Controversy In Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

The Huck Finn Controversy Ever since the book was published in 1884, the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been making waves all across the country with its repetitive and controversial use of the word nigger and apparent disregard toward the dignity of black people. The argument has been raging on ever since: Should the original and uncensored version of Huck Finn be allowed as a tool to teach our country’s youth about American Literature? My answer to that question is yes, that with a combination of understanding, preparation, and maturity this book could be a very helpful tool in education. One reason I would like to point out as to why we should stay with the original book and not replace them all with censored versions

Race today is a touchy subject and if kids are allowed to use words such as nigger in school, you would think they could use them anywhere, right? The only way to get past this problem is to understand the intentions of Mark Twain as the author and also to prepare the students before they read the book. Twain did not write this book with the intention of offending anybody, he was only writing with the words people used every day back then. “But back in the day it wasn’t like that, that is just what black people were called. Twain wrote it that way because that is the way he knew, there is no way he could have known that in the future the word would be a derogatory term” (But http://www.teenink.com). If before teaching this book in the classroom a teacher were to shed light on this fact to the students, this whole problem could be avoided. Offense can only be taken from this book if the reader has an unopened mindset to the fact that things change over time. What is considered acceptable behavior and language in today’s society is much different from what was in 1884. Twain had no idea that writing the way he knew how to would cause such a debate in the future, and it is the job of a responsible, mature reader to realize that. Another argument that could be made against this book is that in it blacks are depicted as lesser to the white people.

Today’s society is too quick to eliminate anything that a minority or small group of people might find offensive. The idea of a democracy is that the people decide what goes, and that is achieved by going with the decision of the majority. The government will gladly ban anything that offends a group of people no matter how small, but have they ever considered that ending a tradition or way of life is offensive to some also? An example of this is a ban on the flying of the american flag on a University of California campus. The flag is a symbol of our pride in our country and our freedoms and also a tribute to the men and women who gave their lives to keep it that way, but since a small group of students thought it was too offensive and implied American superiority it was banned. Our freedoms are becoming increasingly limited, to the point where we can’t even fly our own flag in our nation. To censor The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is to trample Twain’s freedom of speech. He has the right to write a book with whatever words he wants and if a person doesn’t want to read it then that’s great, they don’t have to. It is just the same as if a person is offended by our flag and the pride we have in our country then they can feel free to go back to their own. Nobody can be offended by this book unless they want to, it all lies in the perception you read it