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Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

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The novel The adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been an important and very old story studied and read in the United States. The story dating back to the times of the Civil war era about a boy and a slave escaping their troubles depicts the struggles many runaway slaves had to face when on the run, and the risk one had to take when trying to hide a slave. In recent years the story has received much criticism for Mark Twain’s extended use of the N-word. Many schools forbid reading the book as a lesson in their classes as they feel the book is very offensive and should not be read by students. Some students back this up as many individuals feel uncomfortable reading the N word in their class and feel as though the book overall is offensive. …show more content…

Some individuals argue that the book should remain the same and should not be changed as that was the way that the book was written by Twain depicting the dark times of the Civil War and how African- Americans were greatly discriminated in that era in time.
It can be greatly argued in the favor to remove the adventures of Huckleberry Finn book from reading lists as many people do not feel comfortable saying the N word especially for students that may have to read the book out loud in class.Over the past decade, The Adventures Huckleberry Finn has repeatedly been at or near the top of the American Library Association's list of most banned books (Gale). Many Individuals believe that the book is too offensive to be used in any sort of literature especially in a book many students in many schools learn and discuss. Huckleberry Finn has led to controversies over the use of the N- word much of it coming from concerned parents complaining to school officials about their concerns regarding …show more content…

Huck Finn is one of Mark Twain's Most notable works which depicts much truth of the conditions many individuals faced during the Civil War, such as the struggles Huck and Jim had to face when hiding from everyone. "The question is not whether or not to teach this book, but how to teach this book,(Gale) This states how students can still learn the truth and being able to accept the reality of the book.By reading the novel students will be able to get a sense of how times were in the past while also getting a sense of the culture and the way society worked during the Civil War. Many see the use of the N word in the book as offensive and as the worst aspect of the book but many forget that this book was written during the Civil war forgetting that the N word was not offensive to all during that era especially those that were slave owners or that were used to seeing slavery. Allowing this book to be read in schools will bolster students understanding more about the past and will reveal to them that not everything in American history was all good and positive but also contained a dark past where a group of people were discriminated and made less than human beings. This book can also be very positive in many ways as the meaning of the book can actually mean much and reveal the good in

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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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1666 Words | 7 Pages

Why Would a Good Novel be Kicked out of the Classroom? A trashy and racist book wouldn 't be allowed in classrooms. The novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain, is getting a lot of negative talk about. The dominant problem that students, parents, teachers, and even professors, face , is the usage of the n-word.

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In the novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, is a book about a boy named HuckleBerry Finn who 's from St. Petersburg, Missouri. Huck has a drunk and abusive father who only wants huck for his money, so Huck fakes his own death. At the same time Jim (a black slave owned by Miss Watson) heard that he was going to be sold down south, where he would be mistreated and separated from his family. They team up and try to make it up to the free states up north. This book shows examples of large amounts of racism and stereotyping threw out the book, and the big question is show it be taught in today 's school systems?

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1456 Words | 6 Pages

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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To begin with, by removing the N-Word from Huckleberry Finn, the moral and educational purpose of the story would be belittled. The educational value of keeping the word in the book is so tremendous because it is necessary in order to accurately teach history. It is not meant to glorify the gore of the past but to instead help students better understand the situations. When Earl Hutchison from thegrio, a news website aimed towards African Americans, was asked why the word should remain he answered, ‘“ We say these words that were used then, they were vial, they were vicious, they were words that were used to denigrate a people and what we must do is learn from how these words were used in the past, not to use them in the present”’ (Earl Hutchinson

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1253 Words | 6 Pages

Huckleberry Finn Needs To Stay In Schools Did you know that Mark Twain’s The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn is one of the most challenged books in history. In fact, it was banned within the first year of its release. Recently, schools have been banning the book and removing it from the curriculum due to the racial slurs within it and its offensive nature towards students.

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1267 Words | 6 Pages

Mark Twain, author of Huckleberry Finn, uses the n-word a total of two-hundred nineteen times in his book. Before diving into the subject matter, the book called Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is a novel set before the Civil War following the journey of a young boy named Huck. Huck struggles to escape his abusive father and takes to the Mississippi river alongside a black man named Jim. Jim, himself, struggles to gain freedom and escape enslavement. This novel would be considered a serious offense to an individual who has a closed mind about the matter at hand and has not fully understood when this book took place.

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We know that Twain is not racist, but he did use the N-word to show what kind of people his characters were. Delila Lloyd wrote a document that addresses both sides of the issue, but one of the points that sticks out is "Take the N-word out of Huck Finn, and is it really Huck Finn?" (Lloyd). Huck uses the N-word because he grew up in a society where the word was meaningless, and was used to describe slaves as scum. The word practically means nothing, but not as in the word doesn't have a meaning, but in the sense that the people described as the word are meaningless.

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966 Words | 4 Pages

According to Raziye Akkoc, a writer for The Telegraph, the American novel “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn [has been banned] because [of] its use of the N-word was not "inclusive" and made students uncomfortable.” Mark Twain’s novel Huckleberry Finn is about a young man that travels down the Mississippi river with a slave named Jim, and the many different journeys they encounter. Many people in society, however, have come across the question of whether or not the novel should be banned because of some of the vulgar language in Twain’s work. Even though it includes poor grammar and spelling, Huck Finn is a novel that establishes good morals, true friendships, and demonstrates the true historic time period.

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1248 Words | 5 Pages

During the Salem Witch Trials in 1692, they used to tie accused witches to chairs and throw them in a lake, if they sank they were innocent. The Salem Witchcraft Trials were crazy, irrational and disturbing times. Young girls accused their neighbors and strangers of practicing witchcraft. The town decided to hold trials to see whether or not the accused really were witches. While they awaited their trials, they were held in a filthy jail.

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818 Words | 4 Pages

A single word, used 219 times throughout Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, causes a world of controversy surrounding this classic piece of literature (“Leave”). The use of the N-Word throughout the novel makes some people feel uncomfortable as they read and discuss the book; however, others argue that the book provides a valuable learning opportunity that gives students a refreshing perspective on racism throughout American history. Such controversy between Huck Finn’s great teaching powers, yet uncomfortable diction, proposes an everlasting question: should public schools teach The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn? Many people feel uncomfortable with the teaching of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in public schools due

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1911 Words | 8 Pages

However, supporters of the novel consider that Twain is only revealing the realities of how life was like for an African American person. Furthermore, the “n-word” is a part of history. Because this word is a part of history, the word should be embraced as well as not be ashamed of. Moreover, supporters of this novel are capable of overlooking the “n-word” such as author, David Bradley, who acknowledged the word “...nigger…” and then said how one should, “Get over it.”

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142 Words | 1 Pages

In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the racist attitudes of the Deep South in the late 1800's are shown. Mark Twain portrays a runaway slave, Jim, as a racist caricature who does whatever is asked of him and exhibits little intelligence. The reader can initially see this through the use of the word "nigger" that is all throughout the book. In the modern 21st century this term is taken offensively, but in the 19th century this term was commonly used and Twain took advantage of it.

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917 Words | 4 Pages

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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1818 Words | 8 Pages

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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