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Twain's The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn In High School Curriculum

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The importance of Huckleberry Finn in high school curriculum While many critics of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain argue that the book should be censored or even banned due to the heavy racist ideas contained within it, there are actually many positive traits to the novel, and many of the negative aspects are largely benign. While the book certainly does contain many harsh racist themes, it is of no real danger to today’s world or society. Rather, trying to hide the book from high school students, or anyone, could negatively impact social progress today in that it limits accurate knowledge of negative aspects of the past. While the racist ideas can certainly lead to feelings of discomfort or offense, having skilled teachers can allow students to “[ignore] or [render] trivial the things that [cause unease]” (Morrison 153). In addition, it is reasonable to assume that students around the age of seventeen already have relatively solid beliefs and …show more content…

Although the initial cause of Huck’s adventure is him wanting to avoid being beaten by his father, the main purpose of the adventure is the search for freedom. For Huck, freedom from his father and his family members that are trying to civilize him. For Jim, the adventure is about literal freedom from being a slave. While Huck is never at risk of being captured and used as a slave, his decision to continue roaming the country at the end of the novel shows that he places his own freedom and individuality above what other people expect of him. In Huck’s position, there is an emphasis on him having the choice of what to do with his life, if he wants to stay with Aunt Sally and be civilized, or to move west and continue to roam the country. This conveys the message to the reader that, whether or not they choose to follow society’s norms, it important that they make a conscious choice to do so, rather than simply doing what is

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The adventures of Huckleberry Finn by writer Mark Twain is a very divisive book and the reason for that is because of it controversy with racism. It is banned from lots of school because they believe that it could make a lot of students uncomfortable. Maybe making them uncomfortable is a good thing. High school students can see how it was like back then for the black people and how they were treated. They weren 't treated as humans at all.

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The peasants’ revolts in the German states occurred after the Reformation had gripped Europe. Religious figures at this time such as Martin Luther, and John Calvin, as well as writings like The Ninety-Five Theses, incited many peasants to look with new ideas about Catholicism and the clergy, which led to a call for reform, and later rebellion, the causes of which were mainly the oppression of lords against the lay people economically and physically, as well as extreme Lutheran teaching. Martin Luther, and those that were accused of the oppression, the nobles, responded by saying those that took part in the rebellion were unchristian, and should submit to proper authority, shaping the conflict and the rebellion.

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Many believe this meaningful piece of literature should be banned from the high school curriculum. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should stay in the high school curriculum because it is unprejudiced, historical, and important to literature. This story should stay in the high school curriculum because it is unprejudiced. Author and abolitionist Mark Twain uses satire to mock

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Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, why this book written by Mark Twain should be on the banned books list in schools and why it is too mature for it’s students. This book is full of situations that honesty students are not able to handle, leaving inappropriate impressions about racism and how to treat people and is going to cause teenagers and young adults to repeat the language and personalities seen in this, to other groups of this century that are fitting now The problem with Adventures of Huckleberry Finn isn’t that it is a bad book, not that maybe it is poorly written or isn’t a learning experience. The fact of the matter is that students do not hold the attention span or mental capacity to be forced to deal with this. While some may use to excuse that high school students may have enough knowledge over these situations, or if explained, people would enjoy the moral of the story more, that is not always the case.

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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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Although there has been an overwhelming amount of debates regarding the teaching of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in high school settings, students should still have the opportunity to experience this novel, even if additions or compromises need to be made, because of the story’s historical significance, underlying portrayal of African American dignity, and overall benefits engendered by Twain’s writing. Many argue that African Americans are undermined throughout the story, but the abundance of dignity underlying Jim’s character and the compromises that can be made in the classroom are often overlooked. The most controversial part of the book for many parents seems to be the fact that “it uses the ‘n’ word more than 200 times -- which they say is damaging to their children” (Beckett, Huck Finn’s Fate to Be Decided).

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Unfortunately, his actions is the complete opposite of what society wants him to do: to help a runaway slave gain freedom. He essentially runs away with a slave that once belongs to Miss Watson, a previous guardian of his. All of her attempts to civilize Huck is worthless to him because he blames himself for betraying her. Based on the quote, “I tried to make out to myself that I warn’t to blame, because I didn’t run Jim off from his rightful owner; but it warn’t no use, conscience up and says, every time, ‘But you knowed he was running for his freedom, and you could a paddled ashore and told somebody.’ That was so— I couldn’t get around that noway.

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Against: Huckleberry Finn does not need to be taught in school. It does reflect social issues and different aspects of American literature but there other less provocative ways of teaching the aspects of American literature that Mr. For mentioned. Some children take offense at African Americans slurs and derogatory treatment of the black characters in the novel. The novel is not appropriate to be taught to high school students because they don’t all posses the maturity level or reading ability to pick up on, and understand the social issues addressed in the novel. The issues are also dated.

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Mark Twain’s ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ has been viewed as controversial, and has been banned from many high schools and libraries. It is viewed as controversial because of the strong and sometimes racist language, as well as the bad grammar used throughout the book. ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ should be taught in high school. First of all, ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ is a good example of how our country once was, and teaches us about America’s past. The book takes place sometime in the 1830s-40s which was during the slave era.

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The novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, should not be banned in schools. This novel, written by Mark Twain, is a very controversial novel. It contains many things that may be uncomfortable or that could possibly offend other people, like the way the “n” word is being used so frequently and the way the slaves, such as Jim, are being treated. But, Mark Twain wrote this novel for a reason. He wanted to show the readers how slavery was in general.

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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is considered a classic piece of American literature, however, does it really deserve to be taught in schools? With so many other books that cover topics more relevant to today, why should a book about a boy who runs away with a slave be taught over books focusing on more modern topics? Well, apart from the defense that the book is a classic, it does have a few motifs that make it still very relevant to today. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huckleberry finds himself grappling with his sense of right and wrong, and his internal conflict its still quite relevant to the debates people people have today. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should still be taught in schools due to his contemplation

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1654 Words | 7 Pages

Why Would a Good Novel be Kept in the Classrooms? A trashy and racist book wouldn't be allowed in classrooms. The novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain, has had a lot of negative talk about it since its publication date in 1884. The major problem that students, parents, teachers, and even professors, have had with the novel is the usage of the n-word.

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It is thought that the teaching of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in high schools seems to result in some controversial outcomes amongst different audiences and readers. In result to this thought, the novel has been removed from assigning in many schools because of the content. One of the main and largest issues arising from the novel would be that Mark Twain accounts and savages for more examples of racism in his novel as in any American document known. The primary conflict for the banning and withdrawal of the American novel is it's use of the word "nigger", as in referring to African American slaves. For the reasoning that the storyline is set in a different time, specifically, the 1840's before the civil war, the whole moral and outlook on life was different than now.

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Many scholars believe that Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be taken out of high school curriculum. From accusations about Huck Finn being racist to allegations that it is historically inaccurate, to claims that it is demeaning, there are many arguments to why this novel should be taken out of the curriculum. Although many of these arguments are sound, they all overlook how Huck Finn is a positive contribution to high school curriculum, and how it teaches morals, shows history, addresses real issues, and exposes the readers to many different literary elements, all of which make it critical for this novel to stay in the curriculum. One of the many positive contributions this novel provides is morality by showing

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Rosa Parks once said, “Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome.” She describes that the future of our world has to be aware of things that have happened in the past, such as racism. The NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, is a civil rights organization that displayed their position on this certain situation. The NAACP position is correct in that Mark Twain’s un-sanitized version of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be taught because the book describes the important awareness of the historical oppression of people, it provides a value of morality from that time period that students should learn, and gives an important lesson about race that should be taught to students.

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