Huck Finn Review

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Huck, Twain and the Freedman’s Shackles: Struggling with the Huckleberry Finn Today”: Review The essay “Huck, Twain and the Freedman’s Shackles: Struggling with the Huckleberry Finn Today” by Tuire Valkeakari revisits the debate of racial representation in Mark Twain’s book The Adventure’s of Huckleberry Finn. The author focuses on the creation of a Huck and Jim relationship based on Twain’s own life and the world of the early and late 19th century. The author mentions how the novel is held back by a shackled and tattered view of African American’s as ‘others’; at the same time, the novel does an effort to transcend the limitations of the post-reconstruction racist world in which the characters find themselves (Valkeakari, 29). The article also examines a racial representation of Jim as a father figure to Huck Finn that creates a world of black and white while positioning black and white hand in hand but also against each other and the society of the time. The author notes that “Huck Finn can at one level be a book about shackles of racial oppression that are in the novel’s course, twisted open and forced partly back into place at various levels of plot and narration” (30). Through the essay the author intends to show the link between Huck and Jim, black and white, and establish the view of the society from that time. The author points out the struggle for Huck and Jim to understand the world around them and each other due to the world that surrounds them. For example it is very hard for Huck to go against the norms of white society of his time. Huck is a poorly educated young white boy full of ignorance. “Rather then going against the grain he condemns himself for his friendship with Jim” (31). The essay shows that Huck is afraid at first to go against the norms of the white society he lives in; however, as the novel progressed the author shows that
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