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Kaitlyn McGinnis Mrs. Lucia English 11 February 16th, 2010 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain has been a very controversial novel amongst students and teachers in local schools nationwide. Some schools have chosen to completely eliminate this piece of literature from their libraries and high school curriculum for its use of the “n” word that has been deemed as being racist and other various controversial topics. I think this novel can be viewed either way as being positive or negative, depending on the way it is interpreted by the person. The first article I have discovered has a positive view on the book. It views The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as a way of it being artistic. The people that Huck and Jim encounter on their journey down the Mississippi River are described as being very realistic, along with the scenery and villages. It also states that “the dialects of people, white and black—what a study they are; and yet nobody talks for the sake of exhibiting a dialect.” The author of this article is simply saying that the way someone speaks, not depending on their race makes them a unique individual. Huck’s adventure is referred to as “risking eternal punishment” to help Jim escape from his struggles in slavery. Overall, this author of the article sums up the book as having a whimsical look on life and being full of life and drama. (Webster, 2) The next article I found is a positive one, which comes from the Illustrated London News. This article describes the book as being an “original picture of life”. According to this article, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is more of a historical novel then anything else. This article also says that the book can be more relatable because of the main character, Huckleberry Finn, being sort of the outcast in the group and he finally gets his chance to tell his story. “No novel has better touches of natural description”, this speaks out a lot to me because it’s looking past the language and dialect and actually looking more at the moral aspect of the book. (Lang, 222) The next article, pulled from the San Francisco Evening Bulletin has a more negative view on the novel. The author of this article sees Mark Twain trying to impose untruthful things on who will ever read this novel. Also, this review says that there is no real moral to any part of the novel and it does not teach younger people who read it any lessons. Overall, this article quotes that, “the book is attractive enough to command commercial success, and that, it may be supposed, was the inspiring motive in its production.” I believe this book was produced for more than just mere “commercial success.” (Webster, 1) The final early review is pulled from the San Francisco Daily Examiner, which implements a negative view on the novel. This review starts off as describing the book as a picture of life in the southwest and therefore not having much in its favor. Also, they describe the novel as portraying of “grotesque pathos.” Overall, they describe the book as being written with no authentic skills. (Clemens, 3) The 2 civil rights articles supporting the novel I enjoy more. These reviews teach that no matter what each other’s skin color is, we can still learn to get along. Also, these reviews look more beyond the use of the “n” word and delve more into the meaning behind the book. The meaning behind the book to me is that skin color shouldn’t determine your relationship with someone and you should do what is right to you. The 2 civil rights influenced articles banning the novel I don’t enjoy as much. In my opinion, these articles focus too much on the language and dialect of the characters and not enough on the story of the novel itself. People of this time were focused on the separation of races and I think the time at which this article was written greatly influenced the review. Works Cited The Making of America: Twain & Race 17 Feb. 2010: 56-57 The New Yorker San Francisco Daily Examiner San Francisco Evening Bulletin The Hartford Courant The Illustrated London News