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Status Quo In Huck Finn

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Will Langas On March 28, 1963, nearly 200,000 American citizens assembled in Washington D.C. for one of the largest and most iconic protest against the challenges African Americans were forced to face in America. The March on Washington was not simply a protest, but also a statement. A statement that the status quo was not always right and was meant to be challenged. While the March on Washington is sometimes thought of as one of the first oppositions of the status quo, authors have been challenging society and its norms for centuries. Three books that challenge several elements of the status quo are The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo, and Othello by William Shakespeare. These three …show more content…
In The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain uses dialogue in the novel to challenge the status quo and assist the reader in understanding the novel. By using dialogue, Twain was able to voice his opinions through the characters. One example of this is when Huck is talking about Jim and says, “I do believe Jim cared just as much for his people as white folks does for their’n. It don’t seem natural, but I reckon it’s so” (Twain 181). While subtle and clearly against the status quo, Twain is dropping a small hint for the reader that he believes whites are equal to blacks. Also, by developing Huck into a completely different character by the end of the novel, Twain is able to give the reader two viewpoints from one character, subsequently helping the reader understand the text better. In Othello, William Shakespeare uses foil characters to challenge the social class element of the status quo. An example of one of these characters is Othello. Being a black man in Venice, Othello is already considered an outsider by many. Combine that with his irrational thinking and uncontrollable anger and you have a character very unlike anyone in Venice. By giving such a prominent foil character such as Othello an important role in the novel, Shakespeare challenges the status quo that outsiders are not allowed to fit in with the rest of the population. That idea creates several problems for Othello, as he often believes that it is the cause of his problems. For example, during his famous soliloquy, Othello is pondering why Desdemona does not love him anymore and says, “Haply, for I am black/ And have not those soft parts of conversation/ That chamberers have” (3.3.304-306). By having Othello contemplate himself as an outsider, and providing the reader with a vastly different perspective, Shakespeare defies the status quo and ultimately benefits the reader. In

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