The Reality of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn “One nasty, offensive, mean-spirited little word should not be allowed to defeat the real education of our students” (“Huck”). In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain, it takes one word to offend most of the populace, but little do readers see how they miss the life lessons and morals written between the lines. The big debate on whether or not Huck Finn should be taught in schools derives from one word--nigger. This is sadly unfortunate because readers tend to miss the overall message the book has to offer because their focus is solely on this one word. I think that readers should look at why Twain chooses to use the n-word in his novel, the fact that the word itself offends people even though it is still used today, and lastly the …show more content…
To have an understanding of why the book should be taught, the first notion is to analyze why Twain decides to incorporate the word. This big debate all squares down to the historically significant and demoralizing n-word. If this word is so offensive, why does Twain even put it in his novel? If readers think about it, there is no evidence that Twain specifically points his writing towards racism. In an article written by Martha Moore called “Huck Finn’ Navigating Choppy Waters Again”, she states, "The word is terrible, it's hurtful, but it's there for a reason.” If Twain wants them to call them slaves, he’ll simply label them slaves because that is what they are. However, readers must keep in mind that he simply writes this story in the same dialect that the people speak in the south where they called African American “niggers” instead of slaves. In doing so, Twain captures a historical