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579 of 604 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A controversial masterpiece, February 10, 2000
Okay, we all know the plot, so there's no sense in rehashing it; but this book has generated a great deal of heat and very little light lately, it's been banned in some school districts and attacked as racist garbage, so this review will address the question: Is "Huckleberry Finn", in fact, a racist book? The charge of racism stems from the liberal use of the N word in describing Jim. Some black parents and students have charged that the book is humiliating and demeaning to African-Americans and therefore is unfit to be taught in school. If there has been a racist backlash in the classroom, I think it is the fault of the readers rather than the book. "Huckleberry Finn" is set in Missouri in the 1830's and it is true to its time. The narrator is a 13 year old, semi-literate boy who refers to blacks by the N-word because he has never heard them called anything else. He's been brought up to see blacks as slaves, as property, as something less than human. He gets to know Jim on their flight to freedom (Jim escaping slavery and Huck escaping his drunken, abusive father), and is transformed. Huck realizes that Jim is just as human as he is, a loving father who misses his children, a warm, sensitive, generous, compassionate individual. Huck's epiphany arrives when he has to make a decision whether or not to rescue Jim when he is captured and held for return to slavery. In the culture he was born into, stealing a slave is the lowest of crimes and the perpetrator is condemned to eternal damnation. By his decision to risk hell to save Jim, he saves his own soul. Huck has risen above his upbringing to see Jim as a friend, a man, and a fellow human being. Another charge of racism is based on Twain's supposed stereotyping of Jim. As portrayed by Twain, Jim is hardly the ignorant, shuffling Uncle Tom that was so prevalent in "Gone With the Wind" (a book that abundantly deserves the charge of racism). Jim may be uneducated, but he is nobody's fool; and his dignity and nobility in the face of adversity is evident throughout the book. So -- is "Huckleberry Finn" a racist book? No. It's of its time and for its time and ours as well, portraying a black man with sensitivity, dignity, and sympathy. If shallow, ignorant readers see Jim as a caricature and an object of derision, that's their problem. Hopefully they may mature enough in their lifetime to appreciate this book as one of the greatest classics of American literature. And for those who might be wondering -- this reviewer is black.
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183 of 198 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
DON'T FIX WHAT ISN'T BROKEN!, June 18, 2007
My wife received this copy in order to evaluate it (she's a school teacher), and the timing was great, as I had just finished reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (somehow I missed it when I went through school). After reading the 1st chapter, I was compelled to cross-reference it with the original text. I was appauled to see the free liberty the publisher adopted in this "high-interest adaptation" that supposedly "retains the spirit of the original."
They go as far as removing Huck Finn's mention of wanting to die because he misses his friend Tom Sawyer and totally removing whole sentences for no obvious reason, even when considering their objective. This is beyond censorship (total removal of the word Nigger), and goes into the realm of butchering a great American novel. Do they really expect young readers to be able to identify with the emotions of the characters if the book is sterilized to the point where it is an overall rewrite? Has not one child ever felt like dying because of some incident? How can one identify with the plot and protagonists, thus making the reading experience a dynamic one, if the reasons we can do so are removed?
The overall result is a dumbing-down of what is regarded as THE great American novel. I can't imagine what The Catcher in the Rye would do (or not do) for a young, impressionable reader if the whole work was washed of all impurities (like the prostitute incident) and references to negativity within the "phony" world. Why should we subject a reader to an equivalent disaster with this volume?
In all fairness, I can see how it can be of value to a certain arena, as the other reviewer mentions how special education students can tackle the classics without being overwhelmed by the authentic dialects. But the aforementioned observations need no repetition. Get the original text, man!
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63 of 66 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Twain at his best!, August 23, 2004
Back during my school days this was still not a book that was considered to be politically incorrect and so I was supposed to read it. As was far too often the case, I got by on little more than watching the movie version and never bothered to read this masterpiece. A few months ago I picked up a copy to put in my library for my grandson to use when he got old enough to go to school. Unfortunately this has been classified as a children's book and so I had little intention of reading it when I bought it.
After discussing a book about President Grant and Mark Twain with a friend I decided that I should read this book and I soon found out just how much of an adventure I had been missing. Twain's well deserved reputation as a storyteller is on clear display in this book from cover to cover. The reader is drawn into the lives of the characters to the point of being really disturbed when something bad happens to them. Sure, they steal and they lie but you will love them in spite of everything.
The story basically follows the adventures of young Huckleberry Finn and a runaway slave named Jim. Finn is trying to escape has father and the efforts of the townspeople to civilize him while Jim is trying to escape slavery. More to the point, Jim is trying to escape being sold down the river, which was always a worry for slaves in the upper south.
There is a strong moral point to this book as Huck slowly learns to love Jim as a friend and not think of his skin color. Early on Huck is worried about helping a runaway slave and isn't sure what to do. Having been raised in Missouri, Huck has been taught that helping a slave run away is one of the worst sins imaginable and that African-Americans are pretty much worthless except as slaves. It takes a while for the truth to come to Huck but he finds that he is determined to help his friend get his freedom, no matter what. Huck ends up risking his own life to do just that.
This book is a pure joy to read and I suggest you read it without looking for a political agenda. Just let the story flow and enjoy each word. The dialects used may slow you down a bit at first but they add so much to the flow of the book that they are quite indispensable. This is a wonderful story, full of youthful innocence and backwoods charm. Just one little warning though, once you start reading you won't be able to put this book down.
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