Huck and Tom's Treatment of Jim | Teen Ink

Huck and Tom's Treatment of Jim

May 15, 2012
By Ashley Harn BRONZE, Sioux Center, Iowa
Ashley Harn BRONZE, Sioux Center, Iowa
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Have you ever been called a mean name? In the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn everybody treats Jim bad and calls him names. The first reason that they are mean to Jim is by playing tricks on him. I think they should all treat people equally and by doing that they can take out the ‘N’ word to reduce segregation. I also think they should still teach the book in High School, just remove the ‘N’ word. My opinion is that this book is good to read, but to some people it may offend them. This is why we need to get rid of the ‘N’ word and it won’t offend that many people.

The one reason they do not treat people equally is Huck puts a dead snake in Jim’s sleeping bag and when Jim goes to bed he gets bit by another snake that’s laying right next to the dead one. After the snake bit Jim, Huck started to feel bad because Jim said that snakes are one of the causes of bad luck. They were starting to become friends before that happened.

In the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn they used the ‘N’ word 219 times to refer to an African American. I think how they call him the ‘N’ word is showing lack of care and disrespect. One of the many times I saw the ‘N’ word was in the quote “So he told Jim how we’d have to smuggle in the rope lader pie and other large things by Nate. The n***** that fed him, and he must be on the lookout and not be surprised, and not let Nate see him open them.” To me that quote means to be on the lookout, but don’t let Nate see anything.

However one shocking fact I found out was if we use the ‘N’ word it could be an insult, but if an African American calls another African American the ‘N’ word it means brotherhood or friendships. Many publishers are making the book more politically correct by editing the book. The publishers will have a single volume with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer that goes away with using the ‘N’ word. I think that is a very good choice.

However, many people think the editors of the book should keep the book the way it was written. I would disagree with them, because back in the day, one word had no meaning, but today every word has its own meaning.

Even though they replace the ‘N’ word, this book should still be taught. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn shows how many people taught African Americans back in the day. And with the society today, it is treat others as you would want to be treated.



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