Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has always been a controversial
work. Even today its presence in the syllabuses of many schools is being
questioned, despite the work's hypercanonization. The 1885 reception
of the work can provide many clues to these current debates. However,
the two previous studies of the initial reception do not make a qualitative
analysis of the arguments used by supporters and detractors. Here a
quantitative and qualitative analysis is made of the main arguments
that were used to attack and to support the book, as well as the contextual
events that affected its reception. The results show that the success
of Twain's book was never in danger, since both sides of the debate
agreed on the fundamental importance of the work's social repercussions.
Further, the detractors did not perform well and historical events such
as the Concord library ban favored Twain's supporters, polarizing the
debate and actually forcing some detractors to change their position.