1

Ginna Marcela Morera Beltran

Professional Emphasis

May 29th, 2021.

The importance of historical context and criticism from the authors’ perspective.

The purpose of this essay is to compare two pieces of literature written in different

literary periods. These will be realism with “The adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark

Twain to postmodernism with the poem” America” by Allen Ginsberg. Based on both historical

contexts, it will be analyzed and compare how society behaved back in that time and see how

both authors had criticized it during the period when these were written. Knowing the

background of each piece of literature regarding two whole different periods and movements

makes us realize the contrast between them. Topics such as historical background, authors’

criticism, and social behavior will be developed throughout the essay.

In the poem, America reflects a post-war society that intends to ridicule and condemn its

excessive idea of a perfect reality during the war. America satirically addresses the behavior of

Americans with obscene language, rejecting such diplomatic and unrealistic approaches. While

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain took on a more serious character as Twain

focused on the institution of slavery in the South since it was a brutal institution involving black

people’s physical and psychological domination.

 2

America by Allen Ginsberg.

America is mostly a political work, written in free verse, it was published right after

World War ll and the beginnings of the Cold War. The poem consists of various accusations

against the war, the political unrest in the United States, its government, and its citizens.

America during the 1950s.

The fifties were for a great part of the American people times of comfort and improving

living standards. Nevertheless, they were times of social chaos and confusion even if it cannot be

seen at first sight. Americans were beginning to live better than they had done in the previous

decades, especially after the hardships following the Great Depression and the Second World

War. (A Countercultural Vision of America, page 5) Having a better employment rate permitting

the economy to grow and, the government implementing new reforms such as improving their

living state and access to education as well as healthcare for war veterans and their citizens, this

with the purpose of making Americans rely on their country. All this new improvement brought

to people a new vision of life and the era of communism beginning immediately made

Americans more optimistic allowing them to be perceived as the laborious, the successful, the

hard-working that were suitable to be ‘real Americans.

The poem begins with the author stating his disappointment in the country and

introducing his poor financial and mental condition: “America I’ve given you all and now I’m

nothing. America two dollars and twenty-seven cents January 17, 1956.I can’t stand my own

mind”. (Berkeley,1956). He disapproves of the human and nuclear warfare present in America at
 3

the time of war. He questions America when it can offer him justice, tolerance, freedom, and

acceptance as it has made the world believe about it or changes its perspective of itself. In this

poem, America is personified and is addressed by the speaker as if it were human, being Allen

the interlocutor desperately asking with rhetorical questions and accusing with bitterness and

cynicism the attempting and responsibility of the contribution of the United States in the Cold

War: “America you don’t really want to go to war. America it’s them bad Russians. /Them

Russians them Russians and them Chinamen. And them Russians. / The Russia wants to eat us

alive.” There is another question at the very beginning of the first paragraph: “America ¿When

will you be angelic?”.

The analysis of the questions can go in many directions since it can be interpreted by the

reader from Allen asking America to be pacific, to end wars. Or on the other hand, it asks

America to be like an angel, spirituality speaking it can also be taken as a religious symbol or a

symbol of peace and purity and it needs to become pure and merciful, thus angelic. Ginsberg’s

questions make the audience that even if is satirical and laughable, its impact is to concern the

readers back in the time by allowing them to realize the seriousness of the issues that this poem

discusses such as America, politics, war, humanity, and ethics. This conversation based on

making rhetorical questions expecting an answer turns into an indirect warning to the United

States -America- by line 16 for viewing itself as that sort of ideal world. Meanwhile, he tries to

reconcile with America, suggesting it to look for “some other way to settle this argument”

instead of using military power denouncing the use of brutality and violence as a way to settle

things to calm the chaos, something he deeply disagreed with. In the lines that follow, from his

accusation of the government, the poet redirects his perspective towards people, their nature, and
 4

possibly the justice system of America post World War (Alb, Miz. "America by Allen

Ginsberg"). From "I am addressing you"- line 38- America uses an angry tone, in which the

author reflects his anger and disappointment towards his country, which usually sells the idea

that it is a free land and the home of the American dream. But it is not; Ginsberg wants to

unmask this romantic and forgery narrative through America’s discrimination; which is pretty

much slavery, bloodshed, death, and poverty caused by confusion and hatred, bigotry, and pride.

The poem ends with Ginsberg putting his "queer shoulder to the wheel", stating with resignation

meaning the poem needs to bring changes to the social situation. Despite his desire to see

changes in society, he has not revealed how he would accomplish it. ( Alb, Miz. "America by

Allen Ginsberg").

The adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain was a pillar of American literature.

This book had previously been censored in the United States because the themes had been

condemned in a very crude and realistic manner, which offended American southern society.

Topics such as racism, slavery, superstitions, and southern morals are some of the central themes

of the novel within the southern society of the United States, in the period before the Civil War.

In the early 1800s, the Mississippi River served as the primary trade route for the western section

of the United States. During the 1820s there was an agreement called The Missouri

Compromised, that allowed Missouri to be pronounced as a slave state. Some other states began

to establish their laws regarding slavery and quickly split into two groups: “free states,” which
 5

comprised the northern half of the country, and “slave states,” which made up the southern half

(Gale,2006). For the African-Americans, the Mississippi River alternated between liberator and

oppressor, building up an identity that was at times deplored, celebrated, despised, and be

terrified of. The river ran south from Canada through “free states” such as Iowa before flowing

through the “slave states” of the South like Missouri, where The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

takes place. Slavery is one of the key elements in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The

novel takes place in Missouri in the 1830s or 1840s, at a time when Missouri was considered a

slave state. Although the book claims to be about Huck's “adventures,” the story is driven by

Jim's attempt to achieve freedom and safety for himself, and ultimately for his wife and children.

it is Huck's perspective on Jim's struggle that allows the author to address the topic of slavery

uniquely. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, blacks are subject to dehumanizing treatment

from nearly every white character in the book. This is not incompatible with the narration set in

the pre–Civil War South, where blacks were often witnessed as property above all else. Indeed,

one of Huck's primary inner conflicts deals with his “wicked” impulses to treat Jim as more than

just someone's dominion. (Scholarly, Gale, 2006.)

One notable example of degradation over black people occurs in Chapter 32 when Huck

shows up at the Phelps residence pretending to be Tom Sawyer. Huck, speaking to Aunt Sally,

invents a mechanical problem that held up the boat he supposedly traveled on:

“It warn't the grounding—that didn't keep us back but a little. We blowed a

cylinder-head.”

“Good gracious! anybody hurt?”

“No'm. Killed a n-----.”

 6

“Well, it's lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt.”

Twain, M.The adventures of Huckleberry Finn, chapter 32.

Mark Twain appears to be satirizing the apathy with which white people at that time

frequently dismissed black people's personhood. Twain communicates how natural, and even

morally correct, racism would have seemed to characters like Huck. Twain knew the popularity

of racism, as he grew up in a slave-owning family, and held racist beliefs as a young man. By the

end of the 19th century, Twain wrote essays on the harmfulness of this conformity within social

mores, which allowed him to demonstrate the dehumanizing and humiliating effect of slavery in

the time these had happened. In the same way, he was able to show the human and desperate

desire for freedom for all human beings.

CONCLUSION

Both pieces of literature are great examples of social inequality and the dominance of

power, which are part of the historical context that was lived when these authors were alive and

could narrate what happened back then. Although Mark Twain's crude approach may have

described a more humorous perspective, it could mark the reality that was lived during the Civil

War and the normalization of slavery and racism, which today is still in constant social disputes

in different states located in the South. On the other hand, America is a poem that was written
 7

after World War II, postmodernism awakened in writers like Allen those desires to expose the

fallacies and corrupt, erroneous, and absurd behaviors of the United States in its citizens. That

said, it can be concluded that knowing the historical context of a literary piece is very important

since to know the writer's point of view it is necessary to look beyond his life, like the events that

occurred around him and the impact within the culture. This gives readers an impulse to want to

investigate further these historical backgrounds to achieve critical thinking.

References

“Mark Twain and American Realism.” Sparknotes, 2021,

www.sparknotes.com/lit/huckfinn/context/literary/mark-twain-and-american-reali

sm.

"The poem "America" by Allen Ginsberg." StudyMoose, 22 Jun 2016,

http://studymoose.com/the-poem-america-by-allen-ginsberg-essay
 8

Ginsberg, Allen. “America.” Poetry Foundation, 1956,

www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49305/america-56d22b41f119f.

“‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: An Overview.’” Gale.Com,

www.gale.com/open-access/the-adventures-of-huckleberry-finn. Accessed 2006.

Geneson, Paul, and Allen Ginsberg. “A Conversation with Allen Ginsberg.” Chicago

Review, vol. 27, no. 1, 1975, pp. 27–35. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25303265. Accessed 28

May 2021.

LESTER, JULIUS. “Morality and Adventures of ‘Huckleberry Finn.’” Mark Twain

Journal, vol. 22, no. 2, 1984, pp. 43–46. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41641252. Accessed 28

May 2021.

French, William C. “CHARACTER AND CRUELTY IN ‘HUCKLEBERRY FINN’:

Why the Ending Works.” Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal, vol. 81, no. 1/2, 1998, pp.

157–179. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41178816. Accessed 28 May 2021.

Pinar Madrid, Valentín David. A Countercultural Vision of America: Allen Ginsberg and

the Beat Generation. Pinar Madrid, 2015,

tauja.ujaen.es/bitstream/10953.1/1998/1/PINAR_~1.PDF.