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Slurs Should Be Banned In Schools

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To ban the book entirely was one solution to end this controversy. Last year, public schools in Virginia began a process of reviewing the book in order to decide whether it should be kept in classrooms and school libraries. This course of action started when a mother of a biracial high school student “filed a complaint with the administration, saying that her son had struggled to read a page in "Huck Finn" that was filled with racial slurs” (Beck). According to the mother, "This is great literature. But there (are so many) racial slurs in there and offensive wording that you can 't get past that" (Beck). "So what are we teaching our children? We 're validating that these words are acceptable, and they are not acceptable by any means," she added (Beck). …show more content…

It is true that the heavy use of racial slurs within the book made it considerably hard for both teachers and students; The slurs made it difficult for students to read the book and for teachers to teach it. In the story overall, the N word was used about 219 times. The following sentence, “Miss Watson’s big nigger, named Jim, was setting in the kitchen door; we could see him pretty clear, because there was a light behind him” (Twain 4) is found in the fourth page of the book and it already has utilized the N word. Due to the use of such language, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is accused for being racist. But the author, Mark Twain, himself was opposed to racial segregation and the harsh treatment of blacks. So given his ideals, there must be a reason why he chose to incorporate racial stereotypes and epithet into his story. Mark Twain did not intentionally use racial slurs in order to be racist or for the words to be condoned but rather “the use of such language was intended not only to reflect American life in the South prior to the Civil War but to treat it in an ironic fashion.” ( "Federal Appeals Court Allows Huck Finn to Remain on School 's Reading

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76 Words | 1 Pages

I also, dislike the use of the N-word. By using the N-word, Mark Twain allowed Jim Crow and Redemption to sweep the South. When writing Huckleberry Finn the author should had utilize his rights as a citizen to write, instead Mark Twain choose to ignore the amendments by using the N-word. How does a writer give his character a conscience when he as the writer chooses not to be conscience about addressing his black character

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943 Words | 4 Pages

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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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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828 Words | 4 Pages

American literature has always been a form of entertainment and education. When slaves were introduced as characters in books, they were always negative, stereotypical characters, but not until 1883 when Mark Twain wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was a change made. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a book about a southern white boy in the 1800’s that runs away with an escaped slave on the Mississippi River. For years, schools have been debating on if the book should be banned in schools or not, and it is already on a variety of banned lists. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should not be banned in schools because it is an anti-slavery novel that teaches students valuable lessons and informs students of the past culture.

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1239 Words | 5 Pages

states,”Twain’s book is one of the most-challenged of all time and is frequently challenged even today because of its frequent use of the word “nigger.” Otherwise it is alleged the book is “racially insensitive,” “oppressive,” and “perpetuates racism” (Banned Books Week, 2000). This demonstrates that

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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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1493 Words | 6 Pages

Mark Twain wanted to make a statement. He wanted his audience to get a visual into his audience who sadly but truly were racist. His message is not going to be able to be portrayed by replacing the words that make the book special to truly have a connection from the character there actions like a heroic nigger and a Caucasian boy who begins to see the real world by how it actually

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452 Words | 2 Pages

Mark Twain put meaning and accuracy in the book using the N-word in Huckleberry Finn. The way the book is phrased helps to teach a lesson, seeing and reading how the word was used at that time helps students to learn about the word and why it’s wrong to use, if not of the correct skin color. The almost unnecessarily large use of the N-word within the

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1724 Words | 7 Pages

Those who feel the novel encourages racism say that because of the stereotypes used when featuring Jim, how Huck and Tom treated Jim, and how often the N-word is brought up Twain had hoped to encourage racism. However there is still strong evidence that proves why that might be a misunderstanding. If twain was intending to encourage racism then why would he make Him seem so much of a better person than the duke, king, and Huck's father. Also when Twain illustrates the black and white symbolism he portrayed Him as white man and Huck's father, who is a white man, as dark and scary. Then throughout the story as a reader you feel empathy for Jim he begins to become one of the favorite characters in the novel.

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1403 Words | 6 Pages

The black man on the back porch is afraid of the rattle snake because it is bad luck, or the innocent little slave is quick to believe everything one tells them at the drop of the hat. These are just some of the many racist stereotypes of the 1840s. A character named Jim is the star African American whom Twain bestoys the mission of being the stereotypical black man to prove a point. He along with his much more pallor companion Huck go on exciting adventures that unfold the events which expose the racist conduct of the time. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain saturates his novel with potent images of acute racism severe enough as to create a satirical mien that exposes the absurdity of prejudice.

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1911 Words | 8 Pages

As previously mentioned, this novel is highly opposed because of its extensive use of the “n-word”, as well as the belief that the novel is racist. An example of this notion was when Huck, who was believed to be Tom Sawyer at the time, mentioned to Aunt Sally that the boat he was on “...blowed out a cylinder-head” and “killed a nigger” (Twain, chapter 32). Aunt Polly then proceeds to say “...it’s lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt” (Twain, chapter 32). Due to these accurate yet cruel depictions of society’s view on African Americans, those who criticized the novel believed that the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn “...promotes racism and demeans African American children with its extensive use of the word "nigger"...” (Novels).

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807 Words | 4 Pages

Although he wrote the novel in the 1880s, Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, still remains a controversy today because of Twain’s use of the “N-word.” Why does Twain use the word “nigger” over 100 times in his novel? What impact is he trying to create by using this derogatory term? Although a multitude number of schools banned Twain’s novel because of the use of the derogatory “term,” Mark Twain’s utilization of the “n-word” satirizes the white American society in the 1880s by reminding his readers that racism was considered a social norm and illustrates how much society attained in terms of racism and discrimination from when slavery was prominent. Furthermore, Twain utilizes the “n-word” because it is his work of literature and changing his words deprives the reader of its purpose and is considered to be a form of censorship.

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1233 Words | 5 Pages

In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird there is evidence of a racist past that is still brought up to this day. There are many lessons to be learned from this book that are still relevant today such as inequality in the justice system and underlying racism. In modern day society, historian Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor talks about how the “n-word” is used by many but most of the time people do not know the harm or history behind the word. I believe that Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird is still relevant to this day and that it can help teach future generations to stray away from using the “n-word” by learning from its racist past. Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird brings about the unfairness of the justice system for African

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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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1010 Words | 5 Pages

Mark Twain tells story of a white boy, whom one would consider to be an outsider, Huck, and his older friend Jim, a runaway slave; that exemplify that racism is something that will always be. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been facing continuous controversy ever since it 's publication date in 1884 and has seemingly continued to make news even today. Mark Twain, the author, faced much scrutiny for his lack of respect for religion, for his ungrammatical American vernacular, and for being racist. The novel was removed from schools because of the novels portrayal of Jim and its use of the "N" word. Twain used the "N" word 219 times throughout the novel, which some people thought it got in the story 's message against slavery; but others, thought Twain perfectly captured the way people talked back then.

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