Honorable Mention!
Illegitimate Authority and Cycles of Revolution in Huckleberry Finn, Povloski, Kimberly
School of Humanities
Professor: Dr. Doni Wilson
This essay was written in response to the recent materialization of claims that Mark Twain embraces racism in his novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Contemporary critics argue that the content of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn results from the pretension of a white man to romanticize the African-American experience of slavery (and freedom). Such an accusation can only arise from a blatant misinterpretation and/or misrepresentation of the text. Twain’s explicit purpose in writing Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was to rebuke the idea that slavery could exist in a truly moral civilization. Huck, Twain’s child protagonist and the narrator of the story, repeatedly encounters and is subjected to the influence of self-proclaimed authorities that symbolize various segments of society. Each time he is imposed upon, Huck rises up to challenge the moral and intellectual sensibilities of these “authorities,” ultimately rejecting them as illegitimate. In doing so, Huck takes on the role of both a moral hero and the voice of reason. Operating within a cycle of oppression, revelation, and revolution, Huck demonstrates the convictions of character which Twain wished to inspire in his Post-Reconstruction era readers -- convictions wholly incompatible with racism.
