Problems with my literature essay!

[pervenche]

Hi guys, I have to write an essay for my American Literature class. I chose an essay about Huck and Jim firendship, I want to analyze how their relationship develops in the book. could ypu help me to plan my work?

I don't know if what i wrote works for an introduction....

Adventure of Huckleberry Finn is not just a story of a runaway slave and a white boy who go through adventures looking for freedom in nineteen century. Their story is metaphor of the greater conflict between blacks and whites in the South during Reconstruction. Twain wants people to see that blacks are "human", they have feelings, can love and that's why despite a social order set against interracial communication and respect, Huck develops a comradeship with Jim for which he is willing against all he has been taught to risk his soul. During the adventure the relationship between Huck and Jim becomes stronger, they share the same problems and become friends because they can trust each other. Fate puts them in the same situation, so even if at the beginning of their adventure Huck repeats the clichés instilled in him as a part of his education, at the end of the story he will not able to leave his faithful friend alone.

Because of all these features Twain's novel is a bildungsroman, a formation novel, it focuses on the evolution of the protagonist both psychologically and morally.

Thanks a lot!!!

[dazedandbemused]

I hope you don't find this question offensive, but is this paper for a graduate class? I ask because, to be honest, it sounds a little bit unfocused for something written above an undergraduate level.

[t1racyjacks]

you need to find out what exactly it is you want to say about their friendship. Find it, then articulate it. Right now you're just vaguely going about -- I assume you are an undergrad, yes? I always tell my students to think carefully about how best to say what they want to say then say it. I would be more careful about your use of the word 'metaphor' if I were you. Also I do not see the point of saying it is a bildungsroman -- ok so what? You need to improve your grammar. IF their friendship tells you something about race relations, THEN you have to say exactly what that something is, THEN voice the significance of it.

with regard to essay planning, what I will say is that you have to plan the essay yourself. it is irresponsible to ask others to plan it for you. That is your responsibility as a student. We all have different writing styles. You do need a beginning, a middle and an end. But as to how it is organized, the method of articulation and even reader distance... things differ greatly from critic to critic.

[mudlark]

This really reads like you're a junior undergrad. If that's the case, go to your instructor's office hours and talk to him/her about the essay. Also check into any writing center services offered at your campus, as they'll be more willing to sit down and go over the specific grammar issues in your intro. People on the internet don't know what level of course you're taking, what the assignment was, or what you've been focusing on in class. They won't be able to help you like someone who knows the situation will.

If you're a grad student, you desperately need to go and do a lit review of what's already been written on Huck Finn and race (an insane amount, I'm betting) and try to find a more specific corner of the argument to tackle, along with spending a lot of time in the library learning the historical context so that you can talk about something more specific than "blacks and whites in the South".

Either way, you need to cut back on your plot summary and build your intro around your argument. This isn't the end of the world if you're a first or second year undergraduate student, but it's a fairly big problem if you're anything else.

[Guimauvaise]

The larger issue is that you've plagiarized. Unless you just haven't cited your sources yet, you're going to have bigger troubles than essay structure if you don't take the time to add the appropriate references. A quick Google search pointed me to the original sources of a couple of the phrases you've used:

"...despite a social order...all his soul" comes from http://www.wmich.edu/teachenglish/subpages/literature/huckfinn.htm

"the greater conflict...Reconstruction" comes from https://scholarworks.iupui.edu/bitstream/handle/1805/1729/L699_Thesis_November.pdf?sequence=1

If you aren't sure how to cite your sources, talk to your professor or go to your campus writing center. They should be able to point you in the right direction.