A Society in Paper

In Patricia Lockwood’s “The Church of the open Crayon Box”, the author gives us the idea of a small town. This small town is not real. Instead, it reflects society showing several of its aspects. First, I must discuss a metaphorical element that would otherwise leave the meaning of the work incomplete: paper. It is fragile like our entire society. Such a small town made of paper can be destroyed with only water.

Anyhow, I realized that this story told the first metaphor with the idea of a child painting it. There are probably two interpretations: that society has an underlying simplicity or that it is so absurd, even a Child can make this creation. The child asks himself whether his father will see the purpose of the drawing supporting the second version.

Condensed content is a typical characteristic of a short story. Here, we can only find a small part of the actual idea and our reasoning will do the rest. Although this creates different theories, that is the unique property of these stories. If a story can ultimately transcend time by creating such different interpretations through discussion, we should read it.

Cherry-Ripe: Imagery

The Black Huck

When I started reading the book I thought for some reason that Huck was black. Whether the influence of the media or simply an unjustified hunch gave me false prejudice, at least, during the first few pages I really believed he was black. The examples are simply too many two quote. In fact, Huck is the narrator of the book and therefore, he sets the tone. Somehow though, making Huck black would not affect the book’s tone over all. Although Jim’s speech seems to be representative of how Black people talk in the book, I can not find a reason why Huck’s speech can not represent a black person despite their inferior education at the time.

Clearly, to give that innocent yet satirical voice to the story, it needed Huck as a white person. Otherwise the juxtaposition between society’s treatment of both main characters would be impossible. Still, although the book needs the boy’s tone to create its identity, it has many other elements that show its literary merit. The synergy between the story, the context and the importance it has for American Literature in combination with its satirical tone make it an excellent work. Mark Twain did not borrow unjustly.

Comical Relief

A minstrel show as described by this article portrays the African American life in a comical way (both in slavery and freedom). Although this book does have comical elements that resemble those of a minstrel show, labeling it as one would ignore the work’s true meaning. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is not a comedy.

With this book Twain showed the true nature of the American South (at least as I imagine it).With out the presence of Industrialized cities southerners remained relatively innocent and its landscape wild. This innocence allowed The Prince and The Duke to scam entire villages. Meanwhile this rough paysage left only the river as means of transportation. In fact, probably the only vestiges of industrialization were the steamboats, one which almost destroyed the raft. Still, this is only part of the books meaning.

Social Commentary represents the work’s tone. Although a minstrel could potentially show this, the book still can not be classified as one. Twain calls to our attention graver matters that do not even have comedy in them. The best example of this can be found in the moment when the crowd of a town is about to lynch Sherburn for shooting a drunk. His response was: “The idea of you thinking you had pluck enough to lunch a man! Because you’re brave enough to tar and feather poor friendless cast-out…” (186). with this, Twain gave us the concept of the crowd’s cowardice especially when lynching a defenseless person. Since lynching usually targeted run-away slaves and black people, this event criticizes that unfortunate racist practice society had at the time.

Ultimately, the comical elements Twain wrote here only serve as a relief. These make digesting the harsh truth much easier for the reader. Also, this book portrays life in the south. Although people at the time might have had bad customs with which Twain Disagreed with, they also had positive qualities. Twain probably did not intend to undermine the south but rather give and accurate picture of it.

Humanizing Discrimination

The new censored version of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn will greatly change one of the most important subtleties on the story: the humanization of racism. This forms part of the novel’s social critique. Humanizing this (or at least making it socially acceptable) goes against the nature of racism because, at least during this time, it made all black people subhuman. This quotation captures that feeling completely: “‘Good gracious! anybody hurt?’ ‘No’m. Killed a nigger.’ ‘Well, it’s lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt” (300). The context does not matter. Only the usage of the word “nigger” and how the characters dehumanize him matters.

Through that word Mark Twain conveys the role this discrimination played on everyday life. In addition, it has a completely different meaning to slavery that would exclude the original usage (the way a white person would refer to a black one). Changing a word that Twain deliberately wrote over 200 times on his book will definitively alter its meaning and therefore, its literary value. We must remember, Twain is one of the most important American writers because his book glorified in literature the unique way Americans used English in The South. Replacing any word in it for a more socially acceptable one would be to some extent disregarding the importance this work has for American heritage.

Anyhow, thanks this word, which carries such harsh connotations, the book transports the reader to its time and gives them a view of slavery. With out it the piece looses part of its spirit. One of the main points for defending this change in particular is the fact that the word’s connotation gains more strength as time passes shocking today’s readers. Considering the atrocity that slavery is, why should we try to shield the reader against this? Why try to make softer a harsh topic that should have a strong impact?