The ability to use language is defining part of human nature. It is believed that language is a “key to identity and to social acceptance”. In his 1979 essay, the African American writer James Baldwin wrote his beliefs about language, part of what he wrote was that“…language is also a political instrument, means, and proof of power. It is the most vivid and crucial key to identity: It reveals the private identity, and connects one with, or divorces one from the larger, public, or communal identity…“ His feelings that language was vital in identifying one’s self are supported in Mark Twain’s novel, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. In Twain’s novel, the protagonist, Huck Finn, finds himself running away with an escaped slave, Jim, up the Mississippi river in 19th century America. The story is told from Huck’s point-of-view and his language is apparent in his narration of the story. Throughout the novel the words of Huck and Jim, and the other characters they encounter, not only tell what is going on in the story, but as Baldwin wrote, the way they speak is as if they are “’to put your business in the street”: You have confessed your parents, your youth, your school, your salary, your self-esteem, and, alas, your future.” Revealing that it does not matter how one appears in public, because once one open’s their mouth, appearance becomes a façade.
In “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” the young, white narrator, Huck Finn, runs away from his abusive father and makes a long voyage down the Mississippi River on a raft with a runaway slave named Jim. Through Huck’s narration the reader sees Huck as gullible, shrewd, and compassionate. His language reveals that Huck is from the lowest class of white society. Huck speaks in longer and more developed sentences than Jim does, such as “Well, when the river rose, Pa had a streak of luck one day. He ketched this pice a raft.” In addition Huck uses double negatives, such as “we couldn’t seem to do nothing right” and...