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Huckleberry Finn Persuasive Essay

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“The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”

How often do we hear about a literary work that is still causing controversy 131 years later after it had been published. This is the case with Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” Today critics and school systems across America are campaigning to remove this classic for the use of one word. “Nigger,” a word so offensive that it is usually called the “N-word.” Even though Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn was written decades after slavery was abolished, the word Nigger was very much still present in America, the novel also portrays blacks as superstitious, and the use of dialect leads to the idea that people, especially blacks were synonymous of ignorance. From the moment this novel was published in 1885 it caused controversy due to the fact that it poked fun at religion, challenged authority and was accused of leading children astray. Surprisingly, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is still making news today. …show more content…

It is probable that nigger is a phonetic spelling of the White Southern mispronunciation of Negro. The word Nigger appears in Mark Twain’s novel a total of 219 times this makes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn a tricky novel to teach. There are many feelings of anger and resentment when the word is brought up; surely it is the most provocative word in the English dictionary. What many critics realize to see is that Mark Twain was anti-racist. He was a friend of educator Booker T. Washington and helped fund many African American institutions. The switch of the word nigger for the word “slave” will alter the flow of the novel, and will be almost, but not quite the right word to use. “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter-‘tis the difference between the lighting-bug and the lighting.” -Mark

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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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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an American classic, it was the starting point for all great American Literature. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been awarded all of these honorable titles because of its abnormal and controversial plot line. During the time period when the book was written, it was unacceptable to view African- American’s as anything other than slaves. They were viewed as inferior to whites and were treated like property, they had no rights. The main character of the book, Huck, disagrees and disobeys these norms and pushes the boundaries of society when he becomes friends with a slave from his childhood; Jim.

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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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Hanna Baker Mrs. Swiergosz English 1 4 December 2014 Censoring The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn "Mark Twain's (Samuel Clemens') Huckleberry Finn is so often cited as being racist, when it was written against slavery and racism." Jamey Fletcher said this quote on the extremely disputed matter of one of Mark Twain's greatest masterpieces in history. The subject of censoring The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been a controversial topic since the idea was first introduced to the public.

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The word ‘nigger’ is used 219 times throughout Mark Twain’s novel ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’. This fact, along with Twain’s depiction of Jim and subtle attack on religion, has offended not only multitudes of African-Americans, but also the Catholic Church. Twain’s novel has simultaneously revolutionized American literature and become one of the most frequently banned books in history. ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ was extremely provocative from its very publication, as its themes of rebellion, disobedience, and interracial friendship were thought to corrupt young children. In recent years, debates have no longer centered around Huck’s disobedience but implications of racism and anti-religious allusions.

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The Controversy of Huckleberry Finn Throughout history, books have been banned for content that certain parties deem inappropriate for the public. The censorship of books by the government, local organizations, or private individuals removes books from certain areas, limiting public access, usually due to the nature of themes and ideas. This includes books with topics related to violence, extreme political beliefs, race, gender and sexuality, or any potential offensive content. In the case of Huckleberry Finn, religion and race have been used as reasons to ban the book. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has divided readers on its banning, with some claiming that it is racist, not racist enough, and anti-Christian.

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Original or revised, Huck Finn will still remain a great character to follow along with, and to be involved with in his adventures, but if this story is to be taught in schools then the original read needs to be read and discussed. There is no point, then, reading this story about the culture of the nineteenth century, if the offensiveness cannot be addressed in an advanced classroom. So many other books-banned books-are read every year by students, and those books along with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn contains some complex topics; debatable topics. In order to create capable thinkers, they need to learn how to think about the deep, uncomfortable, nitty-gritty, subjects of life. Students learn about the loss of innocence, evil, corrupt politics, death, sex, racism and much more in books like Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Animal Farm by George Orwell, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and there are many other books which contain subjects close to these.

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Literature has a great importance to the societal values of education. In the education of young adults, high school districts have been in debates whether “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” meet the standards of schools. In the novel,” The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain presents a remarkable amount of N- words seen throughout the novel challenging the cultural ideology of schools. The particular use of the N- is the debate of school districts willing to add the book for a lesson plan as it is presented too racist. Racism against the African Americans can be dated to the time of the ending of indentured servitude.

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Apart from being a significant part of American literature, Mark Twain’s classic book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, displays the deeply ingrained racist mindset of the South in the pre-civil war era. Huck struggles with helping Jim as it has been institutionalized in him to see Jim as Ms. Watson’s property, Huck learns to look at Jim as not merely someone worthless, but as a human worthy of respect and as a friend. The most evident example of oppression is the n word appears more than 200 times in the book, making it the 4th banned book in schools. Taken as a racial slur in present day, Twain’s use of the word is a reflection of the times.

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The word “nigger” in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, connects the story of a young boy and his journey through the south with a racist southern society that has a negative effect upon the people who call it home. To use the word “nigger” as a reference to the black race, means they have submitted to the mindset of the south. The effect of the racist ideals are so massive that even slaves raised in the South believe they are lesser than the white race. The word “Nigger” negatively influences the everyday life of the Antebellum south, the church, and the mindset of Huck Finn, a boy fighting the conformist life forced upon him.

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Slaves are people who are treated cruelly because of their skin color. African Americans have the right to rebel, they have the constitutional rights, they are people. The “N” word is used in the book to keep the reader’s attention, it shows how cruel Southerners in general are. They constantly use the “N” word to describe African Americans. The way it is used in the book is as if the

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The terror dealt at the hands of this novel is widespread. Students like Toni Morrison, picking it up as adolescents, innocent virgins to the horrors it contained, were shocked and shaken after reading it, instilled with “palpable alarm (Morrison 385).” The shame black students felt just by hearing their classmates snicker at the word “nigger” and the dread evoked by its appearance, is shameful and reveals Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’s dependent nature. It depends upon a teacher who can truly grasp and project the book onto their students. It depends upon students who are educated and mature enough to understand the book’s true meaning.

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