Great literature has always run into great controversy, such as

classics like The Catcher and the Rye by J.D. Salinger, The Grapes of

Wrath by John Steinbeck, and of course The Adventures of Huckleberry

Finn by Mark Twain.  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is of the antics

of a 13-year-old Huck, and adult runaway slave.  This piece of writing is

found to be a classic and a standard for American literature; although

recent debate on Twain's racist language and steriotypical view on

African Americans is questioned as appropriate for public education.  

Mark Twain's novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be

taught in public schools, because the story should not be thought of as

demeaning to blacks, or that Jim is considered a sterotype of black

culture, but merely the characterization is being honest to the story and

its time period. 

 

     Many critics worried that Jim might never seem like a true hero to

African American children because he does not resit thralldom.  Mark Twain did not want Jim to be some tough guy, who went against the ways of society, who resisted slavery; does that make the story bad? No it does not, Twain wrote Jim as he was because that is what he was presented with during the time of slavery.  Jim's characterization is profoundly true to the ralities of his experience in the novel; but it is culturally true as well in the apparent inconsistency that it has seemed, in the eyes of the audience, to betray.  The reality is not many slaves rebelled against white suppression, but there were slaves who escaped from the grips of slavery as Jim did.  With the derogatory/racial terms use within this novel it does give pause when choosing what age group it is appropriate to expose it to.  It seems that it would need to be presented to children no younger than those in middle school, because at that age a young adult is taught about and understands what terms are appropriate to use in social form.  By expossing young adults to the terms that were used during the era that the book was set in makes for a great eye opener to how social class was set up during that time.  At this young age children could be struggling with the sentence structure and how to read terms that are grammatically incorrect.  If this is the case the best way to teach them how would be to have them read the dialogue aloud.  By doing this one can hear how the accents of the characters differ from each other, and every day speech.  With reading aloud it also gives the students a chance to sound out and try to figure out another form of written auditory language.  

 

     Mark Twain's use of dialect mostly enriches a person's reading experience.  It is enjoyable to the reader knowing that Twain researched the dialects of the areas he wrote about.  The different dialects really add color and depth to his story.  While the dialect's gave the characters personality, the relationships between the characters subtly told the readers about the conditions which the characters grew upin; and the use of local colloquiums allowed for the atmosphere of the plot to surround the reader without making the words feel awkward.  Huck's personality was defiantly pictured through his choice of words. He had been slightly educated, but he still had a rough manner of speech. While his speech was improper he tried to think about his words, he was sincere, and he really spoke what he thought.  His honesty and openness would have been impossible to portray if he had spoken properly.