Classic #9 - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Part of earning some kind of achievement for a bear scout (I don't remember which one.  I am not fluent in Cub Scout-ese) is retelling a folk or tall tale that is part of our American heritage.  The examples given are Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill etc. but Seth is on a reading whirlwind and wants to earn as many AR points (earned from taking tests about books he reads) as he can by the end of his trimester.

 I had the grand idea of him reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with me and killing two birds with one stone (is there a less violent idiom that means the same thing?  Can't think of it right now so the brutal imagery will remain). I checked out an extra copy at the library, fully intending to give him the copy I bought for my classics challenge but after reading the first few chapters, I decided to hold off giving him the book until I finished reading.  Even early on, it seemed inappropriate for someone his age.

I understand the controversy.  I do.  Mark Twain wrote a brilliant novel considered by many to be THE Great American Novel, in its strength of characters, use of dialect in dialogue, plot, social impact and overall theme: racial injustice.  His work deserves every accolade it has received and probably every criticism.  How can you tell someone who is offended by the use of the N-word not to be offended?  Especially when Twain uses the word as frequently as he does, well over two hundred times throughout the novel.

Does it make a difference that most of the utterances are made by Huck, a boy who is racist only because he is ignorant, and not out of hatred? Does it make a difference that he uses this word because...well...it is the only noun he knows to use in regards to a black man?  Does it make a difference that he continues to use this insulting word even after he decides to help Jim, a black man, escape to freedom?  For some readers, like myself, it does make a difference.  While I find the word loathsome, I have no history that makes it personally offensive.   Others, however, see any use of the word as unacceptable regardless of the story, history or lesson. Similar to other heated debates, I doubt either side will be able to convince the other. 

The extraordinary power of Twain's novel is that he creates a protagonist, Huck, that is simultaneously extremely naive and wonderfully thoughtful.  His naivety allows most of the adventures of the story to take place.  Huck, though thirteen and more world wise than most,  believes and does what most people tell him to do:  Miss Watson and her Baptist beliefs, his mean drunk father and his litany of verbal abuse, Tom Sawyer and all of his playful foolishness, and the frauds who call themselves the Duke and the King when they force Huck to play a role in their schemes and scams.

Huck's thoughtfulness, however, is what gives The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the moral weight which makes it so great.  When Huck decides to help Jim, a black man, gain his freedom, he does not make his decision because he thinks it's the morally right thing to do. On the contrary, Huck knows from all his upbringing that it's wrong.  He accepts what Miss Watson declares will be his fate in Hell, a fate earned by breaking the law and stealing someone's rightful property (Jim) as well as simply deciding he'd probably rather be there because it sounds like more fun, because he unwillingly and inadvertently loves Jim,  a runaway slave who over and over again risks more than his illegal freedom by sticking with Huck Finn through adventure after adventure. It is Jim who eventually teaches Huck, a young boy who has every single reason in the world to put himself first because no one else is going to, what love really means.  It is also Jim, a black man not even considered to BE a man, who shows Huck what it means to be human. 

I loved this book.  I hope Seth will read it....someday.  But not right now.  He needs time and experience in the world to have the necessary frame of reference, not to mention the patience for all of the written vernacular, Twain requires his readers to have.  Because as important and moving and fun as this book is, it is obviously not for everyone, especially my own naive and thoughtful fourth grader.    Not yet.  We'll read about Pecos Bill instead.