Open Prompt Practice

2009, Form B. Many works of literature deal with political or social issues. Choose a novel or
play that focuses on a political or social issue. Then write an essay in which you analyze how
the author uses literary elements to explore this issue and explain how the issue contributes to
the meaning of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

In Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck travels along the Mississippi River with an escaped slave, and along the way he begins to question the way blacks are treated in his society. Twain's piece speaks against the social injustice of slavery in the southern United States through his characterization of Jim, the slave, and also by satirical humor aimed at southern people. These literary elements show how years of exposure to one way of life can cloud one's ability to recognize injustices when they are widely accepted as the social norm.

The character Jim is shown to be very considerate and mature. This is evident when he and Huck discover something floating down the river, and realize it's a dead body. Jim refuses to let Huck see the face and leads him away, despite Huck's curiosity. Jim does this to protect Huck, demonstrating mature morals and consideration. Jim is presented to be a very upstanding man later as well, when he is later caught and locked in a cabin. Huck and his friend Tom help Jim escape, but Tom gets shot in the get-away. Knowing it will blow his chance of escape, Jim stops running to care for Tom and his injury. This selfless act demonstrates how kind hearted Jim is, which highlights the cruelty of how he is treated because of his skin color.

Twain also utilizes humor in a satirical way to emphasize the ignorance of a racist system. As Huck and Jim make their way deeper South, the people become sillier and sillier. They encounter a family called the Grangerfords, who are at war with another family, the Shepherdsons. When Huck asks why the two families hate each other, the Grangerford daughter confesses that no one really remembers how it started anymore. This illustrates Twain's idea that antebellum Southern society held on to grudges that don't have bearing any longer. The people don't know when it's time to let old ways go and allow for a more peaceful existence. Also, Jim and Huck wind up traveling with two scammers, known as the Duke and the Dauphin. They pull all kinds of far-fetched schemes and easily dupe the townspeople wherever they go. Their outlandish antics are framed humorously, but also satirically because they poke fun at the idea of Southerners being ignorant, or slow to catch on.

Twain's portrayal of Jim's good nature, and of Southern society's inability to recognize that and adapt their ways, point out the social injustices that happened for so many years in the Southern U.S. The novel exposed the need for social reform, particularly in the South, where the social norms were rooted so deeply, and were harder to change. Huck encounters this first hand, as he gains a true companion in Jim and can trust him more than any of his white friends despite the way society treats him like property. Even though he sees this, Huck is not very alarmed by this social issue. That is because he has grown up where that treatment of blacks is acceptable. He develops doubts about the system, but shows no signs of taking up the cause. By this, Twain illustrates how difficult it is to identify a problem when one simply doesn't know anything different.