Open Prompt

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

            Slavery is a serious social issue that swept the nation for many years. Due to the seriousness of this issue this topic is constantly brought up in many forms of literature. Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is widely renown as one of the most controversial texts due to its excess use of improper language and its opinion of slavery, a great social issue at that time period.

            This classic novel contains many hidden themes and morals but one of the most important social issues that it centers around is the issue of slavery and whether or not this is okay. Throughout the novel, Huck is constantly struggling with the inner conflict of whether hiding and running with Jim, a slave is okay. He is always struggling with whether he should turn him in or not. He struggles with this mainly because of how society had raised him. Growing up, he had been surrounded by a society who is used to slavery being not only legal, but thought of as the right way to live. He is taught that slaves running away is illegal and holds great punishment and yet throughout his journey with Jim, he feels that for some reason slavery seems wrong. At the same time however, he can’t fight the feeling that by helping a slave run away, he is doing something wrong because of the fact that it is illegal in society.

            Through the inner conflict of Huck, Twain portrays his view of slavery, which is that it is a despicable tradition that is wrong in every way. He condemns society for making this treacherous practice so evident and so natural in society. This theme creates the main conflict throughout this story as well as creates many meanings that gives this novel its main topics. Without this central theme the novel would be meaningless and much less interesting.

            Therefore, without this central theme of condemning slavery, Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, would lose its main meat, and would be a fairly meaningless novel. The social issue of slavery makes up the importance of this novel and therefore would not be as important without it.