Required Reading: The Huckleberry Finn Question

Ever since it was written, Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn has been a novel

which many people have apparently found quite infuriating. Complaints of "obscenity,

atheism, bad grammar, coarse manners, low moral tone, and antisouthernism." (Henry,

The Struggle For Tolerance: Race and Censorship in Huckleberry Finn) Others argue

that the novel is "the most grotesque example of racist trash ever written."(Wallace, The

Case Against Huck Finn) Are these complaints founded? Is there any truth behind them?

More to the point, how does one answer the question, Is Huckleberry Finn a classic

American novel, or is it racist trash? The careful examination of how the author portrays

the story's characters' values, the actions of those characters, and the consideration of the

time-period in which the story was written are the best criteria with which to judge the

book. After such an examination, it is clear that complaints against this book are

unfounded, and that Huckleberry Finn is a shining example of classic American literature.

The characters' values in Huckleberry Finn are what originally got this book on

the banned list. Huck, transformed into a sort of boyhood hero, is not "civilized" to the

standards of the society he lives in. He doesn't understand the reasons for prayer, he

doesn't believe that there is value in studying what people did in the past, especially as far

in the past as most biblical stories which the widow attempts to convey to him. Since

Twain was a satirist, we can only assume that Twain didn't agree with these ideas or was

pointing out the ineffectiveness of religion.. Two of the other main characters in the book

(the King and the Duke) are petty thieves who roam from town to town, exploiting who

they can. Other various characters such as the Grangerfords are locked into meaningless

feuding. This image of society seems to be extremely critical, but this can only be

expected as Twain is attempting to show society what is wrong with it. "...it unmasks the

violence, hypocrisy, and pretense of nineteenth-century America..." (Nichols, A True

Book - With Some Stretchers) Thus, the question must be asked, how does Twain treat

the Black characters in the book? The only major Black character in the book is Jim, a

runaway slave whom Huck has known for quite a while. Jim's dialogue portrays an

accent which the reader is lead to believe is how Jim normally talks. Some have

indicated that they believe this use of Jim's accent is degrading to his character and

Blacks in general. However, Twain may have simply been trying to give a more

complete description of Jim as the dialogue of other characters often reflects accents of

sorts, such as this exert: "Drot your pore broken heart... what are you heaving your pore

broken heart at us f'r? We haint done nothing." (p. 124) The use of an occasional

apostrophe and misspelling amplifies the level of detail in the novel; it adds an invaluable

element to the depth of the characters, not a racist overtone.

The actions of the characters in the book have created a controversy all of their

own. A great deal of insight into the characters and the author can be derived by a simple

examination of what the characters do in the book. Quite visibly, Jim acts better than

most if not all of the White characters in the book. Jim is loyal to Huck, he goes along

with him and protects him to his best capabilities. He also has a very clear plan: go to

Cairo, escape to a free state, and make enough money to buy his family or have the

Underground Railroad free them. His loyalties are to his family and friends. Huck is a

"good guy," but even he is running away from society and being a rebel. The King and

the Duke exploit, cheat, and steal from anyone they can find, having no moral

implications whatsoever. Sheapardson murders a man in cold blood. Whites together in

the book generally signify a lynch mob of sorts. Other White characters, such as the

orphans, are so thoughtless that they practically give away their money to their exploiters.

Twain paints a sad image of the morals of most White characters in the story. Again, we

are faced with a question: did Twain intend this novel to degrade Blacks, or did he

simply intend it to mock society? The answer is clearly the latter. If he had intended to

degrade Blacks, he certainly would have had a larger number of Blacks be main

characters in the book. Twain is attempting to show us the vast problems that society

has. One of those problems is slavery, so he gives the reader an idea of the runaway

slave's position. Regardless of whether his interpretation of the slave's position is correct

or not, it is not an attempt to degrade Blacks but rather an effort to show the reader that in

Twain's opinion, slavery is wrong.

A final point to consider when attempting to determine if Huckleberry Finn is a

classic piece of American literature or if it is simply racist trash is the timeframe in which

it was written. Casting judgment upon him and calling Twain a racist is not only unfair,

but also pointless. The values of Twain's time were different than the values of today.

The very existence of slavery proves this. Twain has no obligation to live up to today's

moral or ethical values and cannot be expected to because they didn't exist when he was

alive. Twain's novel was not intended to be a book about slavery, it was intended to be a

book which showed people fallacies in their religious and ethical beliefs, their extreme

hypocrisy, and the wide-spread idea which is the impediment of all progress: the way

things are is the way they ought to be. Twain not only shows the reader that there are

things which need to be changed, but also points out quite a few things which need

modification. His satire is not limited to these things, but also includes the position of the

African American. Twain's personal view of the Blacks may be better understood from

this exert:

He reads, writes, and speaks English, Italian, Spanish, and French, with

perfect facility... He dresses better than any of us, I think, and is daintily polite.

Negroes are deemed as good as white people, in Venice, and so this man feels

no desire to go back to his native land. His judgment is correct. (Subryan,

Mark Twain and the Black Challenge)

Twain did not have the typical view of the African American individual for his time

period. Huckleberry Finn is a satire whose scope includes this viewpoint.

Huckleberry Finn is without a doubt classic American Literature. A book which

includes Twain's views on hypocrisy to religion, its Black characters are not portrayed in

a degrading manner. The actions of the characters point to things being wrong with

society, not to point a finger at Blacks. At the time the story was written, nobody

considered race to be a major factor in the novel and Twain himself was more than likely

one of the least-racist United States citizens alive. No, Twain did not intend to mock the

African American culture or identity: he intended to mock his own society.

However, placing this book on the required reading list is not the way to go either.

People living in today's society can't seem to handle the idea that a book is just a book

and that this book wasn't about racism. Early complaints were based on the book being

"coarse, ungrammatical, and profane." (Nichols, A True Book- With Some Stretchers)

With such a large number of people complaining about their children being required to

read such a "grotesque" novel, it is simply easier to remove it. Not required, not banned,

perhaps "independent" reading would be the best place for this book, racist or not. With

such a large number of other "classics" available, it should be no problem for literature

teachers to find a more commonly accepted book to replace Huckleberry Finn in today's

classrooms.

- B i b l i o g r a p h y -

1. Peaches Henry, The Struggle for Tolerance: Race and Censorship in Huck Finn.

2. John H. Wallace, The Case Against Huck Finn.

3. Charles H. Nichols, "A True Book - With Some Stretchers" Huck Finn Today.

4. Carmen Subryan, Mark Twain and the Black Challenge.