Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” as an Example of the Realism Style and as a Comment on Racism and Social Darwinism of the Late 19th Century This is an 8 page paper discussing Huckleberry Finn in relation to racism, realism and social Darwinism. When the “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” was released in 1884, it was originally thought to be considered racist and has over the years been banned from many reading lists in schools. Upon further reflection however, critics believe that although it appears racist, it was actually Mark Twain’s comment on the racism which existed in the society of his day and was one of the first novels to give slaves and African Americans a character which seemingly is written from the black perspective in Jim. Twain’s works, including Huckleberry Finn were seen as more visionary and depicted the early realism style of the time and the increase in the American writers perspective on social Darwinism which existed in society and seemed as the theory oppressors applied in order to justify slavery and child labour in their markets. Through the character of Huck Finn, Twain used the realistic aspects of colloquial language, a middle-American view of modernization and the unreasonableness of the society of the late 1800s.
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