Persuasive essay on Huck Finn and Racism
             According to a consultant for Chicago public schools named John Wallace, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain is the most grotesque example of racist trash ever written." He claims that, "Huckleberry Finn is an American classic for no reason than that it ridicules blacks to a greater extent than any other book given our children to read" (Johnson 39). But in accordance with my personal beliefs, Bernard Bell, a professor of English at Penn State University, said "Twain, as we will see struggles valiantly, like Huck, to reject the legacy of American racism and to accept his personal responsibility for the injustice of slavery..." (Mark 61). I believe that Mark Twain used his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to illustrate his abolitionist attitude.
             The most frequent objection to this novel is the number of times the word "nigger" is included in the text. As Langston Hughes claims "The word nigger, you see, sums up for us who are colored all the bitter years of insult and struggle in America." But when thought upon, using the word "nigger" was absolutely essential for Mark Twain to write this book. The story takes place before the Civil War when the institution of slavery was the primary influence on race relations. It is important to understand both the history of slavery and the deterioration of race relations in the United States, especially in the south, that occurred during the years Twain was writing this book ("Adventures"). To present a story of slavery in the nineteenth century and not use the word is to make these racists and their times appear less obnoxious than they actually were, that is to "doctor" the language. This was not Twain's goal. He was trying to paint an accurate portrait of the times (Besant). This is apparent in the scene on Jackson's Island where Jim meets...