Should Huck Finn Be Banned

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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain, is a book in which captures the adventures of a young boy named Huck Finn who runs away from home and makes his way down the Mississippi River in which he meets a runaway slave named Jim, together they undertake serious of adventures. This piece of literature has left many of its readers shocked and angry due to the extensive use of the n-word. In Huckleberry Finn, the n-word is used over 200 times which has led many schools to ban the teaching of this book or simply replace it with another classic American literature. There is always two sides of a story, in this one there is three. The argument continues with the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn whether it should be kept …show more content…

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn does a great way of capturing the reality of racism. Many believe that change of fiction is the worst form of censorship. Others argue the fact that replacing the “n-word” with “slave” is still as powerful as using the word and it creates a more respective tone. But is it really? The word is so controversial which many students have different feelings about. In 60 minutes, eleventh grades Ryan Farrell and Melvin Efesoa express different feelings about the usage of the word in the book, Farrell states, “I feel that that word is in there for a reason, Twain put the word in there to get out attention. And everytime we read it, it does exactly that. It gets our attention.” Farrell explains that by using this word, it captures the human eye, it builds that conversation for everyone to talk about, it’s our history. On the other hand, Efesoa says, “It reflects on African-American history back then. And like I said, it’s a history that nobody wants to relive.” For many students, leaving the word as it is, believe that the book is powerful and changing it, loses its meaning and vice versa. In a poll, the public was given a chance to give their opinion on having the word changed and it shows that 29% said yes and 71% said no. This literature captures moments in which many people suffered during the past time but it should not be changed, society must learn from their mistakes in which we do not let history repeat itself. The “n-word” is found offensive and so is using the word “gay” , for example, but that word is not being deleted from literature so why is the “n-word” any