Wallace posits that Jim is portrayed as a model of the stereotypes that were connected with the Black minority in the nineteenth century racist discourse. When he discovers that his owner, Miss Watson, wanted to sell him to other people in the south, he escapes and travels with Huck along the river. In addition, he does not articulate his grievances and is content in his role as a hardworking slave. As the story starts, Jim is presented as someone who believes in superstition. Wallace claims that the representation of the character Jim, who stands for the Blacks in Mark Twain’s text, has a racial inclination. Since it represents a perpetuation of cheap slave-era stereotypes, he claims that it should not be studied in schools. Wallace argues that Mark Twain’s style of writing is offensive to African American readers, especially the young ones. His criticisms mainly points at the racial slurs Mark Twain uses in the novel. Wallace has been one of the prominent critics of Mark Twain and the essay is a return to the objections he has made about the novel’s historical significance elsewhere. In the essay, Wallace examines the racism in the novel in a bid to protect the African Americans from “mental cruelty and harassment depicted in the novel. He says, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, is the most grotesque example of racist trash ever written” (Leonard, 16). Wallace’s essay, “The Case against Huck Finn,” established the tone for the critical reception of the nineteenth century novel. Most detractors of the novel have labeled Mark Twain to be a “racist writer.” John H.
This essay discusses some of the novel’s critical interpretations.
Nonetheless, the popularity of the book has not been affected by these controversies. Since its publication, the work of fiction has been criticized and banned from libraries because of its alleged offenses to propriety. On the other hand, the book is also the subject of major controversies. Through the use of satire, the touching and exciting adventures depicted in the novel portray significant themes that are of essence in the American society.
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