Mark Twain Censorship Essay Research Paper The

Mark Twain Censorship Essay, Research Paper

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a book written by Mark Twain.

This book has been scrutinized, censored, and argued over since it s publication.

There are many ways to look at Huckleberry Finn. One can look at it as a

derogatory book, focusing on the stereotyping of Negroes and the excessive use

of offensive language. Or one can see it as merely a book reflecting the times it

was written in and the language, attitude, and cultures of that time. To

understand this book, we must look at the times it was written in and the man

that wrote it.

Mark Twain was Born Samuel Langhorn Clemens, in 1835 in Florida,

Missouri. At about the age of four, his family moved to the Mississippi river

town of Hannibal, Missouri. As a child he was surrounded by the slave culture.

This story, found in Mark Twain at Your Fingertips shows us how his mother

behaved toward the slaves.

We had a little slave boy…there in Hannibal…He was a cheery spirit, innocent

and gentle, and the noisiest creature that ever was, perhaps. All day long he was

singing, whistling, yelling, whooping, laughing-it was maddening…

(Harnsberger 321)

His mother s obvious care for Negroes would never have allowed her to

have viewed a minstrel show. Minstrel shows of the time featured blacks as

child-like, idiotic tools for mere entertainment. Eventually Twain tricked his

mother into viewing one such show. This story was also told in Mark Twain at

Your Fingertips.

Like my mother, Aunt Betsy Smith had never seen a Negro show. She and my

mother were very much alive; their age counted for nothing; they age counted for

nothing; they were fond of excitement…

(270)

Surely Twain grew up a proper young man with a generous regard for all

persons. Many aspects of his life show him with this attitude. One of his more

famous quotations include, In the case of the Negro… The majority of us do not like

his features, or his color, and we forget to notice that his heart is often a damned sight

better than ours (322). This was a reflection of his wife Clara. None of Twain s

personal statements were derogatory to Negroes, at least not any in print. His

statements were reserved for his novels.

The book, The Art, Humor, and Humanity of Mark Twain, states that

Mark Twain wrote in six stages of humor, pages 186-190 describe these stages.

The first stages of his development can be categorized as exaggeration. This

type of exaggeration was taken and honed from frontier tall tales, and was most

evident in his book Roughing It, written in 1870.

The Gilded Age published in 1871, illustrates the lapse into his second

form of writing. Exaggeration evolved into satire. His satire was blithe and gay

with no overwhelming sense of deep meaning. The satire used in The Gilded

Age was so elevated that most people did not understand it s humor. Since the

humor was above most people s heads they did not see it as a very good book.

Although, they did think it had great historical context.

While The Gilded Age was hailed as a historical novel, Twain was

unhappy with its reception. He therefore moved into his third form of humor,

used in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer(1816) and The Adventures of

Huckleberry Finn(1884). Twain had moved into dramatic irony. This was used

mainly against the main characters. This type of humor is similar to when one

person laughs at another s oddities of personality, because they have a view that

the person does not. We get such a view of Tom and Huckleberry.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur s Court ushers in the fourth stage of

Twainian humor. This humor was pure and simple ridicule. He wanted to

shake his fist at all that is tyrannical including; war, aristocracy, and injustice in

general. To bring about the realization of these attitudes he maked the offenders

as ridiculous as possible to show us their simple stupidities. Pudd nhead

Wilson(1892) is another example of ridicule for a good cause. The quotation

April 1 This is the day on which we are reminded of what we are on the other three

hundred and sixty-four (Brashear,Rodney190), shows that in humor we are more

open to our faults.

In the fifth stage of his humor Twain began to show more precise feeling.

As his buffoonery declined his literary value increased. Although, he could not

shake the humor that made him world famous his work became more serious.

His piece Joan of Arc(1895) brought this period in. The tone of his writing had

changed and metamorphasized into a tender, descriptive meilleur that contains

and overall sense of serenity.

The sixth and final stage that Twain wrote in began Around the time of

his wife, Clara s death. Her death embittered Twain and for the rest of his life

he was an angry man. His writings reflected the changes in his life. After Clara s

de

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