Research Paper on:
Critical Analysis of Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn"

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
"All American literature grew out of Huck Finn" (Smiley 61). The adventures of a young waif and an escaped slave who use the Mississippi River as their passage to  freedom seemed to touch a responsive chord in everyone. As one critic noted after Twains death in 1910, the book was not only representative of "the great American novel,  it is America" (Park 43). Part of the reason for its enduring popularity was its appeal to both children and adults. On one level, it was a whimsical  tale of a precocious boy; but on the other, it was a satirical indictment of Southern society, particularly in regard to its treatment of African Americans. By utilizing the  colloquial language of the region, Mark Twain was able to create memorable and accurate characterizations. Furthermore, this conversational, if at times semi-literate style, also enabled the author to talk  to his readers, as opposed to talk down to them. Twain understood his audience well, and perhaps recognizing that Huckleberry Finn would stand as his masterpiece, was painstaking in  his story-telling. Unfortunately, however, the political correctness of the late twentieth century indicted this representative of great American literature on the charge of racism. As a result, it  began disappearing from school library bookshelves, denying students the right to draw their own conclusions. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been unfairly convicted without receiving its proper trial.  Mark Twain steadily built the storys dramatic action, with various happenings and events ultimately leading to the climax, which is Hucks crisis of conscience, in Chapter XXXI. Of this  most important chapter author Norman Podhoretz observed that it supplies "the forces that propel the plot and the action" (1D). Huck and Jim have been forced to overcome many