Why Huck Finn Should Be Banned

“Banning books gives us silence when we need speech. It closes our ears when we need to listen. It makes us blind when we need sight,” Stephen Chbosky. Books open up people’s minds to new ideas and allow people to the world in a new light. Banning books only makes one want to read those books more- to learn and poder over the controversial issues. One controversially banned novel is the The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This book while still has lessons to teach people in today’s society, including the ignorance of racism to addressing modern day issues; therefore The Adventures of Huckleberry FInn should not be banned.

Society has had problems with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn shortly after being published. Huckleberry Finn was first published in January of 1885 and only two months later in March of 1885 the book was banned. The problem first with the book was it was too friendly toward African Americans and believed to lead children astray from certain values. Now over 100 years later “Huckleberry Finn is still making news” (Pitts). Now in the 21th century we have a problem with Huckleberry Finn not because of kindness to African Americans or believing it would lead children astray from traditional values but because of “one reason - one word: nigger” (Pitts). This word has been seen as a problem in the classrooms and teachers and schools refuse

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an outstanding work of American literature that evokes controversies even 133 years after it’s publishing. It’s known that this novel in the past few years has been banned by several high schools regarding the use of language within the book. However in literature, English, and American history classes today, Huck Finn is still taught frequently. Contrary to opinions regarding the teachings the book in the past, I believe that high schools should include Huck Finn in our curriculum. As a student who has read the book, I believe that the use of language contributes to Mark Twain’s invention of giving a new view on works of literature. Even though the n-word, an epithet that’s been used in the book 219 times

but upon further inspection and a little context it’s revealed that this statement is only offensive to make a point. And that point is that Huck has a hard time humbling himself to a nigger, not a slave, not a black man, a nigger. Because Twain chose this term the readers get to see that Huck begins the process of escaping the southern values instilled in him. Huckleberry Finn should be read by students in classrooms across the country even if it be a sanitized, because the book is too significant to pass

HuckleBerry Finn has been one of the most challenged and banned by schools and libraries since it was published in 1885. This book gives us a great insight into what America used to be like during its times of slavery in the Southern States.

I think they should keep the old version of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because it is more educational.

Moliere said, “Unreasonable haste is the direct road to error”, which is what most people thought when Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain was first published and assigned in classrooms. That allowing such a novel to be taught to children is a disgrace. Assigning the novel Huckleberry Finn, or one like it, in the classroom can result in both positive and negative consequences. In John H. Wallace’s The Case Against Hick Finn he claims this book causes embarrassment for African American children. Similarly, Paul Butler, argues that, despite the historical context, Huck Finn enforced racism among other students in his article Why Bother Reading Huck Finn. Opposingly, in History, Slavery and Thematic Irony in Huckleberry Finn, Richard K. Barksdale argues

Mark Twain’s novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is considered an American classic. However, critics demand the book should either be censored or banned from high school classrooms, because of its racial overtones and use of the “N-word” 215 times. Several schools, in fact, have already banned the book. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should not be censored or banned, and should be read by high school students, because it is an important work of literature that illustrates what life was like for African-Americans prior to the Civil War.

There will always be controversies in life, whether big or small, whether it affects individuals or groups, or whether it will make any difference to one’s life; this argument affects millions of adolescent lives. Where saying yes obliterates comfort zones and advocates racism, and while saying no promotes a conformist, mass mentality mindset and erases history. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is the name to put on the face of this problem. The controversy of this book has been fought over since it’s been published but the inspiration and individualistic philosophy this book teaches is far too great to dispose of. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” should be required reading for students because first, the moral of the book preaches

Mark Twain went against endless amounts of criticism about his racist’s comments in his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The character of Jim is demeaning to African-Americans as he is portrayed as a foolish, uneducated, black slave. The “n” word is also used in the book describing him and many other African-American characters in the story. However, some see this book as anti-racist and believe that the use of racist’s comments is not racist at all. Those who think that are mistaken because Huck Finn in clearly a racist novel.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Banned There is a reason that Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been on the list of the most frequently banned books in classrooms. The book has ignited many controversial opinions especially after a school collectively decided to ban it. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn follows a young boy and his adventure across the Mississippi River for freedom and adventure.

as his exploitation of the “n-word.” These elements combine to greatly overpower Huck’s individual beliefs, which have never been the main offender of the book. Furthermore, one cannot negate claims of racism in Huckleberry Finn based on the novel’s positive reception by a historically bigoted audience. The fact that Kaplan, a white man, felt obligated to nullify cries of racial injustice in 1984 exemplifies the need for education on literary racism that so many were trying to ban. But the routine silencing of black voices has not ceased over the past thirty years.

But when a child comes home and says they are being taught about the word “nigger” in school from a book, parents are astounded that a word would even be said in school. But what huckleberry Finn as a novel does, is explain that a boy raised around slavery meets a slave and adapts new ways of life because he starts to believe slavery is very wrong. Like an example is from the book is that Huck and Jim (the slave) run away from home and take the Mississippi down into the lower slave states and they realize that there is no turning back. The goal that students should see in this novel is that racism isn’t the main sight or theory trying to be taught, it’s how compassion towards one another can lead to bonds being created and how new ways or views can be developed. In the quote on page 71 you see Huck and Jim working together for the same purpose, “ so we struck for an island, and hid the raft, and sunk the skiff, and turned in and slept like dead people.”

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain we learn about a young boy named Huck Finn and his friend, a slave named Jim, and the adventure they embark on together. The entire book is written in first person dialect and is regarded as one of the most influential fictional writings in American literature. With its popularity comes much scrutiny as well, many feel that the book has a racist element due to the cruel language used throughout. The word “nigger” is used over 200 times leading to “skepticisms and disapproval from whites and, decades later, even harsher criticism from African Americans” (Fikes, 240). Mark Twain demonstrates throughout the book that people 's morals and standards in society during that time period

It was the time that Mark Twain lived in that made Huck Finn come of as a racist novel today. The use of the word “nigger” throughout the book is simply because that’s what type of live Mark Twain lived in.