Book Huck example essay topic

In the book, Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, the main character Huck, is able to look past conformist and the effects of his environment. Huck was born into a society that was supposed to hate black people. Huck was able to see good in a'nigger', and further a healthy relationship with his slave, Jim. Huck is a very strong and smart person, although he isn't learned, and can act ignorant from time to time.

Mark Twain, many times makes Huck look like a non-admirable person, when Twain does this it degrades him and Huck. Twain did this because he was afraid of the social critics in his day. Huck was a good person despite what the ending of the book may have appeared him to be. Huck is a walking contradiction to the belief of environmentalism. The definition for an environmentalist taken from Oxford states: 'A person who considers that environment has the primary influence on the development if a person or group,' ; .

Huck was taught that blacks were lower then whites, and should not be treated as equals, so according to this belief he should have hated blacks, but he didn't. Huck was too smart and open minded for the belief of white supremacy. Huck has had positive interactions with blacks, and has taken a liking to the slave Jim, who he helped to free, to go with him on his wild adventure. Huck never had very much schooling. This is one of the reasons he is so smart. It may sound odd, but the school system in Huck's time had an agenda to make little racists out of little kids' fresh new minds.

The famed philosopher, John Locke, believed in an idea he called 'Tabula Rasa'; . This theory stated that humans were born with a clean slate, and we would only learn through our experiences. The society at Huck's time didn't believe in this theory. They didn't want kids to have positive interactions with 'niggers'.

Huck was lucky that he was not subjected to such mind control. When Huck crosses paths with Jim, he sees him as an equal; ' I was ever so glad to see Jim. I warn't lonesome now. ' ; This was a shunned idea and it must have taken a lot of intelligence to be such a free-thinker and accept a 'nigger' as an equal. This is an admirable trait of Huck's, if all people could think like Huck then racism wouldn't exist. Many Ideas of racism stem from ones family.

Huck didn't have a family. He had a drunken father, that in no way acted as a proper parental figure. Huckwasn't offered guidance and advice, like most kids are. This is one of the reasons he was so open minded. If he had grown up in a household with a slave and seen black's treated lower then him then he might have had a different idea of black's. This is the same in modern day to, it is environmentalism, and it's apparent throughout time and throughout the world.

Being deprived of a family and schooling, left his mind blank of impressions and when he finally did have an interaction with a black person it was positive. Many people argue that in this book Huck is a racist. Although Huck is very open minded, he is also ignorant. He may use the term 'nigger' and act as though he is racist, but this is all he knows. In his time there was no politically correct term for blacks, they were 'niggers'. In many instances Mark Twain adds Huck playing tricks and being mean to Jim.

The first trick was when Huck made Jim think he was being drowned. This hurt Jim's feelings a lot and made him very scared. Mark Twain put this in his book so society wouldn't hate him too much, and so they would buy the book. Nearing the end of the book we meet Tom Sawyer; a main character from Twain's other book.

In this section of the book, Twain dilutes the character of Huck from being a deep and respectable character to something much less admirable and shallow. Huck and Tom take Jim on useless adventures that pose a risk for Jim's health. Throughout the book (except for a few instances) up to this point the reader views Huck as someone different then your typical racist, and even the writer appears to share Huck's view. If Twain were to write this book in present day he would not have written the end of this book in such a way. Like most great writers he was full of himself, and he wanted his book to sell. That is why this happened.

If one disregards the ending of the book as a publicity ploy, Huck turns out to be someone with good intent. He was trying to free a slave, and that was a very gutsy move in which he risked his own life to save another's. Huck was lucky not to be around people who would imprint negative ideas on his mind. He had no racist baggage with him when he had a positive interaction with a black. Huck was a good person and very open minded.