Understanding Huckleberry Finn With Historical Approach
For years, Mark Twain's classic novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, has been misinterpreted by many people and ultimately, banned in some schools because of its content, which seems very racist to some. However, by using the historical approach, that is, analyzing the time period in which the novel took place and considering it while reading, one can understand Huck Finn better because they have some background knowledge on the book and they can see the book for what it actually is instead of something offensive.Slavery is one of the many hot topics present in Huck Finn, as its portrayal has the most impact on the reader. One must realize, however, that during nineteenth-century America, slaves were often mistreated and looked down upon by the white society. When Huck lies to Aunt Sally telling her the steamboat was knocked out by a cylinder-head, she asks, "good gracious, anybody hurt?" His reply was, "no'm, killed a nigger." (Page 221) She simply dismisses the death of the African-American and says everyone was lucky. It would be out of historical context for Twain to have his white characters treat his African-American ones as equals because they weren't viewed that way. Instead, Twain wrote the raw, horrible bu
One must realize the thrill playing a little trick like this gave to the people of the nineteenth-century who led simple lives for the most part. Unlike today's society, people back then were extremely religious and they took the Bible word for word. Throughout the novel, Huck traveled to many towns with King and Duke and in almost every one of them they created some sort of show or scam. People built their lives around the Bible, so if one committed a sin they believed they were going to hell. Thus non-believers and con artists easily took advantage of them. Although this seemed funny and innocent at first, it turned out to be scary and could've been fatal. In fact, without either of these realizations, the novel is barely lucid. The pranks people played on each other weren't meant to be harmful, although they usually were and the superstitions many held increased the fear. Therefore fun and violence played an important, even if not always intentional, role in the daily lives of Huck Finn and his contemporaries. Instead, they relied on the steamboats and an assortment of shows to contact loved ones and get the entertainment they desired. ' This shows that people went around claiming to follow a set of rules but they greatly disobeyed them without even realizing it, or perhaps, not wanting to realize it. Huck Finn and other historical books become understandable with the historical approach because it allows the readers to identify the culture in which the novel takes place instead of automatically placing it in the modern culture where it might cause confusion and hurt feelings. Many of the characters in Huck Finn are gullible Christians, including the people who fall for the King's claim of being a former pirate and born-again Christian.
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