Huck Finn

“Banned!” a common reaction to Mark Twain’s controversial novel Huck Finn. What is it about this novel of the realism era that provides so much racial tension? Why is this novel known as both “America’s greatest novel” and “America’s most racist novel?”
Twain was a man of the North; he was against slavery and supported civil rights. As previously addressed, Twain was an author in the realism era, thus he was a realist. Speaking of the word “real,” that’s a word that I have narrowed down to describe Huck Finn; it’s real in every aspect of the word. The language used in the novel is a reflection of the time period.
The language is the biggest controversy concerning the novel. The word “nigger,” is used over 200 times in the novel! Some argue the racism in the concept, but I say it’s “real” language. The words “African-American” and/or “colored” were not yet “invented” during these times. If you were black, you were most l...