. Also, realism comes into play again here, because the plain fact is that most Southerners at the time were racists, as was almost everyone else in the country. To deny that these things existed at one time by banning the book would be to deny history and therefore learn nothing from it.

Finally, this novel is about the friendship that develops between Huck and Jim. Huck has racist attitudes at the beginning of the novel and is willing to play jokes on Jim with his friend Tom. By the end of the novel, Huck is, in his mind, risking spending eternity in hell by helping Jim to run away from his owner. More than this, Twain gives the character Jim, an African-American slave, great dignity and makes him the moral center of the novel. Jim may be uneducated, but he is wise and a true friend. He is always willing to help Huck, even when Huck tries to play tricks on him. He becomes a father figure to Huck, a stark contrast to Huck's white, abusive real father, the most terrible character in the novel.

Huck Finn is the great American novel. It deserves a prominent place among the books students read in school. As long as students are intelligent enough to know that the racist attitudes of some of the characters should not be emulated, the book poses absolutely no danger. Students should not be deprived of the experience of reading this wonderful novel because of a few negative aspects.

Copyright © 2002 Colleen Fischer | Last updated October 7, 2002