The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain was one of the first realistic
books written in the 19th century. The story tells of a friendship between a lowly white
teenager and an African American man on their trip up the Mississippi River. The book
was meant as a symbol against racism, but it is frequently banned in schools and
libraries for its use of racially offensive material. The censorship of the book was
always an highly controversial topic.
For a special learning environment such as a school, The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn should definitely be banned from its curriculum. The amount of racial
material used is offensive to African American students, causing misunderstanding
among the students. Even though the purpose of the novel was
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Negroes do not like it in any book or play whatsoever, be the book or play ever so
sympathetic in its treatment of the basic problems of the race.” If true, how is
Huckleberry Finn an exception?
There are many accounts and complaints of white students acquiring foul
racist behavior within Huckleberry Finn. One is the case of students racially abusing an
African American child’s father after they have learned the novel. “...his father says,
was verbally and physically abused by his white classmates after they have all read
Huckleberry Finn in class.” - Nat Hentoff, Village Voice. To make the situation worse,
these cases happen more than often. PBS once reported at the that “White students
would nervously ‘snicker’ or ‘turn around and stare’ at the handful of African American
students when the word was read aloud.” The novel provides the young white students
with racial slurs, at the same time implies to them the language is okay to use.
Children nowadays grow up in Hip Pop culture where the “N” word is highly
prevalent. They may understand that the word is not good to use, however