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Huckleberry Finn Argumentative Analysis

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The argument presented in the video is, when a high school choses to teach Mark Twain’s classic book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should it teach the original version containing the “N-word” or modern censored version in which the “N-word” has been replaced with slave. The debate is due to the awful history and the still negative weight the “N-word” carries. Many feel the ladder version should be used because it eliminates the uncomfortableness associated with discussing the issues of race. By choosing the censored version schools avoid the potential to hurt or offend students. Those that feel schools should use this versions believe the story remains unaffected and Twain’s message is still very apparent. However, many individuals believe …show more content…

Although he never told his views of the topic I felt you could sense he was against still using the original version in classrooms. During his introduction he briefly opened with the how schools now have an option for teaching a censored version of Twain’s classic. Then he went into a explaining how negative affects the “N-word” has on members for society, both then and currently. As he interviewed other individuals he accepted short explanations from people supporting the use of the modern version, but he seemed skeptical of anyone who defended the original and pressured them into longer more detailed explanations. My personal feelings on the issue of which version should be in classrooms, is Twain’s original. While I do agree the “N-word” needs to be removed from use in society’s every talk, Twain’s version is from the past. From a dark past, the novel came from an era that was pleaded with racial and class segregation, which breed hatred. When an individual reads the novel in a classroom they are not being asked to relive those feelings, just to be reminded of them for educational purpose. Huck and Jim were able to overcome racial differences in a time when tensions were among the highest in this country’s history. I think today’s society could benefit from looking at back this period and the characters in the story, as racial tensions seem to again be on

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Some school districts have banned the book due to the use of the “n word”, the negative portrayal of African Americans throughout the book, and Huckleberry’s distasteful character, which offers a poor role model for youth. However, these misguided administrators misunderstand Twain’s literature because Twain uses the “n word” to spotlight its offensive and dehumanizing nature, the portrayal of African Americans is

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For the reason that the n-word appears 219 times in the novel, many schools have decided to ban the book in their classrooms. Cautiously questioning students whether or not the novel arouses an “uncomfortable” (Coeyman) feeling, teachers debate on teaching The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Multiple teachers feel that their inter-racial classes may include students who feel offended by the n-word. Various schools have considered the novel to be “...too racially offensive…”(Coeyman). For instance, school districts in Virginia have banned the book after a mother complained about how her son was disturbed by the “‘...racial slurs in there and offensive wording that you can’t get past…’”(Balingit).

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Many books have been censored or banned in libraries and schools across the United States because of their suggestive or inappropriate content. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, a sequel to the popular The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, is one of the books that are being illuminated as “unfit to read”. It is the story a young boy, Huck, and a black man, Jim, in the 1800s, who ran away and their journey across the Mississippi River. It is a controversial piece in a majority of the classrooms across America. In this book, the N word shows up over two hundred times (Here's Why Banning 'Huck Finn' Over The N-Word Sends The Wrong Message).

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In 1998, McClintock High School in Tempe, Arizona assigned students to read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. The book has long been regarded as a controversial novel, and each generation that comes upon it has found something that rubs against the current societal norms. The mother of a student at McClintock took serious offense to the use of the word, “nigger” throughout the book and protested that it be banned due to the racial discrimination (Source I). Huck Finn is just one of the many pieces of literature that have been labelled “challenging,” and many feel that they do not deserve a place in schools’ curriculum. However, the study of challenging literature introduces students to new ideas and lessons that they can apply

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In the sixth chapter of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain manipulates the reader’s opinion of racism by using Pap, an antagonist to display his attitude towards the subject. Twain expertly uses the character Pap to explain his viewpoint using circumstance and the structure of his speech to make the idea of racism distasteful, uncomfortable, and even absurd to the reader. Before the initial speech Twain sets up Pap as a horrible father, a chronic alcoholic, and a liar. These qualities followed by Pap’s actions establish a permanent animosity towards the character and what he stands for leading the reader to inherently disagree with everything he says. Twain introuduces Pap at the beginning of chapter 6 by with him attempting to steal

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Censoring the N-word in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a terrible idea with many consequences. Changing Nigger to slave only makes it more comfortable for people who can’t face the idea of past slavery. It also obscures view of what Mark Twain was wanting to. Changing the N-word completely disproves his idea of staying true to others dialects. The N-word should not be censored in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because it changes the connotation of the entire book.

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In the short passage from the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), Mark Twain --originally Samuel Clemens-- argues that a pubescent child will always have innocence within him no matter what his seemingly evil actions and intentions may indicate. Twain supports his argument by using pathos to illustrate Huck reminiscing the memories of being called “honey” and being comforted by Jim through petting; this elicits emotions of repentant for Huck’s difficult situation. Twain refers to Huck’s remembrances in order to show how guilty he feels for even considering betraying Jim to Miss Watson. Twain writes this to an audience of a similar age group as Huck to show how easy it is to be “washed clean of sin” simply by letting our culpability slide,

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There’s one thing about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn people don't agree on and it's the use of the n-word. Should it, or shouldn’t be taught in schools, there are multiple reasons why Huckleberry Finn should be taught! One of the reasons is how it shows the times back then, it gave people a visual on what “normal” looked like in the past. This book could also teach what the n-word actually means. Kids should be taught what it means in a school environment, not in the “real world” where they might not grasp the words' full meaning.

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Into the Wild Some may believe that Chris McCandless went into the wild to escape the toxic relationship with his parents, but the real reason he left everything was to escape from the people that were trying to give him everything. Chris was a person that did not believe in the materialistic things. He believed in humanity and freedom. Chris McCandless reminds me of the younger sister in his book How Much Land Does a Man Need. The younger sister believed in earning from working.

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To censor Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn would not only do a complete disservice to the author himself, who chose his words carefully to convey a certain message, but

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Should the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, be replaced with another piece of literature or is there another way that the problem of having the word “n-word” be fixed? To begin with, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, is a novel about a boy named Huckleberry Finn and a slave named Jim who are both trying to escape some type of social expectation, but on the way to freedom they encounters many different obstacles. Throughout the novel, the “n-word” is used frequently and some may even say that it is used excessively to a point where it might be offensive to readers. Although changing the “N-word” to “slave” and replacing this novel with another work of American literature creates valid arguments, ultimately The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should remain the same way it was written simply because the “N-word” shows how African-Americans were addressed in the Jim Crow era.

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Stephen Railton, professor at University of Virginia, also believes that the book should be left unedited form because without its language “his book had no traction” (Rawls). Bradley James, professor at the University of Oregon, also states that when the N-word is taken out “It’s not Huckleberry Finn anymore” and the book no longer has the traction like it does with the specific language (News). Although some parents are concerned that “to a black child it might be damaging. Also to a white child, or a Hispanic child, those words can be damaging,” this is not the case. Many children in schools today do not have the opportunity to speak about racism and slavery in a classroom setting.

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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a book written by Mark Twain, has been a controversial book ever since it's release in 1885. The classic American canon is about a young white boy who ran away from his alcoholic father, faked his own death, and went on a journey where he met a runaway slave seeking for freedom, and together on a raft, they face obstacles, learn more about each other, and encounter new people. However, the book has been controversial ever since its publication due to the multiple use of the word “nigger”; although one can argue that it’s beneficial for helping readers develop both cognitive and non cognitive skills, some may argue that the drawbacks outweigh its benefits. Needless to say, despite the multiple use of the “n-word”

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Twain wrote Huckleberry Finn when the word "nigger" was simply used as a reflection of what the times were like in those days, using it didn't not cause a second thought. Twain makes out a time when Dark colored individuals were not treated as human

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Students should learn about the value the novel provides from that time-period in which Mark Twain wrote, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Twain put the N word in the novel for a reason, to describe the time-period in which these events had occurred. Phillip Rawls writes, “‘It’s such a shame that one word should be a barrier between a marvelous reading experience and a lot of readers,’ Gribben said. Yet Twain was particular about his words.”

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